4.12 mailcap

The ~/.mailcap file is parsed by most MIME-aware message handlers and describes how elements are supposed to be displayed. Here’s an example file:

image/*; gimp -8 %s
audio/wav; wavplayer %s
application/msword; catdoc %s ; copiousoutput ; nametemplate=%s.doc

This says that all image files should be displayed with gimp, that WAVE audio files should be played by wavplayer, and that MS-WORD files should be inlined by catdoc.

The mailcap library parses this file, and provides functions for matching types.

mailcap-mime-data

This variable is an alist of alists containing backup viewing rules.

Interface functions:

mailcap-parse-mailcaps

Parse the ~/.mailcap file.

mailcap-mime-info

Takes a MIME type as its argument and returns the matching viewer.