Mail::Message::Construct::Reply(3)

NAME
Mail::Message::Construct::Reply - reply to a Mail::Message

SYNOPSIS
  my Mail::Message $reply = $message->reply;
  my $quoted  = $message->replyPrelude($head->get('From'));

DESCRIPTION
Complex functionality on Mail::Message objects is implemented in different files which are autoloaded. This file implements the functionality related to creating message replies.

METHODS

  Constructing a message

$obj->reply(%options)
    Start a reply to this message. Some of the header-lines of the original message will be taken. A message-id will be assigned. Some header lines will be updated to facilitate message-thread detection (see Mail::Box::Thread::Manager).

    You may reply to a whole message or a message part. You may wish to overrule some of the default header settings for the reply immediately, or you may do that later with "set" on the header.

    Addresses may be specified as string, or a Mail::Address object, or as array of Mail::Address objects.

    All %options which are not listed below AND start with a capital, will be added as additional headers to the reply message.

     -Option         --Default
      Bcc              undef
      Cc               <'cc' in current>
      From             <'to' in current>
      Message-ID       <uniquely generated>
      Subject          replySubject()
      To               <sender in current>
      body             undef
      group_reply      true
      include          'INLINE'
      max_signature    10
      message_type     Mail::Message
      postlude         undef
      prelude          undef
      quote            '> '
      signature        undef
      strip_signature  qr/^--\s/

    Bcc => $body|$address|\@addresses
        Receivers of blind carbon copies: their names will not be published to other message receivers.

    Cc => $body|$address|\@addresses
        The carbon-copy receivers, by default a copy of the "Cc" field of the source message.

    From => $body|$address|\@addresses
        Your identification, by default taken from the "To" field of the source message.

    Message-ID => $field|$line
        Supply a $field or $line as specific message-id for the reply. By default, one is generated for you. If there are no angles around your id, they will be added.

    Subject => $field|$line|CODE
        Force the subject line to the specific $field or $line, or the result of the subroutine specified by CODE. The subroutine will be called passing the subject of the original message as only argument. By default, Mail::Message::replySubject() is used.

    To => $body|$address|\@addresses
        The destination of your message. By default taken from the "Reply-To" field in the source message. If that field is not present as well, the "From" line is scanned. If they all fail, "undef" is returned by this method: no reply message produced.

    body => $body
        Usually, the reply method can create a nice, sufficient message from the source message's body. In case you like more complicated reformatting, you may also create a body yourself first, and pass this on to this "reply" method. Some of the other options to this method will be ignored in this case.

    group_reply => BOOLEAN
        Will the people listed in the "Cc" headers (those who received the message where you reply to now) also receive this message as carbon copy?

    include => 'NO'|'INLINE'|'ATTACH'
        Must the message where this is a reply to be included in the message? If "NO" then not. With "INLINE" a reply body is composed. "ATTACH" will create a multi-part body, where the original message is added after the specified body. It is only possible to inline textual messages, therefore binary or multipart messages will always be enclosed as attachment.

    max_signature => INTEGER
        Passed to "stripSignature" on the body as parameter "max_lines". Only effective for single-part messages.

    message_type => CLASS
        Create a message with the requested type. By default, it will be a Mail::Message. This is correct, because it will be coerced into the correct folder message type when it is added to that folder.

    postlude => $body|\@lines
        The @lines which to be added after the quoted reply lines. Create a body for it first. This should not include the signature, which has its own option. The signature will be added after the postlude when the reply is INLINEd.

    prelude => $body|\@lines
        The @lines which will be added before the quoted reply lines. If nothing is specified, the result of the replyPrelude() method is taken. When "undef" is specified, no prelude will be added.

    quote => CODE|STRING
        Mangle the lines of an "INLINE"d reply with CODE, or by prepending a STRING to each line. The routine specified by CODE is called when the line is in $_.

        By default, '> ' is added before each line. Specify "undef" to disable quoting. This option is processed after the body has been decoded.

    signature => $body|$message
        The signature to be added in case of a multi-part reply. The mime-type of the signature body should indicate this is a used as such. However, in INLINE mode, the body will be taken, a line containing '-- ' added before it, and added behind the epilogue.

    strip_signature => REGEXP|STRING|CODE
        Remove the signature of the sender. The value of this parameter is passed to Mail::Message::Body::stripSignature(pattern) unless the source text is not included. The signature is stripped from the message before quoting.

        When a multipart body is encountered, and the message is included to ATTACH, the parts which look like signatures will be removed. If only one message remains, it will be the added as single attachment, otherwise a nested multipart will be the result. The value of this option does not matter, as long as it is present. See Mail::Message::Body::Multipart.

    » example:

      my $reply = $msg->reply(
        prelude         => "No spam, please!\n\n",
        postlude        => "\nGreetings\n",
        strip_signature => 1,
        signature       => $my_pgp_key,
        group_reply     => 1,
        'Message-ID'    => $uuid,               # don't forget the quotes
        'X-Extra'       => 'additional header',
      );

$obj->replyPrelude( [STRING|$field|$address|\@addrs|\@fields] )
    Produces a LIST of lines (usually only one), which will preceed the quoted body of the message. "STRING" must comply to the RFC822 email address specification, and is usually the content of a "To" or "From" header line. If a $field is given, the field's body must be compliant. Without argument --or when the argument is "undef"-- a slightly different line is produced.

    In case an ARRAY of @addrs or @fields is passed, the first one is taken. This simplified situations where multiple addresses are a allowed.

    » example: characteristic example of the output

      On Thu Oct 13 04:54:34 1995, him@example.com wrote:

$any->replySubject(STRING)
    Create a subject for a message which is a reply for this one. This routine tries to count the level of reply in subject field, and transform it into a standard form. Please contribute improvements.

    » example:

      subject                 --> Re: subject
      Re: subject             --> Re[2]: subject
      Re[X]: subject          --> Re[X+1]: subject
      subject (Re)            --> Re[2]: subject
      subject (Forw)          --> Re[2]: subject
      <blank>                 --> Re: your mail

DIAGNOSTICS

Error: cannot include reply source as $kind.
    Unknown alternative for the "include" option of reply(). Valid choices are "NO", "INLINE", and "ATTACH". Cast by reply()

SEE ALSO
This module is part of Mail-Message version 4.05, built on April 10, 2026. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/

LICENSE
For contributors see file ChangeLog.

This software is copyright (c) 2001-2026 by Mark Overmeer.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.