You can use the mailx command to send a message to a system-specified mail file. When the shell user receiving the message is ready to read messages, he or she can use mailx to see what messages have arrived and read them.

Administrators and users can customize the behavior of mailx in a number of ways, by selecting variables and setting them in files named /etc/mailx.rc and $HOME/mail.rc. Some variables apply for the duration of any session; others can be set or reset within a session.

The systems programmer can set up a list of variables (using the set command) in the /etc/mailx.rc file. You can use these values as a default, or you can set up a $HOME/mail.rc file that sets these variables for your personal use. These variables are described in the mailx command description in z/OS UNIX System Services Command Reference.

You can reset certain variables during a session, or, when entering mailx, specify that the variables in the /etc/mailx.rc file are not to be used.