Protocol
Net::IMAP implements Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) client functionality. The protocol is described in [IMAP].
An IMAP client connects to a server, and then authenticates itself using either authenticate or login. Having authenticated itself, there is a range of commands available to it. Most work with mailboxes, which may be arranged in an hierarchical namespace, and each of which contains zero or more messages. How this is implemented on the server is implementation-dependent; on a UNIX server, it will frequently be implemented as files in mailbox format within a hierarchy of directories.
To work on the messages within a mailbox, the client must first select that mailbox, using either select or (for read-only access) examine. Once the client has successfully selected a mailbox, they enter selected state, and that mailbox becomes the current mailbox, on which mail-item related commands implicitly operate.
Messages have two sorts of identifiers: message sequence numbers and UIDs.
Message sequence numbers number messages within a mailbox from 1 up to the number of items in the mailbox. If a new message arrives during a session, it receives a sequence number equal to the new size of the mailbox. If messages are expunged from the mailbox, remaining messages have their sequence numbers “shuffled down” to fill the gaps.
UIDs, on the other hand, are permanently guaranteed not to identify another message within the same mailbox, even if the existing message is deleted. UIDs are required to be assigned in ascending (but not necessarily sequential) order within a mailbox; this means that if a non-IMAP client rearranges the order of mailitems within a mailbox, the UIDs have to be reassigned. An IMAP client thus cannot rearrange message orders.
imap = Net::IMAP.new('mail.example.com') imap.authenticate('LOGIN', 'joe_user', 'joes_password') imap.examine('INBOX') imap.search(["RECENT"]).each do |message_id| envelope = imap.fetch(message_id, "ENVELOPE")[0].attr["ENVELOPE"] puts "#{envelope.from[0].name}: \t#{envelope.subject}" end
imap = Net::IMAP.new('mail.example.com') imap.authenticate('LOGIN', 'joe_user', 'joes_password') imap.select('Mail/sent-mail') if not imap.list('Mail/', 'sent-apr03') imap.create('Mail/sent-apr03') end imap.search(["BEFORE", "30-Apr-2003", "SINCE", "1-Apr-2003"]).each do |message_id| imap.copy(message_id, "Mail/sent-apr03") imap.store(message_id, "+FLAGS", [:Deleted]) end imap.expunge
Net::IMAP supports concurrent threads. For example,
imap = Net::IMAP.new("imap.foo.net", "imap2") imap.authenticate("cram-md5", "bar", "password") imap.select("inbox") fetch_thread = Thread.start { imap.fetch(1..-1, "UID") } search_result = imap.search(["BODY", "hello"]) fetch_result = fetch_thread.value imap.disconnect
This script invokes the FETCH command and the SEARCH command concurrently.
An IMAP server can send three different types of responses to indicate failure:
the attempted command could not be successfully completed. For instance, the username/password used for logging in are incorrect; the selected mailbox does not exist; etc.
the request from the client does not follow the server's understanding of the IMAP protocol. This includes attempting commands from the wrong client state; for instance, attempting to perform a SEARCH command without having SELECTed a current mailbox. It can also signal an internal server failure (such as a disk crash) has occurred.
the server is saying goodbye. This can be part of a normal logout sequence, and can be used as part of a login sequence to indicate that the server is (for some reason) unwilling to accept your connection. As a response to any other command, it indicates either that the server is shutting down, or that the server is timing out the client connection due to inactivity.
These three error response are represented by the errors Net::IMAP::NoResponseError, Net::IMAP::BadResponseError, and Net::IMAP::ByeResponseError, all of which are subclasses of Net::IMAP::ResponseError. Essentially, all methods that involve sending a request to the server can generate one of these errors. Only the most pertinent instances have been documented below.
Because the IMAP class uses Sockets for communication, its methods are also susceptible to the various errors that can occur when working with sockets. These are generally represented as Errno errors. For instance, any method that involves sending a request to the server and/or receiving a response from it could raise an Errno::EPIPE error if the network connection unexpectedly goes down. See the socket(7), ip(7), tcp(7), socket(2), connect(2), and associated man pages.
Finally, a Net::IMAP::DataFormatError is thrown if low-level data is found to be in an incorrect format (for instance, when converting between UTF-8 and UTF-16), and Net::IMAP::ResponseParseError is thrown if a server response is non-parseable.
Crispin, M. “INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL - VERSION 4rev1”, RFC-3501, March 2003. (Note: obsoletes RFC-2060, December 1996.)
Phillips, A. and Davis, M. “Tags for Identifying Languages”, RFC-5646, September 2009. (Note: obsoletes RFC-3066, January 2001, RFC-4646, September 2006, and RFC-1766, March 1995.)
Myers, J. and M. Rose, “The Content-MD5 Header Field”, RFC-1864, October 1995.
Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, “MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies”, RFC-2045, November 1996.
Resnick, P., “Internet Message Format”, RFC-5322, October 2008. (Note: obsoletes RFC-2822, April 2001, and RFC-822, August 1982.)
Myers, J., “IMAP4 QUOTA extension”, RFC-2087, January 1997.
Gahrns, M. and Newman, C., “IMAP4 Namespace”, RFC-2342, May 1998.
Showalter, T., “IMAP4 ID extension”, RFC-2971, October 2000.
Melnikov, A., “IMAP4 ACL extension”, RFC-4314, December 2005. (Note: obsoletes RFC-2086, January 1997.)
Crispin, M. and Muchison, K., “INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL - SORT and THREAD Extensions”, RFC-5256, June 2008.
Gulbrandsen, A. and Freed, N., “Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) - MOVE Extension”, RFC-6851, January 2013.
Goldsmith, D. and Davis, M., “UTF-7: A Mail-Safe Transformation Format of Unicode”, RFC-2152, May 1997.
Seconds to wait until a connection is opened. If the IMAP object cannot open a connection within this time, it raises a Net::OpenTimeout exception. The default value is 30 seconds.
Returns the debug mode.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 257 def self.debug return @@debug end
Sets the debug mode.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 262 def self.debug=(val) return @@debug = val end
Decode a string from modified UTF-7 format to UTF-8.
UTF-7 is a 7-bit encoding of Unicode [UTF7]. IMAP uses a slightly modified version of this to encode mailbox names containing non-ASCII characters; see [IMAP] section 5.1.3.
Net::IMAP does not automatically encode and decode mailbox names to and from UTF-7.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap/data_encoding.rb, line 15 def self.decode_utf7(s) return s.gsub(/&([^-]+)?-/n) { if $1 ($1.tr(",", "/") + "===").unpack1("m").encode(Encoding::UTF_8, Encoding::UTF_16BE) else "&" end } end
The default port for IMAP connections, port 143
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 267 def self.default_port return PORT end
The default port for IMAPS connections, port 993
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 272 def self.default_tls_port return SSL_PORT end
Encode a string from UTF-8 format to modified UTF-7.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap/data_encoding.rb, line 26 def self.encode_utf7(s) return s.gsub(/(&)|[^\x20-\x7e]+/) { if $1 "&-" else base64 = [$&.encode(Encoding::UTF_16BE)].pack("m0") "&" + base64.delete("=").tr("/", ",") + "-" end }.force_encoding("ASCII-8BIT") end
Formats time
as an IMAP-style date.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap/data_encoding.rb, line 38 def self.format_date(time) return time.strftime('%d-%b-%Y') end
Formats time
as an IMAP-style date-time.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap/data_encoding.rb, line 43 def self.format_datetime(time) return time.strftime('%d-%b-%Y %H:%M %z') end
Creates a new Net::IMAP object and connects it to
the specified host
.
options
is an option hash, each key of which is a symbol.
The available options are:
Port number (default value is 143 for imap, or 993 for imaps)
If +options+ is true, then an attempt will be made to use SSL (now TLS) to connect to the server. For this to work OpenSSL [OSSL] and the Ruby OpenSSL [RSSL] extensions need to be installed. If +options+ is a hash, it's passed to OpenSSL::SSL::SSLContext#set_params as parameters.
Seconds to wait until a connection is opened
Seconds to wait until an IDLE response is received
The most common errors are:
Connection refused by host
or an intervening firewall.
Connection timed out (possibly due to packets being dropped by an intervening firewall).
There is no route to that network.
Hostname not known or other socket error.
The connected to the host was successful, but it immediately said goodbye.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 1083 def initialize(host, port_or_options = {}, usessl = false, certs = nil, verify = true) super() @host = host begin options = port_or_options.to_hash rescue NoMethodError # for backward compatibility options = {} options[:port] = port_or_options if usessl options[:ssl] = create_ssl_params(certs, verify) end end @port = options[:port] || (options[:ssl] ? SSL_PORT : PORT) @tag_prefix = "RUBY" @tagno = 0 @open_timeout = options[:open_timeout] || 30 @idle_response_timeout = options[:idle_response_timeout] || 5 @parser = ResponseParser.new @sock = tcp_socket(@host, @port) begin if options[:ssl] start_tls_session(options[:ssl]) @usessl = true else @usessl = false end @responses = Hash.new([].freeze) @tagged_responses = {} @response_handlers = [] @tagged_response_arrival = new_cond @continued_command_tag = nil @continuation_request_arrival = new_cond @continuation_request_exception = nil @idle_done_cond = nil @logout_command_tag = nil @debug_output_bol = true @exception = nil @greeting = get_response if @greeting.nil? raise Error, "connection closed" end if @greeting.name == "BYE" raise ByeResponseError, @greeting end @client_thread = Thread.current @receiver_thread = Thread.start { begin receive_responses rescue Exception end } @receiver_thread_terminating = false rescue Exception @sock.close raise end end
Adds a response handler. For example, to detect when the server sends a new EXISTS response (which normally indicates new messages being added to the mailbox), add the following handler after selecting the mailbox:
imap.add_response_handler { |resp| if resp.kind_of?(Net::IMAP::UntaggedResponse) and resp.name == "EXISTS" puts "Mailbox now has #{resp.data} messages" end }
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 957 def add_response_handler(handler = nil, &block) raise ArgumentError, "two Procs are passed" if handler && block @response_handlers.push(block || handler) end
Sends a APPEND command to append the message
to the end of the
mailbox
. The optional flags
argument is an array
of flags initially passed to the new message. The optional
date_time
argument specifies the creation time to assign to
the new message; it defaults to the current time. For example:
imap.append("inbox", "Subject: hello From: shugo@ruby-lang.org To: shugo@ruby-lang.org hello world ".gsub(/\n/, "\r\n"), [:Seen], Time.now)
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is raised if the mailbox does not exist (it is not created automatically), or if the flags, date_time, or message arguments contain errors.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 745 def append(mailbox, message, flags = nil, date_time = nil) args = [] if flags args.push(flags) end args.push(date_time) if date_time args.push(Literal.new(message)) send_command("APPEND", mailbox, *args) end
Sends an AUTHENTICATE command to authenticate the client. The
auth_type
parameter is a string that represents the
authentication mechanism to be used. Currently Net::IMAP supports the authentication mechanisms:
LOGIN:: login using cleartext user and password. CRAM-MD5:: login with cleartext user and encrypted password (see [RFC-2195] for a full description). This mechanism requires that the server have the user's password stored in clear-text password.
For both of these mechanisms, there should be two args
:
username and (cleartext) password. A server may not support one or the
other of these mechanisms; check capability for a capability of the
form “AUTH=LOGIN” or “AUTH=CRAM-MD5”.
Authentication is done using the appropriate authenticator object: see
add_authenticator
for more information on plugging in your own
authenticator.
For example:
imap.authenticate('LOGIN', user, password)
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is raised if authentication fails.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 402 def authenticate(auth_type, *args) authenticator = self.class.authenticator(auth_type, *args) send_command("AUTHENTICATE", auth_type) do |resp| if resp.instance_of?(ContinuationRequest) data = authenticator.process(resp.data.text.unpack("m")[0]) s = [data].pack("m0") send_string_data(s) put_string(CRLF) end end end
Sends a CAPABILITY command, and returns an array of capabilities that the server supports. Each capability is a string. See [IMAP] for a list of possible capabilities.
Note that the Net::IMAP class does not modify its behaviour according to the capabilities of the server; it is up to the user of the class to ensure that a certain capability is supported by a server before using it.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 320 def capability synchronize do send_command("CAPABILITY") return @responses.delete("CAPABILITY")[-1] end end
Sends a CHECK command to request a checkpoint of the currently selected mailbox. This performs implementation-specific housekeeping; for instance, reconciling the mailbox's in-memory and on-disk state.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 759 def check send_command("CHECK") end
Sends a CLOSE command to close the currently selected mailbox. The CLOSE command permanently removes from the mailbox all messages that have the Deleted flag set.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 766 def close send_command("CLOSE") end
Sends a COPY command to copy the specified message(s) to the end of the
specified destination mailbox
. The set
parameter
is a number, an array of numbers, or a Range object. The number is a
message sequence number.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 899 def copy(set, mailbox) copy_internal("COPY", set, mailbox) end
Sends a CREATE command to create a new mailbox
.
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is raised if a mailbox with that name cannot be created.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 460 def create(mailbox) send_command("CREATE", mailbox) end
Sends a DELETE command to remove the mailbox
.
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is raised if a mailbox with that name cannot be deleted, either because it does not exist or because the client does not have permission to delete it.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 469 def delete(mailbox) send_command("DELETE", mailbox) end
Disconnects from the server.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 283 def disconnect return if disconnected? begin begin # try to call SSL::SSLSocket#io. @sock.io.shutdown rescue NoMethodError # @sock is not an SSL::SSLSocket. @sock.shutdown end rescue Errno::ENOTCONN # ignore `Errno::ENOTCONN: Socket is not connected' on some platforms. rescue Exception => e @receiver_thread.raise(e) end @receiver_thread.join synchronize do @sock.close end raise e if e end
Returns true if disconnected from the server.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 306 def disconnected? return @sock.closed? end
Sends a EXAMINE command to select a mailbox
so that messages
in the mailbox
can be accessed. Behaves the same as select, except that the selected
mailbox
is identified as read-only.
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is raised if the mailbox does not exist or is for some reason non-examinable.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 449 def examine(mailbox) synchronize do @responses.clear send_command("EXAMINE", mailbox) end end
Sends a EXPUNGE command to permanently remove from the currently selected mailbox all messages that have the Deleted flag set.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 772 def expunge synchronize do send_command("EXPUNGE") return @responses.delete("EXPUNGE") end end
Sends a FETCH command to retrieve data associated with a message in the mailbox.
The set
parameter is a number or a range between two numbers,
or an array of those. The number is a message sequence number, where -1
represents a '*' for use in range notation like 100..-1 being
interpreted as '100:*'. Beware that the exclude_end?
property of a Range object is ignored, and the contents of a range are
independent of the order of the range endpoints as per the protocol
specification, so 1…5, 5..1 and 5…1 are all equivalent to 1..5.
attr
is a list of attributes to fetch; see the documentation
for Net::IMAP::FetchData for a list of
valid attributes.
The return value is an array of Net::IMAP::FetchData or nil (instead of an empty array) if there is no matching message.
For example:
p imap.fetch(6..8, "UID") #=> [#<Net::IMAP::FetchData seqno=6, attr={"UID"=>98}>, \\ #<Net::IMAP::FetchData seqno=7, attr={"UID"=>99}>, \\ #<Net::IMAP::FetchData seqno=8, attr={"UID"=>100}>] p imap.fetch(6, "BODY[HEADER.FIELDS (SUBJECT)]") #=> [#<Net::IMAP::FetchData seqno=6, attr={"BODY[HEADER.FIELDS (SUBJECT)]"=>"Subject: test\r\n\r\n"}>] data = imap.uid_fetch(98, ["RFC822.SIZE", "INTERNALDATE"])[0] p data.seqno #=> 6 p data.attr["RFC822.SIZE"] #=> 611 p data.attr["INTERNALDATE"] #=> "12-Oct-2000 22:40:59 +0900" p data.attr["UID"] #=> 98
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 863 def fetch(set, attr, mod = nil) return fetch_internal("FETCH", set, attr, mod) end
Send the GETACL command along with a specified mailbox
. If
this mailbox exists, an array containing objects of Net::IMAP::MailboxACLItem will be
returned.
The ACL extension is described in [EXT-ACL]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 684 def getacl(mailbox) synchronize do send_command("GETACL", mailbox) return @responses.delete("ACL")[-1] end end
Sends the GETQUOTA command along with specified mailbox
. If
this mailbox exists, then an array containing a Net::IMAP::MailboxQuota object is
returned. This command is generally only available to server admin.
The QUOTA extension is described in [EXT-QUOTA]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 644 def getquota(mailbox) synchronize do send_command("GETQUOTA", mailbox) return @responses.delete("QUOTA") end end
Sends the GETQUOTAROOT command along with the specified
mailbox
. This command is generally available to both admin and
user. If this mailbox exists, it returns an array containing objects of
type Net::IMAP::MailboxQuotaRoot
and Net::IMAP::MailboxQuota.
The QUOTA extension is described in [EXT-QUOTA]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 628 def getquotaroot(mailbox) synchronize do send_command("GETQUOTAROOT", mailbox) result = [] result.concat(@responses.delete("QUOTAROOT")) result.concat(@responses.delete("QUOTA")) return result end end
Sends an ID command, and returns a hash of the server's response, or nil if the server does not identify itself.
Note that the user should first check if the server supports the ID capability. For example:
capabilities = imap.capability if capabilities.include?("ID") id = imap.id( name: "my IMAP client (ruby)", version: MyIMAP::VERSION, "support-url": "mailto:bugs@example.com", os: RbConfig::CONFIG["host_os"], ) end
See [EXT-ID] for field definitions.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 344 def id(client_id=nil) synchronize do send_command("ID", ClientID.new(client_id)) @responses.delete("ID")&.last end end
Sends an IDLE command that waits for notifications of new or expunged messages. Yields responses from the server during the IDLE.
Use idle_done to leave IDLE.
If timeout
is given, this method returns after
timeout
seconds passed. timeout
can be used for
keep-alive. For example, the following code checks the connection for each
60 seconds.
loop do imap.idle(60) do |res| ... end end
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 1006 def idle(timeout = nil, &response_handler) raise LocalJumpError, "no block given" unless response_handler response = nil synchronize do tag = Thread.current[:net_imap_tag] = generate_tag put_string("#{tag} IDLE#{CRLF}") begin add_response_handler(&response_handler) @idle_done_cond = new_cond @idle_done_cond.wait(timeout) @idle_done_cond = nil if @receiver_thread_terminating raise @exception || Net::IMAP::Error.new("connection closed") end ensure unless @receiver_thread_terminating remove_response_handler(response_handler) put_string("DONE#{CRLF}") response = get_tagged_response(tag, "IDLE", @idle_response_timeout) end end end return response end
Leaves IDLE.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 1036 def idle_done synchronize do if @idle_done_cond.nil? raise Net::IMAP::Error, "not during IDLE" end @idle_done_cond.signal end end
Sends a LIST command, and returns a subset of names from the complete set
of all names available to the client. refname
provides a
context (for instance, a base directory in a directory-based mailbox
hierarchy). mailbox
specifies a mailbox or (via wildcards)
mailboxes under that context. Two wildcards may be used in
mailbox
: '*', which matches all characters
including the hierarchy delimiter (for instance,
'/' on a UNIX-hosted directory-based mailbox hierarchy); and
'%', which matches all characters except the
hierarchy delimiter.
If refname
is empty, mailbox
is used directly to
determine which mailboxes to match. If mailbox
is empty, the
root name of refname
and the hierarchy delimiter are returned.
The return value is an array of Net::IMAP::MailboxList
. For
example:
imap.create("foo/bar") imap.create("foo/baz") p imap.list("", "foo/%") #=> [#<Net::IMAP::MailboxList attr=[:Noselect], delim="/", name="foo/">, \\ #<Net::IMAP::MailboxList attr=[:Noinferiors, :Marked], delim="/", name="foo/bar">, \\ #<Net::IMAP::MailboxList attr=[:Noinferiors], delim="/", name="foo/baz">]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 526 def list(refname, mailbox) synchronize do send_command("LIST", refname, mailbox) return @responses.delete("LIST") end end
Sends a LOGIN command to identify the client and carries the plaintext
password
authenticating this user
. Note that,
unlike calling authenticate
with an auth_type
of “LOGIN”, login does not use the
login authenticator.
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is raised if authentication fails.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 420 def login(user, password) send_command("LOGIN", user, password) end
Sends a LOGOUT command to inform the server that the client is done with the connection.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 358 def logout send_command("LOGOUT") end
Sends a LSUB command, and returns a subset of names from the set of names
that the user has declared as being “active” or “subscribed.”
refname
and mailbox
are interpreted as for list.
The return value is an array of Net::IMAP::MailboxList
.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 697 def lsub(refname, mailbox) synchronize do send_command("LSUB", refname, mailbox) return @responses.delete("LSUB") end end
Sends a MOVE command to move the specified message(s) to the end of the
specified destination mailbox
. The set
parameter
is a number, an array of numbers, or a Range object. The number is a
message sequence number.
The MOVE extension is described in [EXT-MOVE].
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 914 def move(set, mailbox) copy_internal("MOVE", set, mailbox) end
Sends a NAMESPACE command and returns the namespaces that are available. The NAMESPACE command allows a client to discover the prefixes of namespaces used by a server for personal mailboxes, other users' mailboxes, and shared mailboxes.
The NAMESPACE extension predates [IMAP4rev1], so most IMAP servers support it. Many popular IMAP servers are configured with the default personal namespaces as `(“” “/”)`: no prefix and “/” hierarchy delimiter. In that common case, the naive client may not have any trouble naming mailboxes.
But many servers are configured with the default personal namespace as e.g. `(“INBOX.” “.”)`, placing all personal folders under INBOX, with “.” as the hierarchy delimiter. If the client does not check for this, but naively assumes it can use the same folder names for all servers, then folder creation (and listing, moving, etc) can lead to errors.
From RFC2342:
Although typically a server will support only a single Personal Namespace, and a single Other User's Namespace, circumstances exist where there MAY be multiples of these, and a client MUST be prepared for them. If a client is configured such that it is required to create a certain mailbox, there can be circumstances where it is unclear which Personal Namespaces it should create the mailbox in. In these situations a client SHOULD let the user select which namespaces to create the mailbox in.
The user of this method should first check if the server supports the
NAMESPACE capability. The return value is a
Net::IMAP::Namespaces
object which has personal
,
other
, and shared
fields, each an array of
Net::IMAP::Namespace
objects. These arrays will be empty when
the server responds with nil.
For example:
capabilities = imap.capability if capabilities.include?("NAMESPACE") namespaces = imap.namespace if namespace = namespaces.personal.first prefix = namespace.prefix # e.g. "" or "INBOX." delim = namespace.delim # e.g. "/" or "." # personal folders should use the prefix and delimiter imap.create(prefix + "foo") imap.create(prefix + "bar") imap.create(prefix + %w[path to my folder].join(delim)) end end
The NAMESPACE extension is described in [EXT-NAMESPACE]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 583 def namespace synchronize do send_command("NAMESPACE") return @responses.delete("NAMESPACE")[-1] end end
Sends a NOOP command to the server. It does nothing.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 352 def noop send_command("NOOP") end
Removes the response handler.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 963 def remove_response_handler(handler) @response_handlers.delete(handler) end
Sends a RENAME command to change the name of the mailbox
to
newname
.
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is
raised if a mailbox with the name mailbox
cannot be renamed to
newname
for whatever reason; for instance, because
mailbox
does not exist, or because there is already a mailbox
with the name newname
.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 480 def rename(mailbox, newname) send_command("RENAME", mailbox, newname) end
Sends a SEARCH command to search the mailbox for messages that match the
given searching criteria, and returns message sequence numbers.
keys
can either be a string holding the entire search string,
or a single-dimension array of search keywords and arguments. The
following are some common search criteria; see [IMAP] section 6.4.4 for a
full list.
a set of message sequence numbers. ',' indicates an interval, ':' indicates a range. For instance, '2,10:12,15' means “2,10,11,12,15”.
messages with an internal date strictly before <date>. The date argument has a format similar to 8-Aug-2002.
messages that contain <string> within their body.
messages containing <string> in their CC field.
messages that contain <string> in their FROM field.
messages with the Recent, but not the Seen, flag set.
negate the following search key.
“or” two search keys together.
messages with an internal date exactly equal to <date>, which has a format similar to 8-Aug-2002.
messages with an internal date on or after <date>.
messages with <string> in their subject.
messages with <string> in their TO field.
For example:
p imap.search(["SUBJECT", "hello", "NOT", "NEW"]) #=> [1, 6, 7, 8]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 819 def search(keys, charset = nil) return search_internal("SEARCH", keys, charset) end
Sends a SELECT command to select a mailbox
so that messages in
the mailbox
can be accessed.
After you have selected a mailbox, you may retrieve the number of items in that mailbox from +@responses[-1]+, and the number of recent messages from +@responses[-1]+. Note that these values can change if new messages arrive during a session; see add_response_handler for a way of detecting this event.
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is raised if the mailbox does not exist or is for some reason non-selectable.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 436 def select(mailbox) synchronize do @responses.clear send_command("SELECT", mailbox) end end
Sends the SETACL command along with mailbox
, user
and the rights
that user is to have on that mailbox. If
rights
is nil, then that user will be stripped of any rights
to that mailbox.
The ACL extension is described in [EXT-ACL]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 671 def setacl(mailbox, user, rights) if rights.nil? send_command("SETACL", mailbox, user, "") else send_command("SETACL", mailbox, user, rights) end end
Sends a SETQUOTA command along with the specified mailbox
and
quota
. If quota
is nil, then quota
will be unset for that mailbox. Typically one needs to be logged in as a
server admin for this to work.
The QUOTA extension is described in [EXT-QUOTA]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 657 def setquota(mailbox, quota) if quota.nil? data = '()' else data = '(STORAGE ' + quota.to_s + ')' end send_command("SETQUOTA", mailbox, RawData.new(data)) end
Sends a SORT command to sort messages in the mailbox. Returns an array of message sequence numbers. For example:
p imap.sort(["FROM"], ["ALL"], "US-ASCII") #=> [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 4, 9] p imap.sort(["DATE"], ["SUBJECT", "hello"], "US-ASCII") #=> [6, 7, 8, 1]
The SORT extension is described in [EXT-SORT-THREAD].
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 934 def sort(sort_keys, search_keys, charset) return sort_internal("SORT", sort_keys, search_keys, charset) end
Sends a STARTTLS command to start TLS session.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 363 def starttls(options = {}, verify = true) send_command("STARTTLS") do |resp| if resp.kind_of?(TaggedResponse) && resp.name == "OK" begin # for backward compatibility certs = options.to_str options = create_ssl_params(certs, verify) rescue NoMethodError end start_tls_session(options) end end end
Sends a STATUS command, and returns the status of the indicated
mailbox
. attr
is a list of one or more attributes
whose statuses are to be requested. Supported attributes include:
MESSAGES:: the number of messages in the mailbox. RECENT:: the number of recent messages in the mailbox. UNSEEN:: the number of unseen messages in the mailbox.
The return value is a hash of attributes. For example:
p imap.status("inbox", ["MESSAGES", "RECENT"]) #=> {"RECENT"=>0, "MESSAGES"=>44}
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is
raised if status values for mailbox
cannot be returned; for
instance, because it does not exist.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 720 def status(mailbox, attr) synchronize do send_command("STATUS", mailbox, attr) return @responses.delete("STATUS")[-1].attr end end
Sends a STORE command to alter data associated with messages in the
mailbox, in particular their flags. The set
parameter is a
number, an array of numbers, or a Range object. Each number is a message
sequence number. attr
is the name of a data item to store:
'FLAGS' will replace the message's flag list with the provided
one, '+FLAGS' will add the provided flags, and '-FLAGS'
will remove them. flags
is a list of flags.
The return value is an array of Net::IMAP::FetchData. For example:
p imap.store(6..8, "+FLAGS", [:Deleted]) #=> [#<Net::IMAP::FetchData seqno=6, attr={"FLAGS"=>[:Seen, :Deleted]}>, \\ #<Net::IMAP::FetchData seqno=7, attr={"FLAGS"=>[:Seen, :Deleted]}>, \\ #<Net::IMAP::FetchData seqno=8, attr={"FLAGS"=>[:Seen, :Deleted]}>]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 886 def store(set, attr, flags) return store_internal("STORE", set, attr, flags) end
Sends a SUBSCRIBE command to add the specified mailbox
name to
the server's set of “active” or “subscribed” mailboxes as returned by
lsub.
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is
raised if mailbox
cannot be subscribed to; for instance,
because it does not exist.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 490 def subscribe(mailbox) send_command("SUBSCRIBE", mailbox) end
Similar to search, but returns message sequence numbers in threaded format, as a Net::IMAP::ThreadMember tree. The supported algorithms are:
split into single-level threads according to subject, ordered by date.
split into threads by parent/child relationships determined by which message is a reply to which.
Unlike search, charset
is a required argument. US-ASCII and UTF-8 are sample values.
The THREAD extension is described in [EXT-SORT-THREAD].
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 980 def thread(algorithm, search_keys, charset) return thread_internal("THREAD", algorithm, search_keys, charset) end
Similar to copy, but set
contains unique identifiers.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 904 def uid_copy(set, mailbox) copy_internal("UID COPY", set, mailbox) end
Similar to fetch, but
set
contains unique identifiers.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 868 def uid_fetch(set, attr, mod = nil) return fetch_internal("UID FETCH", set, attr, mod) end
Similar to search, but returns unique identifiers.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 824 def uid_search(keys, charset = nil) return search_internal("UID SEARCH", keys, charset) end
Similar to sort, but returns an array of unique identifiers.
The SORT extension is described in [EXT-SORT-THREAD].
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 941 def uid_sort(sort_keys, search_keys, charset) return sort_internal("UID SORT", sort_keys, search_keys, charset) end
Similar to store, but
set
contains unique identifiers.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 891 def uid_store(set, attr, flags) return store_internal("UID STORE", set, attr, flags) end
Similar to thread, but returns unique identifiers instead of message sequence numbers.
The THREAD extension is described in [EXT-SORT-THREAD].
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 988 def uid_thread(algorithm, search_keys, charset) return thread_internal("UID THREAD", algorithm, search_keys, charset) end
Sends a UNSUBSCRIBE command to remove the specified mailbox
name from the server's set of “active” or “subscribed” mailboxes.
A Net::IMAP::NoResponseError is
raised if mailbox
cannot be unsubscribed from; for instance,
because the client is not currently subscribed to it.
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 500 def unsubscribe(mailbox) send_command("UNSUBSCRIBE", mailbox) end
Sends a XLIST command, and returns a subset of names from the complete set
of all names available to the client. refname
provides a
context (for instance, a base directory in a directory-based mailbox
hierarchy). mailbox
specifies a mailbox or (via wildcards)
mailboxes under that context. Two wildcards may be used in
mailbox
: '*', which matches all characters
including the hierarchy delimiter (for instance,
'/' on a UNIX-hosted directory-based mailbox hierarchy); and
'%', which matches all characters except the
hierarchy delimiter.
If refname
is empty, mailbox
is used directly to
determine which mailboxes to match. If mailbox
is empty, the
root name of refname
and the hierarchy delimiter are returned.
The XLIST command is like the LIST command except that the flags returned refer to the function of the folder/mailbox, e.g. :Sent
The return value is an array of Net::IMAP::MailboxList
. For
example:
imap.create("foo/bar") imap.create("foo/baz") p imap.xlist("", "foo/%") #=> [#<Net::IMAP::MailboxList attr=[:Noselect], delim="/", name="foo/">, \\ #<Net::IMAP::MailboxList attr=[:Noinferiors, :Marked], delim="/", name="foo/bar">, \\ #<Net::IMAP::MailboxList attr=[:Noinferiors], delim="/", name="foo/baz">]
# File net-imap-0.2.3/lib/net/imap.rb, line 615 def xlist(refname, mailbox) synchronize do send_command("XLIST", refname, mailbox) return @responses.delete("XLIST") end end
The presence of this attribute indicates that the mailbox has child mailboxes. A server SHOULD NOT set this attribute if there are child mailboxes and the user does not have permission to access any of them. In this case, HasNoChildren SHOULD be used. In many cases, however, a server may not be able to efficiently compute whether a user has access to any child mailboxes. Note that even though the HasChildren attribute for a mailbox must be correct at the time of processing the mailbox, a client must be prepared to deal with a situation when a mailbox is marked with the HasChildren attribute, but no child mailbox appears in the response to the LIST command. This might happen, for example, due to child mailboxes being deleted or made inaccessible to the user (using access control) by another client before the server is able to list them.
It is an error for the server to return both a HasChildren and a HasNoChildren attribute in the same LIST response. A client that encounters a LIST response with both HasChildren and HasNoChildren attributes present should act as if both are absent in the LIST response.
The presence of this attribute indicates that the mailbox has NO child mailboxes that are accessible to the currently authenticated user.
It is an error for the server to return both a HasChildren and a HasNoChildren attribute in the same LIST response. A client that encounters a LIST response with both HasChildren and HasNoChildren attributes present should act as if both are absent in the LIST response.
Note: the HasNoChildren attribute should not be confused with the NoInferiors attribute, which indicates that no child mailboxes exist now and none can be created in the future.
The mailbox has been marked “interesting” by the server; the mailbox probably contains messages that have been added since the last time the mailbox was selected.
If it is not feasible for the server to determine whether or not the mailbox is “interesting”, the server SHOULD NOT send either Marked or Unmarked. The server MUST NOT send more than one of Marked, Unmarked, and Noselect for a single mailbox, and it MAY send none of these.
Mailbox attribute indicating it is not possible for any child levels of hierarchy to exist under this name; no child levels exist now and none can be created in the future children.
The client must treat the presence of the NoInferiors attribute as if the HasNoChildren attribute was also sent by the server
The “NonExistent” attribute indicates that a mailbox name does not refer to an existing mailbox. Note that this attribute is not meaningful by itself, as mailbox names that match the canonical LIST pattern but don't exist must not be returned unless one of the two conditions listed below is also satisfied:
The mailbox name also satisfies the selection criteria (for example, it is subscribed and the “SUBSCRIBED” selection option has been specified).
“RECURSIVEMATCH” has been specified, and the mailbox name has at least one descendant mailbox name that does not match the LIST pattern and does match the selection criteria.
In practice, this means that the “NonExistent” attribute is usually returned with one or more of “Subscribed”, “Remote”, “HasChildren”, or the CHILDINFO extended data item.
The client must treat the presence of the NonExistent attribute as if the NoSelect attribute was also sent by the server
Mailbox attribute indicating it is not possible to use this name as a selectable mailbox.
The mailbox is a remote mailbox.
The mailbox name was subscribed to using the SUBSCRIBE command.
The mailbox does not contain any additional messages since the last time the mailbox was selected.
If it is not feasible for the server to determine whether or not the mailbox is “interesting”, the server SHOULD NOT send either Marked or Unmarked. The server MUST NOT send more than one of Marked, Unmarked, and Noselect for a single mailbox, and it MAY send none of these.
Mailbox attribute indicating that this mailbox presents all messages in the user's message store. Implementations MAY omit some messages, such as, perhaps, those in Trash and Junk. When this special use is supported, it is almost certain to represent a virtual mailbox
Mailbox attribute indicating that this mailbox is used to archive messages. The meaning of an “archival” mailbox is server dependent; typically, it will be used to get messages out of the inbox, or otherwise keep them out of the user's way, while still making them accessible
Mailbox attribute indicating that this mailbox is used to hold draft messages – typically, messages that are being composed but have not yet been sent. In some server implementations, this might be a virtual mailbox, containing messages from other mailboxes that are marked with the “Draft” message flag. Alternatively, this might just be advice that a client put drafts here
Mailbox attribute indicating that this mailbox is where messages deemed to be junk mail are held. Some server implementations might put messages here automatically. Alternatively, this might just be advice to a client-side spam filter.
Mailbox attribute indicating that this mailbox is used to hold copies of messages that have been sent. Some server implementations might put messages here automatically. Alternatively, this might just be advice that a client save sent messages here.
Mailbox attribute indicating that this mailbox is used to hold messages that have been deleted or marked for deletion. In some server implementations, this might be a virtual mailbox, containing messages from other mailboxes that are marked with the “Deleted” message flag. Alternatively, this might just be advice that a client that chooses not to use the IMAP “Deleted” model should use as its trash location. In server implementations that strictly expect the IMAP “Deleted” model, this special use is likely not to be supported.
Flag indicating a message has been answered.
Flag indicating a message has been marked for deletion. This will occur when the mailbox is closed or expunged.
Flag indicating a message is only a draft or work-in-progress version.
A message flag indicating a message has been flagged for special or urgent attention.
Also a mailbox special use attribute, which indicates that this mailbox presents all messages marked in some way as “important”. When this special use is supported, it is likely to represent a virtual mailbox collecting messages (from other mailboxes) that are marked with the “Flagged” message flag.
Flag indicating that the message is “recent,” meaning that this session is the first session in which the client has been notified of this message.
This flag was defined by IMAP4rev1 [RFC-3501](www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3501.html), and has been deprecated by IMAP4rev2 [RFC-9051](www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9051.html).
Flag indicating a message has been read.