How do I delete everything in /var/mail/username from the command line?

Question

As a result of a long-running cron job, I have over 1,000 messages in my user's mailbox. What's the easiest way to delete them?

score 101 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 21 '11 at 15:49

If you want to delete all the messages, you can simply truncate the mailbox file for a user with the following command:

> /var/mail/username

(the greater than sign is not a prompt: you are in effect redirecting the output of nothing to the file, which will truncate it).

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 15 '17 at 17:09

12

Run mail in a terminal. Press d 1-. This will delete those messages.

Removing files for managing mail is like adjust the volume of your tv with a hammer. It may work, but it is not optimal and far too brutal.

answered Feb 15 '17 at 17:09

vidarlo

1

_This_ is the correct answer. It also allows deleting just some emails, if it's unclear from the command. E.g. `d 1-100` will delete the first 100 email messages. – texnic May 20 '17 at 07:19
1

I had to install `mailutils` and then use `d *` on Ubuntu 12.04 – Leslie Viljoen Jul 22 '19 at 03:19
It was `d *` on centos 8 after installing `mailx` – james-see Jun 21 '21 at 20:25
When I type `mail`, I get the message "No mail for " and cannot access the mail console – Aisteru Firë Dec 04 '22 at 14:43
@AisteruFirë What are you attempting to do? I have a feeling that you should ask a new question, where you explain in some more detail, because you probably don't want to delete mail. – vidarlo Dec 04 '22 at 14:47
@vidarlo I saw the "You have new mail" message on login, used `mail` to read it, then quit. I got the message that the message was stored in `$HOME/mbox`, and wanted to go and delete it. I realized that this was a simple file, so I just deleted it, but before doing so I thought I had to go back through `mail` to delete it. – Aisteru Firë Dec 05 '22 at 15:02

2 Answers2