NAME

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

OBJECT CREATION METHOD

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

    # OR

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

PREAUTH

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

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

    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 "UID"s 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
    

One final note, this gives the size of the search match, not the uid like you might expect:

    my $uid_search_result_list_size = $imap->uid('3'); # probably always 1
    

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 "Available 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.

separator

Returns the folder separator (technically "hierarchy separator", rfc3501§6.3.8) for the server.

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

unseen

    print "Unseen messages value: " . $imap->unseen . "\n";
    

This method accepts an optional folder name and returns the 'UNSEEN' value provided during a SELECT command result. If no folder name is provided the last folder "$imap->select"'ed will be used. If a folder name is provided, this will issue a SELECT first.

This method uses caching.

If the server does not provide UNSEEN during SELECT -- surprisingly common -- this method will fall back and use STATUS to determine the unseen count.

NOTE: This is not the opposite of seen below. The UNSEEN value varies from server to server, but according to the IMAP specification, it should be the number of the first unseen message, in the case the flag is provided. (If the flag is not provided, users would have to use the SEARCH command to find it.)

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.

fetch

  my $headers = $imap->fetch("1:5")
    

Fetch the headers for messages 1-5 in the current folder.

  for my $midx ( keys %$headers ) {
      for my $hdr in ($headers->{$midx}) {
          say "$hdr"

          # In many situations the headers will be parsed and may not be simple
          # strings (e.g., with the SimpleX RecDescent parse). The simplest
          # way to get a feel for the output is to use a dumper on it.
      }
  }
    

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

put_with_date

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

Save a message to the server under the folder named $mailbox_name just like the put method above, but supplying a date will set the IMAP server internal date for the message if supported per RFC 3501 Section 6.3.11.

Note when using this with Gmail it expects the date format to be: DD-Mon-YYYY hh:mm:ss tz for example 31-Dec-2016 12:59:59 -0500

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 folder 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.

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" ) or die $imap->errstr;
    

AUTHOR

Creator

Joao Fonseca "<joao_g_fonseca@yahoo.com>"

Maintainer 2004

Casey West "<casey@geeknst.com>"

Maintainer 2005

Colin Faber "<cfaber@fpsn.net>"

Maintainer 2009

Paul Miller "<jettero@cpan.org>"

COPYRIGHT

All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

LICENSE

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

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

SEE ALSO