NAME

Net::IMAP::Simple - Perl extension for simple IMAP account handling.

SYNOPSIS

use strict;
use warnings;
use Net::IMAP::Simple;
use Email::Simple;

# Create the object
my $imap = Net::IMAP::Simple->new('imap.example.com') ||
   die "Unable to connect to IMAP: $Net::IMAP::Simple::errstr\n";

# Log on
if(!$imap->login('user','pass')){
    print STDERR "Login failed: " . $imap->errstr . "\n";
    exit(64);
}

# Print the subject's of all the messages in the INBOX
my $nm = $imap->select('INBOX');

for(my $i = 1; $i <= $nm; $i++){
    if($imap->seen($i)){
        print "*";
    } else {
        print " ";
    }

    my $es = Email::Simple->new(join '', @{ $imap->top($i) } );

    printf("[%03d] %s\n", $i, $es->header('Subject'));
}

$imap->quit;

DESCRIPTION

This module is a simple way to access IMAP accounts.

OBJECT CREATION METHOD

my $imap = Net::IMAP::Simple->new( $server [ :port ]);

# OR

my $imap = Net::IMAP::Simple->new( $server [, option_name => option_value ] );

new

This class method constructs a new Net::IMAP::Simple object. It takes one required parameter which is the server to connect to, and additional optional parameters.

The server parameter may specify just the server, or both the server and port number. To specify an alternate port, separate it from the server with a colon (:), example.com:5143.

On success an object is returned. On failure, nothing is returned and an error message is set to $Net::IMAP::Simple.

See "PREAUTH" below for a special hostname invocation that doesn't use Sockets (internally).

Options are provided as a hash to new():

port => int

Assign the port number (default: 143)

timeout => int (default: 90)

Connection timeout in seconds.

retry => int (default: 1)

Attempt to retry the connection attmpt (x) times before giving up

retry_delay => int (default: 5)

Wait (x) seconds before retrying a connection attempt

use_v6 => BOOL

If set to true, attempt to use IPv6 sockets rather than IPv4 sockets.

This option requires the IO::Socket::INET6 module

use_ssl => BOOL

If set to true, attempt to use IO::Socket::SSL sockets rather than vanilla sockets.

This option requires the IO::Socket::SSL module

bindaddr => str

Assign a local address to bind

use_select_cache => BOOL

Enable select() caching internally

select_cache_ttl => int

The number of seconds to allow a select cache result live before running $imap-select()> again.

debug => BOOL | \*HANDLE | warn | file:name

Enable debugging output. If \*HANDLE is a valid file handle, debugging will be written to it. If it is the string "warn" then the debugging will be written using the warn command. If it is a string of the form file:name then the named file will be opened for append and the debugs written to it. Otherwise debugging will be written to STDOUT

PREAUTH

Rather than passing a port number and issuing a login, in some situations it may be convenient to authenticate with (for example) ssh and simply invoke (for example) dovecot by hand.

If the server name starts with cmd:, then Net::IMAP::Simple will issue the command rather than building sockets. This is a typical setup:

my $cmd = "ssh -C mailhost dovecot --exec-mail imap";
my $imap = Net::IMAP::Simple->new("cmd:$cmd");
 # $imap->login(); ... don't need this

my $number_of_messages = $imap->select("INBOX");

METHODS

starttls

$imap->starttls;

If you start an IMAP session and wish to upgrade to SSL later, you can use this function to start TLS. This function will try to require IO::Socket::SSL and Net::SSLeay at runtime.

login

my $inbox_msgs = $imap->login($user, $passwd);

This method takes two required parameters, a username and password. This pair is authenticated against the server. If authentication is successful TRUE (1) will be returned

Nothing is returned on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

status

my $num_messages                     = $imap->status($folder);
my ($unseen, $recent, $num_messages) = $imap->status($folder);

Issue a STATUS command. The STATUS command counts messages without altering the state of the named (optionally) mailbox. It returns either the number of messages, or the number of unseen messages, recent, and the total number of messages.

$folder is an optional argument. status() will use the current mailbox or INBOX if the $folder argument is not provided.

This method does not use caching.

This method can also query custom status values. The first argument to the function (if any) is assumed to be the folder name, so the folder argument is required when trying to query custom status values.

my ($f1, $f2) = $imap->status($folder, qw(f1 f2));
my $f2        = $imap->status($folder, qw(f1 f2));

uidnext

my $uidnext = $imap->uidnext($folder);

Return the UIDNEXT value for a mailbox. The $folder argument is optional. This is really just an alias for

my $uidnext = $imap->status($folder, qw(uidnext));

with the mild difference that it can compute the folder argument for you

uidvalidity

my $uidvalidity = $imap->uidnext($folder);

Return the UIDVALIDITY value for a mailbox. The $folder argument is optional. This is also an alias for the status call like uidnext() above.

uid

my $uid = $imap->uid($msgno);
my @uid = $imap->uid($msg_range); # eg 4:14  or 15,4,14

Return the UID value(s) for a message. These unique IDs "must" stay the same during the session and "should" stay the same between sessions. Whether they stay the same depends on the UIDVALIDITY value; see: above and RFC3501.

Warning, although you might thing @uid should contain the UIDs for 15, then 4, then 14 in the example above; most IMAP servers seem to return the UIDs in increasing order. Normally the sequence numbers are in increasing order also, so it all maches up.

my ($uid4, $uid14, $uid15) = $imap->uid("15,4,14"); # warning

This function is actually an alias for $imap->uidsearch($msg_range).

seq

my $seq = $imap->seq($uids);
my @seq = $imap->seq($uids); # eg 58888:58900

Rather like uid() above, but maps uids to sequence numbers.

select

my $num_messages = $imap->select($folder);

Selects a folder named in the single required parameter. The number of messages in that folder is returned on success. On failure, nothing is returned and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

examine

This is very nearly a synonym for select(). The only real difference is that the EXAMINE command is sent to the server instead of SELECT. Net::IMAP::Simple is otherwise unaware of the read-only-ness of the mailbox.

close

$imap->close;

Un-selects the current mailbox, leaving no mailbox selected.

messages

print "Messages in Junk Mail -- " . $imap->messages("INBOX.Junk Mail") .  "\n";

This method is an alias for $imap-select>

flags

print "Avaliable server flags: " . join(", ", $imap->flags) . "\n";

This method accepts an optional folder name and returns the current available server flags as a list, for the selected folder. If no folder name is provided the last folder $imap->select'ed will be used.

This method uses caching.

recent

print "Recent messages value: " . $imap->recent . "\n";

This method accepts an optional folder name and returns the 'RECENT' value provided durning a SELECT result set. If no folder name is provided the last folder $imap->select'ed will be used.

This method uses caching.

See also: search

current_box

print "Current Mail Box folder: " . $imap->current_box . "\n";

This method returns the current working mail box folder name.

top

my $header = $imap->top( $message_number ); print for @{$header};

This method accepts a message number as its required parameter. That message will be retrieved from the currently selected folder. On success this method returns a list reference containing the lines of the header. Nothing is returned on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

seen

defined( my $seen = $imap->seen( $message_number ) )
    or warn "problem testing for \Seen: "
          . $imap->errstr;

print "msg #$message_number has been \Seen!" if $seen;

A message number is the only required parameter for this method. The message's \Seen flag will be examined and if the message has been seen a true value is returned. A defined false value is returned if the message does not have the \Seen flag set. The undefined value is returned when an error has occurred while checking the flag status.

NOTE: This is not the opposite of unseen above. This issues a FETCH command and checks to see if the given message has been \Seen before.

deleted

defined( my $deleted = $imap->deleted( $message_number ) )
    or warn "problem testing for \Deleted: "
          . $imap->errstr;

print "msg #$message_number has been \Deleted!" if $deleted;

A message number is the only required parameter for this method. The message's \Deleted flag will be examined and if the message has been deleted a true value is returned. A defined false value is returned if the message does not have the \Deleted flag set. The undefined value is returned when an error has occurred while checking the flag status.

list

my $message_size  = $imap->list($message_number);
my $mailbox_sizes = $imap->list;

This method returns size information for a message, as indicated in the single optional parameter, or all messages in a mailbox. When querying a single message a scalar value is returned. When listing the entire mailbox a hash is returned. On failure, nothing is returned and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

get

my $message = $imap->get( $message_number ) or die $imap->errstr;
my @message_lines = $map->get( $message_number ) or die $imap->errstr;

my $part = $imap->get( $message_number, '1.1' ) or die $imap->errstr;
my @part_lines = $imap->get( $message_number, '1.1' ) or die $imap->errstr;

This method fetches a message and returns its lines as an array or, the actual message. On failure, either an empty list is returned and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

Optionally, a part can be specified in order to fetch a specific portion of a message. This is the raw, encoded body of the message part. The part number is a set of zero or more part specifiers delimited by periods. Every message has at least one part. Specifying a part of '1' returns the raw, encoded body. This is only useful if you know the header information such as encoding.

Historically, get() returned the array of lines as a reference to the array instead of returning the message or the array itself. Please note that it still does this, although it may be deprecated in the future.

The scalar result returned is actually a blessed arrayref with the stringify member overloaded. If you're intending to use the resulting message as a string more than once, it may make sense to force the stringification first.

my $message = $imap->get(1);
   $message = "$message"; # force stringification

It is not normally necessary to do this.

put

$imap->put( $mailbox_name, $message, @flags ) or warn $imap->errstr;

Save a message to the server under the folder named $mailbox_name. You may optionally specify flags for the mail (e.g. \Seen, \Answered), but they must start with a slash.

If $msg is an arrayref, the lines will be printed correctly.

msg_flags

my @flags = $imap->msg_flags( $message_number );
my $flags = $imap->msg_flags( $message_number );

# aught to come out roughly the same
print "Flags on message #$message_number: @flags\n";
print "Flags on message #$message_number: $flags\n";

Detecting errors with this member functions is usually desirable. In the scalar context, detecting an error is synonymous with testing for defined.

if( defined( my $flags = $imap->msg_flags($num) ) ) {
    # it has $flags!

} else {
    warn "problem listing flags for message #$num: "
       . $imap->errstr;
}

In list context, you must call waserr() to test for success.

my @flags = $imap->msg_flags($num);
warn "problem listing flags for msg #$num: "
   . $imap->errstr if $imap->waserr;

getfh

my $file = $imap->getfh( $message_number ); print <$file>;

On success this method returns a file handle pointing to the message identified by the required parameter. On failure, nothing is returned and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

quit

$imap->quit;

OR

$imap->quit(BOOL);

This method logs out of the IMAP server, expunges the selected mailbox, and closes the connection. No error message will ever be returned from this method.

Optionally if BOOL is TRUE (1) then a hard quit is performed which closes the socket connection. This hard quit will still issue both EXPUNGE and LOGOUT commands however the response is ignored and the socket is closed after issuing the commands.

logout

$imap->logout;

This method is just like the quit method except that it does not have a hard quit option and it does not expunge the mailbox before it hangs up and closes the socket.

last

my $message_number = $imap->last;

This method returns the message number of the last message in the selected mailbox, since the last time the mailbox was selected. On failure, nothing is returned and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

delete

print "Gone!" if $imap->delete( $message_number );

This method sets the \Deleted flag on the given message (or messages). On success it returns true, false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message. If the flag was already there, no error is produced. I takes either a message number or "sequence set" as the only argument. Note that messages aren't actually deleted until they are expunged (see expunge_mailbox).

undelete

print "Resurrected!" if $imap->undelete( $message_number );

This method removes the \Deleted flag on the given message. On success it returns true, false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message. If the flag wasn't there, no error is produced.

see

print "You've seen message #$msgno" if $imap->see( $messageno );

This method sets the \Seen flag on the given message. On success it returns true, false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message. If the flag was already there, no error is produced.

unsee

print "You've not seen message #$msgno" if $imap->unsee( $messageno );

This method removes the \Seen flag on the given message. On success it returns true, false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message. If the flag wasn't there, no error is produced.

add_flags

delete and see above really just call this function for those flags.

$imap->add_flags( $msgno, qw(\Seen \Deleted) )
     or die $imap->errstr;

sub_flags

unsee above really just calls this function for that flag.

$imap->sub_flags( $msgno, '\Seen' ) or die $imap->errstr;

mailboxes

my @boxes   = $imap->mailboxes;
my @folders = $imap->mailboxes("Mail/%");
my @lists   = $imap->mailboxes("lists/perl/*", "/Mail/");

This method returns a list of mailboxes. When called with no arguments it recurses from the IMAP root to get all mailboxes. The first optional argument is a mailbox path and the second is the path reference. RFC 3501 section 6.3.8 has more information.

On failure nothing is returned and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

mailboxes_subscribed

my @boxes   = $imap->mailboxes_subscribed;
my @folders = $imap->mailboxes_subscribed("Mail/%");
my @lists   = $imap->mailboxes_subscribed("lists/perl/*", "/Mail/");

This method returns a list of mailboxes subscribed to. When called with no arguments it recurses from the IMAP root to get all mailboxes. The first optional argument is a mailbox path and the second is the path reference. RFC 3501 has more information.

On failure nothing is returned and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

create_mailbox

print "Created" if $imap->create_mailbox( "/Mail/lists/perl/advocacy" );

This method creates the mailbox named in the required argument. Returns true on success, false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

expunge_mailbox

my @expunged = $imap->expunge_mailbox( "/Mail/lists/perl/advocacy" );
die $imap->errstr if $imap->waserr;

my $expunged = $imap->expunge_mailbox( "/Mail/lists/perl/advocacy" )
    or die $imap->errstr;

This method removes all mail marked as deleted in the mailbox named in the required argument. Returns either the number of messages that were expunged, or the indexes of those messages -- which has a questionable usefulness since it tends to return numbers that don't relate to the message numbers marked with the \Deleted flags.

If 0 messages were expunged without error, the function will return 0E0 so it will still test true, but also evaluate to 0.

In list context, you must call waserr() to test for success.

delete_mailbox

print "Deleted" if $imap->delete_mailbox( "/Mail/lists/perl/advocacy" );

This method deletes the mailbox named in the required argument. Returns true on success, false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

rename_mailbox

print "Renamed" if $imap->rename_mailbox( $old => $new );

This method renames the mailbox in the first required argument to the mailbox named in the second required argument. Returns true on success, false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

folder_subscribe

print "Subscribed" if $imap->folder_subscribe( "/Mail/lists/perl/advocacy" );

This method subscribes to the folder. Returns true on success, false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

folder_unsubscribe

print "Unsubscribed" if $imap->folder_unsubscribe( "/Mail/lists/perl/advocacy" );

This method un-subscribes to the folder. Returns true on success, false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

copy

print "copied" if $imap->copy( $message_number, $mailbox );

This method copies the message number (or "sequence set") in the currently selected mailbox to the fold specified in the second argument. Both arguments are required. On success this method returns true. Returns false on failure and the errstr() error handler is set with the error message.

uidcopy

print "copied" if $imap->uidcopy( $message_uid, $mailbox );

This method is identical to copy() above, except that it uses UID numbers instead of sequence numbers.

noop

$imap->noop;

Performs a null operation. This may be needed to get updates on a mailbox, or ensure that the server does not close the connection as idle. RFC 3501 states that servers' idle timeouts must not be less than 30 minutes.

errstr

print "Login ERROR: " . $imap->errstr . "\n" if !$imap->login($user, $pass);

Return the last error string captured for the last operation which failed.

waserr

my @flags = $imap->msg_flags(14);
die $imap->errstr if $imap->waserr;

Because msg_flags() can optionally return a list, it's not really possible to detect failure in list context. Therefore, you must call waserr() if you wish to detect errors.

Few of the Net::IMAP::Simple methods use waserr(). The ones that do will mention it.

list2range

Sometimes you have a long list of sequence numbers which are consecutive and really want to be an IMAP-style range.

my @list  = (5..9, 13..38, 55,56,57);
my $short = $imap->list2range(@list);

# $short how says: 5:9,13:38,55:57

range2list

Pretty much the opposite of list2range.

my @list = $imap->range2list("1,3,5:9");
# @list is (1,3,5,6,7,8,9);

SEARCHING

search

This function returns an array of message numbers (in list context) or the number of matched messages (in scalar context). It takes a single argument: the search.

IMAP searching can be a little confusing and this function makes no attempt to parse your searches. If you wish to do searches by hand, please see RFC 3501.

IMAP sorting (see RFC 5256) is supported via an optional second argument. The RFC requires the charset be specified, which can be provided via the optional third argument (defaults to UTF-8).

Here are a few examples:

my @ids = $imap->search("UNSEEN");
my @ids = $imap->search('SUBJECT "blarg is \"blarg\""');
my @ids = $imap->search('FROM "joe@aol.com"');
my @ids = $imap->search("DELETED");

# example from RFC 3501, search terms are ANDed together
my @ids = $imap->search('FLAGGED SINCE 1-Feb-1994 NOT FROM "Smith"');
# example from RFC 3501, search terms are ORed together
my @ids = $imap->search('OR BODY "blard" SUBJECT "blarg"');

# flagged and ( since x or !from y ):
my @ids = $imap->search('FLAGGED OR SINCE x NOT FROM "y"');
  # no typo above, see the RFC

# example from RFC 5256, sorted by subject and reverse date
my @ids = $imap->search('BODY "zaphod"', 'SUBJECT REVERSE DATE');

Since this module is meant to be simple, Net::IMAP::Simple has a few search helpers. If you need fancy booleans and things, you'll have to learn search. If you need a quick search for unseen messages, see below.

These all return an array of messages or count of messages exactly as the search function does. Some of them take arguments, some do not. They do try to grok your arguments slightly, the mechanics of this (if any) will be mentioned below.

search_seen: Returns numbers of messages that have the \Seen flag.
search_recent: Returns numbers of messages that have the \Recent flag.
search_answered: Returns numbers of messages that have the \Answered flag.
search_deleted: Returns numbers of messages that have the \Deleted flag.
search_flagged: Returns numbers of messages that have the \Flagged flag.
search_draft: Returns numbers of messages that have the \Draft flag.
search_unseen: Returns numbers of messages that do not have the \Seen flag.
search_old: Returns numbers of messages that do not have the \Recent flag.
search_unanswered: Returns numbers of messages that do not have the \Answered flag.
search_undeleted: Returns numbers of messages that do not have the \Deleted flag.
search_unflagged: Returns numbers of messages that do not have the \Flagged flag.
search_smaller: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that are smaller than <x> octets. This function will try to force your argument to be a number before passing it to the IMAP server.
search_larger: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that are larger than <x> octets. This function will try to force your argument to be a number before passing it to the IMAP server.
search_from: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that have <x> in the from header. This function will attempt to force your string into the RFC3501 quoted-string format.
search_to: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that have <x> in the to header. This function will attempt to force your string into the RFC3501 quoted-string format.
search_cc: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that have <x> in the cc header. This function will attempt to force your string into the RFC3501 quoted-string format.
search_bcc: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that have <x> in the bcc header. This function will attempt to force your string into the RFC3501 quoted-string format.
search_subject: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that have <x> in the subject header. This function will attempt to force your string into the RFC3501 quoted-string format.
search_body: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that have <x> in the message body. This function will attempt to force your string into the RFC3501 quoted-string format.
search_before: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that were received before <x>. If you have Date::Manip installed (optional), this function will attempt to force the date into the format %d-%m-%Y (date-month-year) as RFC3501 requires. If you do not have that module, no attempt will be made to coerce your date into the correct format.
search_since: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that were received after <x>. If you have Date::Manip installed (optional), this function will attempt to force the date into the format %d-%m-%Y (date-month-year) as RFC3501 requires. If you do not have that module, no attempt will be made to coerce your date into the correct format.
search_sent_before: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that have a header date before <x>. If you have Date::Manip installed (optional), this function will attempt to force the date into the format %d-%m-%Y (date-month-year) as RFC3501 requires. If you do not have that module, no attempt will be made to coerce your date into the correct format.
search_sent_since: This function takes a single argument we'll call <x> and returns numbers of messages that have a header date after <x>. If you have Date::Manip installed (optional), this function will attempt to force the date into the format %d-%m-%Y (date-month-year) as RFC3501 requires. If you do not have that module, no attempt will be made to coerce your date into the correct format.

uidsearch

This function works exactly like search() but it returns UIDs instead of sequence numbers. The convenient shortcuts above are not provided for it.

OTHER NOTES

sequence set

Message numbers are never checked before being passed to the IMAP server (this is a "simple" module after all), so in most places where a message number is required, you can instead use so-called sequence sets. Examples:

$imap->copy(   "3,4,9:22", "ANOTHERBOX" ) or die $imap->errstr;
$imap->delete( "3,4,9:22", "ANOTHERBOX" ) or die $imap->errstr;

AUTHOR

Creator: Joao Fonseca <joao_g_fonseca@yahoo.com>
2004 maintainer: Casey West <casey@geeknst.com>
2005 maintainer: Colin Faber <cfaber@fpsn.net>
2009 maintainer: Paul Miller <jettero@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT

LICENSE

This module is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License 2.0.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

[This software may have had previous licenses, of which the current maintainer is completely unaware. If this is so, it is possible the above license is incorrect or invalid.]

BUGS

There are probably bugs. But don't worry, the current maintainer takes them very seriously and will usually triage (at least) within a single day.

https://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=Net-IMAP-Simple

	Global
`s`	Focus search bar
`?`	Bring up this help dialog

	GitHub
`g` `p`	Go to pull requests
`g` `i`	go to github issues (only if github is preferred repository)

	POD
`g` `a`	Go to author
`g` `c`	Go to changes
`g` `i`	Go to issues
`g` `d`	Go to dist
`g` `r`	Go to repository/SCM
`g` `s`	Go to source
`g` `b`	Go to file browse

	Search terms
module: (e.g. module:Plugin)
distribution: (e.g. distribution:Dancer auth)
author: (e.g. author:SONGMU Redis)
version: (e.g. version:1.00)