imaplib — IMAP4 protocol client¶

IMAP4 Objects¶

All IMAP4rev1 commands are represented by methods of the same name, either upper-case or lower-case.

All arguments to commands are converted to strings, except for AUTHENTICATE, and the last argument to APPEND which is passed as an IMAP4 literal. If necessary (the string contains IMAP4 protocol-sensitive characters and isn’t enclosed with either parentheses or double quotes) each string is quoted. However, the password argument to the LOGIN command is always quoted. If you want to avoid having an argument string quoted (eg: the flags argument to STORE) then enclose the string in parentheses (eg: r'(\Deleted)').

Each command returns a tuple: (type, [data, ...]) where type is usually 'OK' or 'NO', and data is either the text from the command response, or mandated results from the command. Each data is either a string, or a tuple. If a tuple, then the first part is the header of the response, and the second part contains the data (ie: ‘literal’ value).

The message_set options to commands below is a string specifying one or more messages to be acted upon. It may be a simple message number ('1'), a range of message numbers ('2:4'), or a group of non-contiguous ranges separated by commas ('1:3,6:9'). A range can contain an asterisk to indicate an infinite upper bound ('3:*').

An IMAP4 instance has the following methods:

IMAP4.append(mailbox, flags, date_time, message)¶

Append message to named mailbox.

IMAP4.authenticate(mechanism, authobject)¶

Authenticate command — requires response processing.

mechanism specifies which authentication mechanism is to be used - it should appear in the instance variable capabilities in the form AUTH=mechanism.

authobject must be a callable object:

data = authobject(response)

It will be called to process server continuation responses. It should return data that will be encoded and sent to server. It should return None if the client abort response * should be sent instead.

IMAP4.check()¶

Checkpoint mailbox on server.

IMAP4.close()¶

Close currently selected mailbox. Deleted messages are removed from writable mailbox. This is the recommended command before LOGOUT.

IMAP4.copy(message_set, new_mailbox)¶

Copy message_set messages onto end of new_mailbox.

IMAP4.create(mailbox)¶

Create new mailbox named mailbox.

IMAP4.delete(mailbox)¶

Delete old mailbox named mailbox.

IMAP4.deleteacl(mailbox, who)¶

Delete the ACLs (remove any rights) set for who on mailbox.

IMAP4.expunge()¶

Permanently remove deleted items from selected mailbox. Generates an EXPUNGE response for each deleted message. Returned data contains a list of EXPUNGE message numbers in order received.

IMAP4.fetch(message_set, message_parts)¶

Fetch (parts of) messages. message_parts should be a string of message part names enclosed within parentheses, eg: "(UID BODY[TEXT])". Returned data are tuples of message part envelope and data.

IMAP4.getacl(mailbox)¶

Get the ACLs for mailbox. The method is non-standard, but is supported by the Cyrus server.

IMAP4.getannotation(mailbox, entry, attribute)¶

Retrieve the specified ANNOTATIONs for mailbox. The method is non-standard, but is supported by the Cyrus server.

IMAP4.getquota(root)¶

Get the quota root‘s resource usage and limits. This method is part of the IMAP4 QUOTA extension defined in rfc2087.

IMAP4.getquotaroot(mailbox)¶

Get the list of quota roots for the named mailbox. This method is part of the IMAP4 QUOTA extension defined in rfc2087.

IMAP4.list([directory[, pattern]])¶

List mailbox names in directory matching pattern. directory defaults to the top-level mail folder, and pattern defaults to match anything. Returned data contains a list of LIST responses.

IMAP4.login(user, password)¶

Identify the client using a plaintext password. The password will be quoted.

IMAP4.login_cram_md5(user, password)¶

Force use of CRAM-MD5 authentication when identifying the client to protect the password. Will only work if the server CAPABILITY response includes the phrase AUTH=CRAM-MD5.

IMAP4.logout()¶

Shutdown connection to server. Returns server BYE response.

IMAP4.lsub([directory[, pattern]])¶

List subscribed mailbox names in directory matching pattern. directory defaults to the top level directory and pattern defaults to match any mailbox. Returned data are tuples of message part envelope and data.

IMAP4.myrights(mailbox)¶

Show my ACLs for a mailbox (i.e. the rights that I have on mailbox).

IMAP4.namespace()¶

Returns IMAP namespaces as defined in RFC2342.

IMAP4.noop()¶

Send NOOP to server.

IMAP4.open(host, port)¶

Opens socket to port at host. The connection objects established by this method will be used in the read, readline, send, and shutdown methods. You may override this method.

IMAP4.partial(message_num, message_part, start, length)¶

Fetch truncated part of a message. Returned data is a tuple of message part envelope and data.

IMAP4.proxyauth(user)¶

Assume authentication as user. Allows an authorised administrator to proxy into any user’s mailbox.

IMAP4.read(size)¶

Reads size bytes from the remote server. You may override this method.

IMAP4.readline()¶

Reads one line from the remote server. You may override this method.

IMAP4.recent()¶

Prompt server for an update. Returned data is None if no new messages, else value of RECENT response.

IMAP4.rename(oldmailbox, newmailbox)¶

Rename mailbox named oldmailbox to newmailbox.

IMAP4.response(code)¶

Return data for response code if received, or None. Returns the given code, instead of the usual type.

IMAP4.search(charset, criterion[, ...])¶

Search mailbox for matching messages. charset may be None, in which case no CHARSET will be specified in the request to the server. The IMAP protocol requires that at least one criterion be specified; an exception will be raised when the server returns an error.

Example:

# M is a connected IMAP4 instance...
typ, msgnums = M.search(None, 'FROM', '"LDJ"')

# or:
typ, msgnums = M.search(None, '(FROM "LDJ")')

IMAP4.select([mailbox[, readonly]])¶

Select a mailbox. Returned data is the count of messages in mailbox (EXISTS response). The default mailbox is 'INBOX'. If the readonly flag is set, modifications to the mailbox are not allowed.

IMAP4.send(data)¶

Sends data to the remote server. You may override this method.

IMAP4.setacl(mailbox, who, what)¶

Set an ACL for mailbox. The method is non-standard, but is supported by the Cyrus server.

IMAP4.setannotation(mailbox, entry, attribute[, ...])¶

Set ANNOTATIONs for mailbox. The method is non-standard, but is supported by the Cyrus server.

IMAP4.setquota(root, limits)¶

Set the quota root‘s resource limits. This method is part of the IMAP4 QUOTA extension defined in rfc2087.

IMAP4.shutdown()¶

Close connection established in open. You may override this method.

IMAP4.socket()¶

Returns socket instance used to connect to server.

IMAP4.sort(sort_criteria, charset, search_criterion[, ...])¶

The sort command is a variant of search with sorting semantics for the results. Returned data contains a space separated list of matching message numbers.

Sort has two arguments before the search_criterion argument(s); a parenthesized list of sort_criteria, and the searching charset. Note that unlike search, the searching charset argument is mandatory. There is also a uid sort command which corresponds to sort the way that uid search corresponds to search. The sort command first searches the mailbox for messages that match the given searching criteria using the charset argument for the interpretation of strings in the searching criteria. It then returns the numbers of matching messages.

This is an IMAP4rev1 extension command.

IMAP4.status(mailbox, names)¶

Request named status conditions for mailbox.

IMAP4.store(message_set, command, flag_list)¶

Alters flag dispositions for messages in mailbox. command is specified by section 6.4.6 of RFC 2060 as being one of “FLAGS”, “+FLAGS”, or “-FLAGS”, optionally with a suffix of “.SILENT”.

For example, to set the delete flag on all messages:

typ, data = M.search(None, 'ALL')
for num in data[0].split():
   M.store(num, '+FLAGS', '\\Deleted')
M.expunge()

IMAP4.subscribe(mailbox)¶

Subscribe to new mailbox.

IMAP4.thread(threading_algorithm, charset, search_criterion[, ...])¶

The thread command is a variant of search with threading semantics for the results. Returned data contains a space separated list of thread members.

Thread members consist of zero or more messages numbers, delimited by spaces, indicating successive parent and child.

Thread has two arguments before the search_criterion argument(s); a threading_algorithm, and the searching charset. Note that unlike search, the searching charset argument is mandatory. There is also a uid thread command which corresponds to thread the way that uid search corresponds to search. The thread command first searches the mailbox for messages that match the given searching criteria using the charset argument for the interpretation of strings in the searching criteria. It then returns the matching messages threaded according to the specified threading algorithm.

This is an IMAP4rev1 extension command.

IMAP4.uid(command, arg[, ...])¶

Execute command args with messages identified by UID, rather than message number. Returns response appropriate to command. At least one argument must be supplied; if none are provided, the server will return an error and an exception will be raised.

IMAP4.unsubscribe(mailbox)¶

Unsubscribe from old mailbox.

IMAP4.xatom(name[, arg[, ...]])¶

Allow simple extension commands notified by server in CAPABILITY response.

The following attributes are defined on instances of IMAP4:

IMAP4.PROTOCOL_VERSION¶

The most recent supported protocol in the CAPABILITY response from the server.

IMAP4.debug¶

Integer value to control debugging output. The initialize value is taken from the module variable Debug. Values greater than three trace each command.

IMAP4 Example¶

Here is a minimal example (without error checking) that opens a mailbox and retrieves and prints all messages:

import getpass, imaplib

M = imaplib.IMAP4()
M.login(getpass.getuser(), getpass.getpass())
M.select()
typ, data = M.search(None, 'ALL')
for num in data[0].split():
    typ, data = M.fetch(num, '(RFC822)')
    print('Message %s\n%s\n' % (num, data[0][1]))
M.close()
M.logout()