RELOCATED(5) File Formats Manual RELOCATED(5)

relocated - Postfix relocated table format

postmap /etc/postfix/relocated


The optional relocated(5) table provides the information that is used in "user has moved to new_location" bounce messages.

Normally, the relocated(5) table is specified as a text file that serves as input to the postmap(1) command. The result, an indexed file in dbm or db format, is used for fast searching by the mail system. Execute the command "postmap /etc/postfix/relocated" to rebuild an indexed file after changing the corresponding relocated table.

When the table is provided via other means such as NIS, LDAP or SQL, the same lookups are done as for ordinary indexed files.

Alternatively, the table can be provided as a regular-expression map where patterns are given as regular expressions, or lookups can be directed to a TCP-based server. In those case, the lookups are done in a slightly different way as described below under "REGULAR EXPRESSION TABLES" or "TCP-BASED TABLES".

Table lookups are case insensitive.

The search string is folded to lowercase before database lookup. As of Postfix 2.3, the search string is not case folded with database types such as regexp: or pcre: whose lookup fields can match both upper and lower case.

The input format for the postmap(1) command is as follows:

  • An entry has one of the following form:
         pattern      new_location

    Where new_location specifies contact information such as an email address, or perhaps a street address or telephone number.

  • Empty lines and whitespace-only lines are ignored, as are lines whose first non-whitespace character is a `#'.
  • A logical line starts with non-whitespace text. A line that starts with whitespace continues a logical line.

With lookups from indexed files such as DB or DBM, or from networked tables such as NIS, LDAP or SQL, patterns are tried in the order as listed below:

Matches user@domain. This form has precedence over all other forms.
Matches user@site when site is $myorigin, when site is listed in $mydestination, or when site is listed in $inet_interfaces or $proxy_interfaces.
@domain
Matches other addresses in domain. This form has the lowest precedence.

When a mail address localpart contains the optional recipient delimiter (e.g., user+foo@domain), the lookup order becomes: user+foo@domain, user@domain, user+foo, user, and @domain.

This section describes how the table lookups change when the table is given in the form of regular expressions or when lookups are directed to a TCP-based server. For a description of regular expression lookup table syntax, see regexp_table(5) or pcre_table(5). For a description of the TCP client/server table lookup protocol, see tcp_table(5). This feature is available in Postfix 2.5 and later.

Each pattern is a regular expression that is applied to the entire address being looked up. Thus, user@domain mail addresses are not broken up into their user and @domain constituent parts, nor is user+foo broken up into user and foo.

Patterns are applied in the order as specified in the table, until a pattern is found that matches the search string.

Results are the same as with indexed file lookups, with the additional feature that parenthesized substrings from the pattern can be interpolated as $1, $2 and so on.

This section describes how the table lookups change when lookups are directed to a TCP-based server. For a description of the TCP client/server lookup protocol, see tcp_table(5). This feature is available in Postfix 2.5 and later.

Each lookup operation uses the entire address once. Thus, user@domain mail addresses are not broken up into their user and @domain constituent parts, nor is user+foo broken up into user and foo.

Results are the same as with indexed file lookups.


The table format does not understand quoting conventions.

The following main.cf parameters are especially relevant. The text below provides only a parameter summary. See postconf(5) for more details including examples.

Optional lookup tables with new contact information for users or domains that no longer exist.

Other parameters of interest:

The local network interface addresses that this mail system receives mail on.
The list of domains that are delivered via the $local_transport mail delivery transport.
The domain name that locally-posted mail appears to come from, and that locally posted mail is delivered to.
The remote network interface addresses that this mail system receives mail on by way of a proxy or network address translation unit.

trivial-rewrite(8), address resolver
postmap(1), Postfix lookup table manager
postconf(5), configuration parameters

Use "postconf readme_directory" or "postconf html_directory" to locate this information.

DATABASE_README, Postfix lookup table overview
ADDRESS_REWRITING_README, address rewriting guide

The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.

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