limit in mailx

[Vishal Biyani]

To emaail a message to multiple people we can use by using comma:
mailx -s "SUBJECT" "USER1@1.com,user2@2.com"

I want ot know if there is any limit on the number of users to which mail can be sent using this method?

[Matti_Kurkela]

One limit is of course the maximum length of the command line. Usually it is *very* long, but not infinite.

[Peter Godron · Accepted solution]

Hi,
please see man mailx
" Recipient addresses specified on the command line must total less than
1024 characters in length. You may declare an alias or group (see
COMMANDS below) to specify a recipient address or list of addresses of
up to 8191 characters, and use that alias or group name (though each
address in the list must still be less than 1024 characters). If you
wish to specify a list of recipient addresses of greater length than
this, have your system administrator declare an alias or group in the
system alias file /etc/mail/aliases and use that alias name instead.
"

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi,

if you create aliases, the number of users can be "infinite"

see /etc/mail/aliases


kind regards
yogeeraj

[Vishal Biyani]

1)I will be getting this list of users to be mailed at runtime from some other source, so I can not created alises, plus the user running this script will not have toot access!

2) I gues I need to opt for second option in which the length of line should not be more than 1024

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi again,

You can surely handle this programatically.

good luck!

kind regards
yogeeraj

[Peter Godron]

Hi,
you don't have to use the /etc/aliases file.
If you read the man pages you can use the alias command.

So you specify your alias in ~/.mailrc and can then use this to mail.

~/.mailrc
alias testalias a@a.com .....

echo "test message " | mailx -s"test message" testalias

[Peter Godron]

Hi,
could you please update this thread.
Has your question been answered? If so, please award points and close, identifying the solution.

[Vishal Biyani]

Well I solved the problem programatically!