mirror of
https://github.com/python/cpython.git
synced 2025-11-03 19:34:08 +00:00
76 lines
3.6 KiB
ReStructuredText
76 lines
3.6 KiB
ReStructuredText
:mod:`mailcap` --- Mailcap file handling
|
|
========================================
|
|
|
|
.. module:: mailcap
|
|
:synopsis: Mailcap file handling.
|
|
|
|
**Source code:** :source:`Lib/mailcap.py`
|
|
|
|
--------------
|
|
|
|
Mailcap files are used to configure how MIME-aware applications such as mail
|
|
readers and Web browsers react to files with different MIME types. (The name
|
|
"mailcap" is derived from the phrase "mail capability".) For example, a mailcap
|
|
file might contain a line like ``video/mpeg; xmpeg %s``. Then, if the user
|
|
encounters an email message or Web document with the MIME type
|
|
:mimetype:`video/mpeg`, ``%s`` will be replaced by a filename (usually one
|
|
belonging to a temporary file) and the :program:`xmpeg` program can be
|
|
automatically started to view the file.
|
|
|
|
The mailcap format is documented in :rfc:`1524`, "A User Agent Configuration
|
|
Mechanism For Multimedia Mail Format Information," but is not an Internet
|
|
standard. However, mailcap files are supported on most Unix systems.
|
|
|
|
|
|
.. function:: findmatch(caps, MIMEtype, key='view', filename='/dev/null', plist=[])
|
|
|
|
Return a 2-tuple; the first element is a string containing the command line to
|
|
be executed (which can be passed to :func:`os.system`), and the second element
|
|
is the mailcap entry for a given MIME type. If no matching MIME type can be
|
|
found, ``(None, None)`` is returned.
|
|
|
|
*key* is the name of the field desired, which represents the type of activity to
|
|
be performed; the default value is 'view', since in the most common case you
|
|
simply want to view the body of the MIME-typed data. Other possible values
|
|
might be 'compose' and 'edit', if you wanted to create a new body of the given
|
|
MIME type or alter the existing body data. See :rfc:`1524` for a complete list
|
|
of these fields.
|
|
|
|
*filename* is the filename to be substituted for ``%s`` in the command line; the
|
|
default value is ``'/dev/null'`` which is almost certainly not what you want, so
|
|
usually you'll override it by specifying a filename.
|
|
|
|
*plist* can be a list containing named parameters; the default value is simply
|
|
an empty list. Each entry in the list must be a string containing the parameter
|
|
name, an equals sign (``'='``), and the parameter's value. Mailcap entries can
|
|
contain named parameters like ``%{foo}``, which will be replaced by the value
|
|
of the parameter named 'foo'. For example, if the command line ``showpartial
|
|
%{id} %{number} %{total}`` was in a mailcap file, and *plist* was set to
|
|
``['id=1', 'number=2', 'total=3']``, the resulting command line would be
|
|
``'showpartial 1 2 3'``.
|
|
|
|
In a mailcap file, the "test" field can optionally be specified to test some
|
|
external condition (such as the machine architecture, or the window system in
|
|
use) to determine whether or not the mailcap line applies. :func:`findmatch`
|
|
will automatically check such conditions and skip the entry if the check fails.
|
|
|
|
|
|
.. function:: getcaps()
|
|
|
|
Returns a dictionary mapping MIME types to a list of mailcap file entries. This
|
|
dictionary must be passed to the :func:`findmatch` function. An entry is stored
|
|
as a list of dictionaries, but it shouldn't be necessary to know the details of
|
|
this representation.
|
|
|
|
The information is derived from all of the mailcap files found on the system.
|
|
Settings in the user's mailcap file :file:`$HOME/.mailcap` will override
|
|
settings in the system mailcap files :file:`/etc/mailcap`,
|
|
:file:`/usr/etc/mailcap`, and :file:`/usr/local/etc/mailcap`.
|
|
|
|
An example usage::
|
|
|
|
>>> import mailcap
|
|
>>> d=mailcap.getcaps()
|
|
>>> mailcap.findmatch(d, 'video/mpeg', filename='/tmp/tmp1223')
|
|
('xmpeg /tmp/tmp1223', {'view': 'xmpeg %s'})
|
|
|