Sending mail through shell script

Question

So I know how to use the mail command to send mail through ssh, as in typing mail -s "Subject here" user@host.com, then typing out the message, hitting CTRL + D to stop composing, then press enter to not have a Cc.

How I'm curious, how would I send an email through a non-interactive shell script? Just so I can send an email if a backup decided to fail, or whatever reason.

Thanks a bunch!

Answer 1

Well, just pipe in the content. eg

echo "message text"|mail -s "subject" someone@example.com

Answer 2

I do it like this:

/usr/lib/sendmail -t <<EOF 
To: someone@example.com
Subject: My script works

Looks like my script is working.
EOF 

You can use shell variables in the message. You can also add CC and BCC lines as desired.