Usually things seem to just work, or they don't. I could do with a hand here... I may have this all wrong - I've read the mail administrators howto, and the users howto and I'm a little stuck with an intermitant fault... I've set no mail options anywhere on my system. I have a cable modem with NTL. I'm trying to automate a mail message that, for example, mails me a directory listing from the current working directory. I type: ls -l | mail johnsonmlw@yahoo.com I was surprised to see it work at all. I was expecting to have to set some settings. BUT it only works about 1 in 10 times. Odd. If I type it ten times in quick succession, I only get about one into my johnsonmlw@yahoo.com mail box, and I receive nine returns from mx1.mail.yahoo.com reporting a "501" error - data format error. I'm a complete mail novice - I've always used my yahoo account. Any suggestions as to why it only sometimes works, and whether I should be typing something else? Thanks folks -- Matt __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! http://auctions.yahoo.com