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The below line of code/command is working as expected if I run it from Unix terminal, but not if I include it in a script and run the script - exact same.

I am expecting the X-Priority to show the mail as high priority in Outlook. If I run it from command line, I see the email is showing correctly as high priority and I see the file is attached and the body appear as supposed to. However, if I write it a shell script and run the script, the mail come formatted as text and attachment is appended to the body of the email and the email is shown as normal in outlook.

Not sure what I am doing wrong. Any help is appreciated.

Shell Script

#!/bin/sh
echo "Message Body" | mail -r "sender@mycom.com" -c "ccrecipient@mycom.com" -s "$(echo -e "Message Subject\nX-Priority: 1")" -a "logFile.log" "torecipient@mycom.com"

Also tested with Shell Script

#!/bin/bash
echo "Message Body" | /usr/bin/mail -r "sender@mycom.com" -c "ccrecipient@mycom.com" -s "$(echo -e "Message Subject\nX-Priority: 1")" -a "logFile.log" "torecipient@mycom.com"

Command line

echo "Message Body" | mail -r "sender@mycom.com" -c "ccrecipient@mycom.com" -s "$(echo -e "Message Subject\nX-Priority: 1")" -a "logFile.log" "torecipient@mycom.com"

EDIT: More Details/Observation on further R&D:

In Subject, in my actual command, there is a variable assignment like MyApp : ${HostName} : Restarted\nX-Priority: 1. HostName is a variable i defined in the script. If I replace the variable hard-coded value like MyApp : myserver : Restarted\nX-Priority: 1, the command line and script behave the exact same. If I keep the variable in command line, it works as expected (the X-Priority part) but the subject comes as MyApp : : Restarted as expected as the variable is not defined.

I tried to add an undefined variable in script and it still did not work.

Hope this gives more insights into the issue.

Note: I originally asked this question in stackoverflow. But I was advised to ask it here instead - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75585298/mail-not-working-in-script-same-way-it-is-working-from-command-line

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akpuvvada
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  • Are the shells the same? You have your script as /bin/sh but what is your command line using? ksh, bash, and sh will sometimes behave differently for certain utilities/commands in my experience. – burgermenu Feb 27 '23 at 22:23
  • I tested with both sh and bash - my terminal is using bash by default. Getting same output in both. – akpuvvada Feb 27 '23 at 22:30
  • If your terminal is normally bash then why write scripts in anything else? "#! /bin/bash" keeps everything on a level playing field. Just to rule out a fairly obvious suspect here - just how are you running this "script" of yours? Interactively, in the terminal, yes? Not through, say, *cron*? – Phill W. Feb 28 '23 at 11:27
  • @PhillW., sorry I was not clear. I tried with both scripts - with bash and with sh - I just posted the latest script I was working on. Both gave the same output. – akpuvvada Feb 28 '23 at 11:54
  • Get the path of the mail command from your shell with "which mail", also check the output of "alias mail". Substitute the explicit value in your shell script, re-test and avise on whether this had any impact. – symcbean Feb 28 '23 at 15:59
  • Below is the output of the commands. [root@myserver ~]$ which mail /usr/bin/mail [root@myserver ~]$ alias mail -bash: alias: mail: not found [root@myserver ~]$ – akpuvvada Feb 28 '23 at 16:39
  • Updated the script with that and still getting the same outcome. – akpuvvada Feb 28 '23 at 16:41

1 Answers1

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What OS/Distro are you using?

Many distros are commonly using BSD mailx as an alias to the mail command, but then there might be an alternate or when your script runs, it has a different PATH and therefore uses a different program to the one you expect. (As perhaps your OS has some other ideas for what mail for users should do.)

Try from your terminal:

$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

Then the same in your script to see if there's something different about the PATHS

BSD mailx will be in somewhere like /usr/bin/mailx

It looks like it has different options to whatever mail command you are using, though. (See man mailx / man mail). Are you trying to get:

Subject: Message Subject 
  X-Priority: 1

Or the subject, then an additional header:

Subject: Message Subject
X-Priority: 1

bash will strip newlines from variables if you try to use them like that to invoke another command.

If it's mailx:

  • -a Specify additional header fields on the command line such as "X-Loop: foo@bar" etc.

I'd try something like:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Message Body" | /usr/bin/mailx -a "X-Priority: 1" -s "Message Subject" -r sender@mycom.com -c ccrecipient@mycom.com -- torecipient@mycom.com

I don't think there is an (easy) way to get the stock mail/mailx to add attachments, though. It's not a thing it can do.

You could use an alternative like mutt or neomutt:

options:

  --            Special argument forces NeoMutt to stop option parsing and treat
                remaining arguments as addresses even if they start with a dash

  -a <file>     Attach one or more files to a message (must be the last option)
                Add any addresses after the '--' argument

  -c <address>  Specify a carbon copy (Cc) recipient

  -s <subject>  Specify a subject (must be enclosed in quotes if it has spaces)

Sounds like it will do more like what you want anyway.

echo "Message Body" | mutt -s "Message Subject" \ 
-e "my_hdr X-Priority: 1" \
-e "my_hdr From: sender@mycom.com" \ 
-c ccrecipient@mycom.com \
-a /path/to/logFile.log \
-- torecipient@mycom.com


echo "Message Body" | mutt -s "Message Subject" -e "my_hdr X-Priority: 1" -e "my_hdr From: sender@mycom.com" -c ccrecipient@mycom.com -a /path/to/logFile.log -- torecipient@mycom.com
Rob L
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