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152 lines
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ReStructuredText
152 lines
6.6 KiB
ReStructuredText
:mod:`email` --- An email and MIME handling package
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===================================================
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.. module:: email
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:synopsis: Package supporting the parsing, manipulating, and generating
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email messages.
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.. moduleauthor:: Barry A. Warsaw <barry@python.org>,
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R. David Murray <rdmurray@bitdance.com>
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.. sectionauthor:: R. David Murray <rdmurray@bitdance.com>
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**Source code:** :source:`Lib/email/__init__.py`
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--------------
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The :mod:`email` package is a library for managing email messages. It is
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specifically *not* designed to do any sending of email messages to SMTP
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(:rfc:`2821`), NNTP, or other servers; those are functions of modules such as
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:mod:`smtplib` and :mod:`nntplib`. The :mod:`email` package attempts to be as
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RFC-compliant as possible, supporting :rfc:`5233` and :rfc:`6532`, as well as
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such MIME-related RFCs as :rfc:`2045`, :rfc:`2046`, :rfc:`2047`, :rfc:`2183`,
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and :rfc:`2231`.
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The overall structure of the email package can be divided into three major
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components, plus a fourth component that controls the behavior of the other
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components.
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The central component of the package is an "object model" that represents email
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messages. An application interacts with the package primarily through the
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object model interface defined in the :mod:`~email.message` sub-module. The
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application can use this API to ask questions about an existing email, to
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construct a new email, or to add or remove email subcomponents that themselves
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use the same object model interface. That is, following the nature of email
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messages and their MIME subcomponents, the email object model is a tree
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structure of objects that all provide the :class:`~email.message.EmailMessage`
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API.
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The other two major components of the package are the :mod:`~email.parser` and
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the :mod:`~email.generator`. The parser takes the serialized version of an
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email message (a stream of bytes) and converts it into a tree of
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:class:`~email.message.EmailMessage` objects. The generator takes an
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:class:`~email.message.EmailMessage` and turns it back into a serialized byte
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stream. (The parser and generator also handle streams of text characters, but
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this usage is discouraged as it is too easy to end up with messages that are
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not valid in one way or another.)
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The control component is the :mod:`~email.policy` module. Every
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:class:`~email.message.EmailMessage`, every :mod:`~email.generator`, and every
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:mod:`~email.parser` has an associated :mod:`~email.policy` object that
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controls its behavior. Usually an application only needs to specify the policy
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when an :class:`~email.message.EmailMessage` is created, either by directly
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instantiating an :class:`~email.message.EmailMessage` to create a new email,
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or by parsing an input stream using a :mod:`~email.parser`. But the policy can
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be changed when the message is serialized using a :mod:`~email.generator`.
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This allows, for example, a generic email message to be parsed from disk, but
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to serialize it using standard SMTP settings when sending it to an email
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server.
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The email package does its best to hide the details of the various governing
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RFCs from the application. Conceptually the application should be able to
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treat the email message as a structured tree of unicode text and binary
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attachments, without having to worry about how these are represented when
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serialized. In practice, however, it is often necessary to be aware of at
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least some of the rules governing MIME messages and their structure,
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specifically the names and nature of the MIME "content types" and how they
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identify multipart documents. For the most part this knowledge should only be
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required for more complex applications, and even then it should only be the
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high level structure in question, and not the details of how those structures
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are represented. Since MIME content types are used widely in modern internet
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software (not just email), this will be a familiar concept to many programmers.
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The following sections describe the functionality of the :mod:`email` package.
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We start with the :mod:`~email.message` object model, which is the primary
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interface an application will use, and follow that with the
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:mod:`~email.parser` and :mod:`~email.generator` components. Then we cover the
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:mod:`~email.policy` controls, which completes the treatment of the main
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components of the library.
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The next three sections cover the exceptions the package may raise and the
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defects (non-compliance with the RFCs) that the :mod:`~email.parser` may
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detect. Then we cover the :mod:`~email.headerregistry` and the
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:mod:`~email.contentmanager` sub-components, which provide tools for doing more
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detailed manipulation of headers and payloads, respectively. Both of these
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components contain features relevant to consuming and producing non-trivial
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messages, but also document their extensibility APIs, which will be of interest
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to advanced applications.
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Following those is a set of examples of using the fundamental parts of the APIs
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covered in the preceding sections.
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The foregoing represent the modern (unicode friendly) API of the email package.
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The remaining sections, starting with the :class:`~email.message.Message`
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class, cover the legacy :data:`~email.policy.compat32` API that deals much more
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directly with the details of how email messages are represented. The
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:data:`~email.policy.compat32` API does *not* hide the details of the RFCs from
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the application, but for applications that need to operate at that level, they
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can be useful tools. This documentation is also relevant for applications that
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are still using the :mod:`~email.policy.compat32` API for backward
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compatibility reasons.
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.. versionchanged:: 3.6
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Docs reorganized and rewritten to promote the new
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:class:`~email.message.EmailMessage`/:class:`~email.policy.EmailPolicy`
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API.
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Contents of the :mod:`email` package documentation:
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.. toctree::
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email.message.rst
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email.parser.rst
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email.generator.rst
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email.policy.rst
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email.errors.rst
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email.headerregistry.rst
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email.contentmanager.rst
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email.examples.rst
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Legacy API:
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.. toctree::
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email.compat32-message.rst
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email.mime.rst
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email.header.rst
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email.charset.rst
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email.encoders.rst
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email.utils.rst
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email.iterators.rst
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.. seealso::
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Module :mod:`smtplib`
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SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) client
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Module :mod:`poplib`
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POP (Post Office Protocol) client
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Module :mod:`imaplib`
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IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) client
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Module :mod:`nntplib`
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NNTP (Net News Transport Protocol) client
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Module :mod:`mailbox`
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Tools for creating, reading, and managing collections of messages on disk
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using a variety standard formats.
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Module :mod:`smtpd`
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SMTP server framework (primarily useful for testing)
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