[Chapter 1] 1.6 The Body
Author: Bryan Costales & Eric Allman
Date: 1999-01-06T18:32:18Z

#

| Chapter 1 Introduction |

## 1.6 The Body

The body of a mail message consists of everything following the first blank line to the end of the file. When you sent your sendstuff file, it contained only a body. Now edit the file sendstuff and add a small header.

>     Subject: a test              add
>                                  add
>     This is a one line message.

The `Subject:` header line is an optional one. The sendmail program passes it through as is. Here, the `Subject:` line is followed by a blank line and then the message text, forming a header and a body. Note that a blank line must be truly blank. If you put space or tab characters in it, thus forming an "empty-looking" line, the header will not be separated from the body as intended.

Send this file to yourself again, running sendmail by hand as you did before:

>     % /usr/lib/sendmail you <sendstuff

Notice that our `Subject:` header line was carried through without change:

>     From you@Here.US.EDU  Fri Dec 13 08:11:44 1996
>     Return-Path: you@Here.US.EDU
>     Received: (from you@localhost) by Here.US.EDU (8.8.4/8.8.4)
>            id AA04599 for you; Fri, 31 Dec 96 08:11:44 -0700
>     Date: Fri, 13 Dec 96 08:11:43
>     From: you@Here.US.EDU (Your Full Name)
>     Message-Id: <9631121611.AA02124@Here.US.EDU>
>     Subject: a test                                  note
>     To: you

>     This is a one line message.

1.5 The Header |  | 1.7 The Envelope