Sendmail, 3rd Edition

Command-Line Switches

Command-line switches are command-line arguments that begin with a - character, and precede the list of recipients (if any). The forms for command-line switches, where X is a single letter, are:

-X        ← Boolean switch 
-Xarg     ← switch with argument

All switches are single letters. The complete list is shown in Table 15-2.

Table 15-2. Command-line switches

Switch	§	Version	Description
-A	-A	V8.12 and above	Specify sendmail.cf versus submit.cf
-B	-B	V8.1 and above	Specify message body type
-b	-b	All versions	Set operating mode
-ba	-ba	Not V8.1- V8.6	Use ARPAnet/Grey Book protocols
-bD	-bD	V8.8 and above	Run as a daemon, but don’t fork
-bd	-bd	All versions	Run as a daemon
-bH	-bH	V8.8 and above	Purge persistent host status
-bh	-bh	V8.8 and above	Print persistent host status
-bi	Section 12.5.1	All versions	Initialize alias database
-bm	-bm	All versions	Be a mail sender (the default)
-bP	-bP	V8.12 and above	Print number of messages in the queue
-bp	Section 11.6	All versions	Print the queue
-bs	-bs	All versions	Run SMTP on standard input
-bt	Section 8.1	All versions	Rule-testing mode
-bv	-bv	All versions	Verify: don’t collect or deliver
-bz	-bz	Not V8	Freeze the configuration file
-C	-C	All versions	Location of the configuration file
-c	HoldExpensive	(deprecated)	Set HoldExpensive option to true
-d	Section 16.1	All versions	Enter debugging mode
-E	-E	Sony NEWS only	Japanese font conversion ...