POSTCAT(1) General Commands Manual POSTCAT(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

postcat - show Postfix queue file contents

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

```
postcat [-bdefhnoqv] [-c config_dir] [files...]
```

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

The [**postcat**(1)](/man/os/postfix/postcat.1) command prints the contents of the named *files* in human-readable form. The files are expected to be in Postfix queue file format. If no *files* are specified on the command line, the program reads from standard input.

By default, [**postcat**(1)](/man/os/postfix/postcat.1) shows the envelope and message content, as if the options **-beh** were specified. To view message content only, specify **-bh** (Postfix 2.7 and later).

Options:

[**-b**](#b)

Show body content. The **-b** option starts producing output at the first non-header line, and stops when the end of the message is reached.

This feature is available in Postfix 2.7 and later.

[**-c config\_dir**](#c)

The **main.cf** configuration file is in the named directory instead of the default configuration directory.

[**-d**](#d)

Print the decimal type of each record.

[**-e**](#e)

Show message envelope content.

This feature is available in Postfix 2.7 and later.

[**-f**](#f)

Prepend the file name to each output line.

This feature is available in Postfix 3.10 and later.

[**-h**](#h)

Show message header content. The **-h** option produces output from the beginning of the message up to, but not including, the first non-header line.

This feature is available in Postfix 2.7 and later.

[**-o**](#o)

Print the queue file offset of each record.

[**-q**](#q)

Search the Postfix queue for the named *files* instead of taking the names literally.

This feature is available in Postfix 2.0 and later.

[**-r**](#r)

Print records in file order, don't follow pointer records.

This feature is available in Postfix 3.7 and later.

[**-s offset**](#s)

Skip to the specified queue file offset.

This feature is available in Postfix 3.7 and later.

[**-v**](#v)

Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. Multiple **-v** options make the software increasingly verbose.

# [DIAGNOSTICS](#DIAGNOSTICS)

Problems are reported to the standard error stream.

# [ENVIRONMENT](#ENVIRONMENT)

```

```

[**MAIL\_CONFIG**](#MAIL_CONFIG)

Directory with Postfix configuration files.

# [CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS](#CONFIGURATION_PARAMETERS)

```

```

The following **main.cf** parameters are especially relevant to this program.

The text below provides only a parameter summary. See [**postconf**(5)](/man/os/postfix/postconf.5) for more details including examples.

[**config\_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)**](#config_directory)

The default location of the Postfix main.cf and master.cf configuration files.

[**import\_environment (see 'postconf -d' output)**](#import_environment)

The list of environment variables that a privileged Postfix process will import from a non-Postfix parent process, or name=value environment overrides.

[**queue\_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)**](#queue_directory)

The location of the Postfix top-level queue directory.

# [FILES](#FILES)

```
/var/spool/postfix, Postfix queue directory
```

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

```
postconf(5), Postfix configuration
```

# [LICENSE](#LICENSE)

```

```

The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.

# [AUTHOR(S)](#AUTHOR%28S%29)

```
Wietse Venema
IBM T.J. Watson Research
P.O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
Wietse Venema
Google, Inc.
111 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10011, USA
```

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Document: postcat(1) from postfix 3.11.7-r1 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/vdukhovni/postfix