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?
3 Answers
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).
answered Jun 21, 2011 at 15:49
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.
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1This is the correct answer. It also allows deleting just some emails, if it's unclear from the command. E.g.
d 1-100will delete the first 100 email messages.– texnicMay 20, 2017 at 7:19 -
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It depends if you have ftp access. If so, just use Nautilus to do a good deal more than any other ftp client. I also use it and Bluefish to edit pages on my websites.
There should be a Mail folder where you can view and delete any and all files.
I find it so much easier than File Manager in cPanel.
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2You make a lot of assumptions here - like cPanel, ftp access and so on. What do you base these on?– vidarloMay 20, 2017 at 14:11