Sometimes when I open up a new terminal I see the following, notifying me there are new mails in my system mail box.

Last login: Tue Feb 28 18:57:43 on ttys006
You have new mail.

Just how to read those emails?

You can use “mailx”.

my_osx_box:~ birdchan$ mailx

This is a very linux like mail program, so don’t expect fancy controls. Below are some commands that are enough to get you through.

• h: lists the current emails in your mailbox, notice there is an ID before each email.
• NUMBER: Just type in the email ID and press enter, you will enter the reading mode. Then ENTER gets you to the next line, SPACE next page. Just like in MORE.
• d <num>: deletes the corresponding email.
• ?: Shows you all the commands