.forward files

Using the .forward file to handle mail you can do two basic things. You can forward the email message to another account or person or you can send the email message as the standard input for a program. In a .forward file you can do more than just one of these. You can send email to a list of people and send the email as input to a program. Here is what the .forward file would look like to forward the email to another account:

mike@bob.org

Okay, that was simple. Maybe you want both Bob and Mike to receive the email message:

mike@bob.org
bob@bob.org

To get the email message directed into the input of a program create a .forward file that looks like this:

|/home/bob/mailfilter.pl

You would need to have a program to handle the mail, but if you have decided that you want to run the email through a program, you probably already have a program to use, or you probably know how to make one.