DE

↑ ↓ select, Enter open, Esc close

Send a test email from the command line

harmlessMaildebian, ubuntu
Adjust the values, the command updates live
user@server
printf "Subject: Testmail von %s\n\nTest\n" "$(hostname -f)" | sendmail admin@example.com

Builds a minimal message with a subject and hands it to sendmail, exactly as PHP does with mail(). If the message does not arrive, the mail log shows the reason right afterwards. No package such as mailutils is needed.

Also searched as

  • send test email from server
  • is outgoing mail working
  • test php mail sending

Related one-liners

All in Mail

Delete a single message from the Postfix queue

#postsuper -d 4F2A31C0E12
destructiveMail

Delete all deferred mail from the Postfix queue

#postsuper -d ALL deferred
destructiveMail

Delete all mail from one sender in the Postfix queue

#postqueue -p | awk -v s="info@example.com" '/^[0-9A-Za-z]/ && $7 == s {print $1}' | tr -d '*!' | postsuper -d -
destructiveMail

Find a hacked mail account by its SMTP logins

#grep -o "sasl_username=[^ ,]*" /var/log/maillog | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20
harmlessMail

Find permanently rejected emails in the mail log

#grep "status=bounced" /var/log/maillog | tail -n 20
harmlessMail

Find the top senders in the Postfix queue

$postqueue -p | awk '/^[0-9A-Za-z]/ {print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20
harmlessMail

Read first, then run.

The commands on myline.de act directly on servers, files and databases. A wrong path or placeholder can delete data irreversibly or make a server unreachable.

  • All commands are provided without warranty and are not tested on every system.
  • Understand what a command does before running it, and check every placeholder.
  • Make a backup first and, if possible, try it on a test system.
  • You run commands at your own risk. Liability for damages is excluded to the extent permitted by law.