Mail::Message(3)

NAME
Mail::Message - general message object

INHERITANCE
 Mail::Message has extra code in
   Mail::Message::Construct
   Mail::Message::Construct::Bounce
   Mail::Message::Construct::Build
   Mail::Message::Construct::Forward
   Mail::Message::Construct::Read
   Mail::Message::Construct::Rebuild
   Mail::Message::Construct::Reply
   Mail::Message::Construct::Text

 Mail::Message
   is a Mail::Reporter

 Mail::Message is extended by
   Mail::Box::Message
   Mail::Message::Dummy
   Mail::Message::Part
   Mail::Message::Replace::MailInternet

SYNOPSIS
  use Mail::Box::Manager;
  my $mgr     = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
  my $folder  = $mgr->open(folder => 'INBOX');
  my $msg     = $folder->message(2);   # $msg is a Mail::Message

  my $subject = $msg->subject;         # The message's subject
  my @cc      = $msg->cc;              # List of Mail::Address'es

  my $head    = $msg->head;            # Mail::Message::Head
  my $body    = $msg->decoded;         # Mail::Message::Body
  $msg->decoded->print($outfile);

  # Send a simple email
  Mail::Message->build(
    To             => 'you@example.com',
    From           => 'me@example.com',
    Subject        => "My subject",
    data           => "Some plain text content.\n"
  )->send(via => 'postfix');

  # See related Mail::Message::Construct::* manuals
  my $msg       = Mail::Message->read(\@lines);
  my $reply_msg = $msg->reply(...);
  my $frwd_msg  = $msg->forward(...);
  my $bounce    = $msg->bounce(...);

DESCRIPTION
A "Mail::Message" object is a container for MIME-encoded message information, as defined by RFC2822. Everything what is not specificaly related to storing the messages in mailboxes (folders) is implemented in this class. Methods which are related to folders is implemented in the Mail::Box::Message extension.

The main methods are get(), to get information from a message header field, and decoded() to get the intended content of a message. But there are many more which can assist your program.

Complex message handling, like construction of replies and forwards, are implemented in separate packages which are autoloaded into this class. This means you can simply use these methods as if they are part of this class. Those package add functionality to all kinds of message objects.

Extends "DESCRIPTION" in Mail::Reporter.

METHODS
Extends "METHODS" in Mail::Reporter.

  Constructors
Extends "Constructors" in Mail::Reporter.

$obj->clone(%options)
    Create a copy of this message. Returned is a "Mail::Message" object. The head and body are taken. Labels are copied with the message, but the delete and modified flags are not.

    BE WARNED: the clone of any kind of message (or a message part) will always be a "Mail::Message" object. For example, a Mail::Box::Message's clone is detached from the folder of its original. When you use Mail::Box::addMessage() with the cloned message at hand, then the clone will automatically be coerced into the right message type to be added.

    See also Mail::Box::Message::copyTo() and Mail::Box::Message::moveTo().

     -Option      --Default
      shallow       false
      shallow_body  false
      shallow_head  false

    shallow => BOOLEAN
        When a shallow clone is made, the header and body of the message will not be cloned, but shared. This is quite dangerous: for instance in some folder types, the header fields are used to store folder flags. When one of both shallow clones change the flags, that will update the header and thereby be visible in both.

        There are situations where a shallow clone can be used safely. For instance, when Mail::Box::Message::moveTo() is used and you are sure that the original message cannot get undeleted after the move.

    shallow_body => BOOLEAN
        A rather safe bet, because you are not allowed to modify the body of a message: you may only set a new body with body().

    shallow_head => BOOLEAN
        Only the head is reused, not the body. This is probably a bad choice, because the header fields can be updated, for instance when labels change.

    » example: of cloning

      my $copy = $msg->clone;

$class->new(%options)
    Inherited, see "Constructors" in Mail::Reporter

     -Option    --Default
      body        undef
      body_type   Mail::Message::Body::Lines
      deleted     false
      field_type  undef
      head        undef
      head_type   Mail::Message::Head::Complete
      labels      +{}
      messageId   undef
      message_id  undef
      modified    false
      trusted     false

    body => $object
        Instantiate the message with a body which has been created somewhere before the message is constructed. The $object must be a sub-class of Mail::Message::Body. See also body() and storeBody().

    body_type => $class
        Default type of body to be created for readBody().

    deleted => BOOLEAN
        Is the file deleted from the start?

    field_type => $class
    head => $object
        Instantiate the message with a head which has been created somewhere before the message is constructed. The $object must be a (sub-)class of Mail::Message::Head. See also head().

    head_type => $class
        Default type of head to be created for readHead().

    labels => \@pairs|\%settings
        Initial %settings of the labels. In case of Mail::Box::Message type objectss, this shall reflect the state the message is in inside the folder. For newly constructed Mail::Message objectss, this may be anything you want, because coerce() will take care of the folder specifics once the message is added to one.

    messageId => $id
        Deprecated alternative to "message_id".

    message_id => $id
        [4.05] The $id string on which this message can be recognized. If none specified and not defined in the header --but one is needed-- there will be one assigned to the message to be able to pass unique message-ids between objects.

    modified => BOOLEAN
        Flags this message as being modified from the beginning on. Usually, modification is auto-detected, but there may be reasons to be extra explicit.

    trusted => BOOLEAN
        Is this message from a trusted source? If not, the content must be checked before use. This checking will be performed when the body data is decoded or used for transmission.

  Attributes
Extends "Attributes" in Mail::Reporter.

$obj->bodyType()
    [4.05] The class to contain the text of normal bodies. This can be Mail::Message::Body::Lines (default, kept in an ARRAY of lines), Mail::Message::Body::String (kept in a single string), or Mail::Message::Body::File (kept externally in a file). The multipart and nested body types are not configured here.

$obj->fieldType()
    [4.05] The class used to manange the field in the header. This is either Mail::Message::Field::Fast or Mail::Message::Field::Full. Defaults to the preference of the used head class ("::Fast").

$obj->headType()
    [4.05] The class used to administer the header fields. This is either Mail::Message::Head::Complete (default) or Mail::Message::Head::Partial.

$obj->messageId()
    Retrieve the message's id. Every message has a unique message-id. This id is used mainly for recognizing discussion threads.

  Constructing a message
Complex construction of messages is implemented in different Perl modules, which have their own manual page. Although coded in separate files and described in separate manuals, they are all directly addressable from the Mail::Message class.

$obj->bounce( [<$rg_object|%options>] )
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Bounce

$class->build( [$message|$part|$body], @fields, %options )
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Build

$class->buildFromBody($body, [$head], $headers)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Build

$obj->forward(%options)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Forward

$obj->forwardAttach(%options)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Forward

$obj->forwardEncapsulate(%options)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Forward

$obj->forwardInline(%options)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Forward

$obj->forwardNo(%options)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Forward

$obj->forwardPostlude()
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Forward

$obj->forwardPrelude()
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Forward

$obj->forwardSubject(STRING)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Forward

$class->read($fh|$text|\$text|\@lines, %options)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Read

$obj->rebuild(%options)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Rebuild

$obj->reply(%options)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Reply

$obj->replyPrelude( [STRING|$field|$address|\@addrs|\@fields] )
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Reply

$any->replySubject(STRING)
    Inherited, see "Constructing a message" in Mail::Message::Construct::Reply

  The message

$obj->container()
    If the message is a part of another message, "container" returns the reference to the containing body.

    » example:

      my Mail::Message $msg = ...
      unless $msg->body->isMultipart or return;
      my $part   = $msg->body->part(2);

      $part->body->isMultipart or return;
      my $nested = $part->body->part(3);

      $nested->container;  # returns $msg->body
      $nested->toplevel;   # returns $msg
      $msg->container;     # returns undef
      $msg->toplevel;      # returns $msg
      $msg->isPart;        # returns false
      $part->isPart;       # returns true

$obj->endsOnNewline()
    Return "true" when the printed message has a trailing "\n". In rare cases, that's not the case. For instance, when the body is read from a file which was generated without trailing new-line.

$obj->isDummy()
    Dummy messages are used to fill holes in linked-list and such, where only a message-id is known, but not the place of the header of body data.

    This method is also available for Mail::Message::Dummy objects, where this will return "true". On any extension of "Mail::Message", this will return "false".

$obj->isPart()
    Returns "true" if the message is a part of another message. This is the case for Mail::Message::Part extensions of "Mail::Message".

$obj->partNumber()
    Returns a string representing the location of this part. In case the top message is a single message, '"undef"' is returned. When it is a multipart, '1' up to the number of multiparts is returned. A multi-level nested part may for instance return '2.5.1'.

    Usually, this string is very short. Numbering follows the IMAP4 design, see RFC2060 section 6.4.5.

$obj->print( [$fh] )
    Print the message to the $fh (file handle), which defaults to the selected filehandle, without the encapsulation sometimes required by a folder

    » example:

      $message->print(\*STDERR);  # to the error output
      $message->print;            # to the selected file

      my $out = IO::File->new('out', 'w');
      $message->print($out);      # no encapsulation: no folder
      $message->write($out);      # with encapsulation: is folder.

$obj->send( [$mailer], %options )
    Transmit the message to anything outside this Perl program. Returns "false" when sending failed even after retries.

    The optional $mailer is a Mail::Transport::Send object. When the $mailer is not specified, one will be created and kept as default for the next messages as well.

    The %options are mailer specific, and a mixture of what is usable for the creation of the mailer object and the sending itself. Therefore, see for possible options Mail::Transport::Send::new() and Mail::Transport::Send::send(). That object also provides a trySend() method which gives more low-level control.

    See "examples/send.pl" in the distribution of Mail::Box.

    » example:

      $message->send;
      # is short (but little less flexibile) for
      my $mailer = Mail::Transport::SMTP->new(@smtpopts);
      $mailer->send($message, @sendopts);

    » example:

      $message->send(via => 'sendmail')

$obj->size()
    Returns an estimated size of the whole message in bytes. In many occasions, the functions which process the message further, for instance send() or print() will need to add/change header lines or add CR characters, so the size is only an estimate with a few percent margin of the real result.

    The computation assumes that each line ending is represented by one character (like UNIX, MacOS, and sometimes Cygwin), and not two characters (like Windows and sometimes Cygwin). If you write the message to file on a system which uses CR and LF to end a single line (all Windows versions), the result in that file will be at least nrLines() larger than this method returns.

$obj->toplevel()
    Returns a reference to the main message, which will be the current message if the message is not part of another message.

$obj->write( [$fh] )
    Write the message to the FILE-HANDLE, which defaults to the selected $fh, with all surrounding information which is needed to put it correctly in a folder file.

    In most cases, the result of "write" will be the same as with print(). The main exception is for Mbox folder messages, which will get printed with their leading 'From ' line and a trailing blank. Each line of their body which starts with 'From ' will have an '>' added in front.

  The header

$obj->bcc()
    Returns the addresses which are specified on the "Bcc" header line (or lines) A list of Mail::Address objects is returned. "Bcc" stands for Blind Carbon Copy: destinations of the message which are not listed in the messages actually sent. So, this field will be empty for received messages, but may be present in messages you construct yourself.

$obj->cc()
    Returns the addresses which are specified on the "Cc" header line (or lines) A list of Mail::Address objects is returned. "Cc" stands for Carbon Copy; the people addressed on this line receive the message informational, and are usually not expected to reply on its content.

$obj->date()
    Method has been removed for reasons of consistency. Use timestamp() or "$msg->head->get('Date')".

$obj->destinations()
    Returns a list of Mail::Address objects which contains the combined info of active "To", "Cc", and "Bcc" addresses. Double addresses are removed if detectable.

$obj->from()
    Returns the addresses from the senders. It is possible to have more than one address specified in the "From" field of the message, according to the specification. Therefore a list of Mail::Address objects is returned, which usually has length 1.

    If you need only one address from a sender, for instance to create a "original message by" line in constructed forwarded message body, then use sender().

    » example: using from() to get all sender addresses

      my @from = $message->from;

$obj->get($fieldname)
    Returns the value which is stored in the header field with the specified name. The $fieldname is case insensitive. The unfolded body of the field is returned, stripped from any attributes. See Mail::Message::Field::body().

    If the field has multiple appearances in the header, only the last instance is returned. If you need more complex handing of fields, then call Mail::Message::Head::get() yourself. See study() when you want to be smart, doing the better (but slower) job.

    » example: the get() short-cut for header fields

      print $msg->get('Content-Type'), "\n";
      # is equivalent to:
      print $msg->head->get('Content-Type')->body, "\n";

$obj->guessTimestamp()
    Return an estimate on the time this message was sent. The data is derived from the header, where it can be derived from the "date" and "received" lines. For MBox-like folders you may get the date from the from-line as well.

    This method may return "undef" if the header is not parsed or only partially known. If you require a time, then use the timestamp() method, described below.

    » example: using guessTimestamp() to get a transmission date

      print "Receipt ", ($message->timestamp || 'unknown'), "\n";

$obj->head( [$head] )
    Return (optionally after setting) the $head of this message. The head must be an (sub-)class of Mail::Message::Head. When the head is added, status information is taken from it and transformed into labels. More labels can be added by the LABELS hash. They are added later.

    » example:

      my $header = Mail::Message::Head->new;
      $msg->head($header);    # set
      my $head = $msg->head;  # get

$obj->nrLines()
    Returns the number of lines used for the whole message.

$obj->sender()
    Returns exactly one address, which is the originator of this message. The returned Mail::Address object is taken from the "Sender" header field, unless that field does not exists, in which case the first address from the "From" field is taken. If none of both provide an address, "undef" is returned.

    » example: using sender() to get exactly one sender address

      my $sender = $message->sender;
      print "Reply to: ", $sender->format, "\n" if defined $sender;

$obj->study($fieldname)
    Study the content of a field, like get() does, with as main difference that a Mail::Message::Field::Full object is returned. These objects stringify to an utf8 decoded representation of the data contained in the field, where get() does not decode. When the field does not exist, then "undef" is returned. See Mail::Message::Field::study().

    » example: the study() short-cut for header fields

      print $msg->study('to'), "\n";
      # is equivalent to:
      print $msg->head->study('to'), "\n";       # and
      print $msg->head->get('to')->study, "\n";

      # or better:
      if(my $to = $msg->study('to')) { print "$to\n" }
      if(my $to = $msg->get('to')) { print $to->study, "\n" }

$obj->subject()
    Returns the message's subject, or the empty string. The subject may have encoded characters in it; use study() to get rit of that.

    » example: using subject() to get the message's subject

      print $msg->subject;
      print $msg->study('subject');

$obj->timestamp()
    Get a good timestamp for the message, doesn't matter how much work it is. The value returned is compatible with the platform dependent result of function time().

    In these days, the timestamp as supplied by the message (in the "Date" field) is not trustable at all: many spammers produce illegal or unreal dates to influence their location in the displayed folder.

    To start, the received headers are tried for a date (see Mail::Message::Head::Complete::recvstamp()) and only then the "Date" field. In very rare cases, only with some locally produced messages, no stamp can be found.

$obj->to()
    Returns the addresses which are specified on the "To" header line (or lines). A list of Mail::Address objects is returned. The people addressed here are the targets of the content, and should read it contents carefully.

    » example: using to() to get all primar destination addresses

      my @to = $message->to;

  The body

$obj->body( [$body] )
    Return the body of this message. BE WARNED that this returns you an object which may be encoded: use decoded() to get a body with usable data.

    With options, a new $body is set for this message. This is not for normal use unless you understand the consequences: you change the message content without changing the message-ID. The right way to go is via

      $message = Mail::Message->buildFromBody($body);  # or
      $message = Mail::Message->build($body);          # or
      $message = $origmsg->forward(body => $body);

    The $body must be an (sub-)class of Mail::Message::Body. In this case, information from the specified body will be copied into the header. The body object will be encoded if needed, because messages written to file or transmitted shall not contain binary data. The converted body is returned.

    When $body is "undef", the current message body will be dissected from the message. All relation will be cut. The body is returned, and can be connected to a different message.

    » example:

      my $body      = $msg->body;
      my @encoded   = $msg->body->lines;

      my $new       = Mail::Message::Body->new(mime_type => 'text/html');
      my $converted = $msg->body($new);

$obj->contentType()
    Returns the content type header line, or "text/plain" if it is not defined. The parameters will be stripped off.

$obj->decoded(%options)
    Decodes the body of this message, and returns it as a body object. Short for "$msg->body->decoded" All %options are passed-on.

$obj->encode(%options)
    Encode the message to a certain format. Read the details in the dedicated manual page Mail::Message::Body::Encode. The %options which can be specified here are those of the Mail::Message::Body::encode() method.

$obj->isMultipart()
    Check whether this message is a multipart message (has attachments). To find this out, we need at least the header of the message; there is no need to read the body of the message to detect this.

$obj->isNested()
    Returns "true" for "message/rfc822" messages and message parts.

$obj->parts( [<'ALL'|'ACTIVE'|'DELETED'|'RECURSE'|$filter>] )
    Returns the parts of this message. Maybe a bit inconvenient: it returns the message itself when it is not a multipart.

    Usually, the term part is used with multipart messages: messages which are encapsulated in the body of a message. To abstract this concept: this method will return you all header-body combinations which are stored within this message except the multipart and message/rfc822 wrappers. Objects returned are "Mail::Message"'s and Mail::Message::Part's.

    The option default to '"ALL"', which will return the message itself for single-parts, the nested content of a message/rfc822 object, respectively the parts of a multipart without recursion. In case of '"RECURSE"', the parts of multiparts will be collected recursively. This option cannot be combined with the other options, which you may want: it that case you have to test yourself.

    '"ACTIVE"' and '"DELETED"' check for the deleted flag on messages and message parts. The $filter is a code reference, which is called for each part of the message; each part as "RECURSE" would return.

    » example:

      my @parts = $msg->parts;           # $msg not multipart: returns ($msg)
      my $parts = $msg->parts('ACTIVE'); # returns ($msg)

      $msg->delete;
      my @parts = $msg->parts;           # returns ($msg)
      my $parts = $msg->parts('ACTIVE'); # returns ()

  Flags

$obj->delete()
    Flag the message to be deleted, which is a shortcut for
      $msg->label(deleted => time); The real deletion only takes place on a synchronization of the folder. See deleted() as well.

    The time stamp of the moment of deletion is stored as value, but that is not always preserved in the folder (depends on the implementation). When the same message is deleted more than once, the first time stamp will stay.

    » example:

      $message->delete;
      $message->deleted(1);  # exactly the same
      $message->label(deleted => 1);
      delete $message;

$obj->deleted( [BOOLEAN] )
    Set the delete flag for this message. Without argument, the method returns the same as isDeleted(), which is preferred. When a "true" value is given, delete() is called.

    » example:

      $message->deleted(1);          # delete
      $message->delete;              # delete (preferred)

      $message->deleted(0);          # undelete

      if($message->deleted) {...}    # check
      if($message->isDeleted) {...}  # check (preferred)

$obj->isDeleted()
    Short-cut for
      $msg->label('deleted')

    For some folder types, you will get the time of deletion in return. This depends on the implementation.

    » example:

      next if $message->isDeleted;

      if(my $when = $message->isDeleted) {
         print scalar localtime $when;
      }

$obj->isModified()
    Returns whether this message is flagged as being modified. Modifications are changes in header lines, when a new body is set to the message (dangerous), or when labels change.

$obj->label($label|PAIRS)
    Return the value of the $label, optionally after setting some values. In case of setting values, you specify key-value "PAIRS".

    Labels are used to store knowledge about handling of the message within the folder. Flags about whether a message was read, replied to, or scheduled for deletion.

    Some labels are taken from the header's "Status" and "X-Status" lines. Folder types like MH define a separate label file, and Maildir adds letters to the message filename. But the MailBox labels are always the same.

    » example:

      print $message->label('seen');
      if($message->label('seen')) {...};
      $message->label(seen => 1);

      $message->label(deleted => 1);  # same as $message->delete

$obj->labels()
    Returns all known labels. In SCALAR context, it returns the knowledge as reference to a hash. This is a reference to the original data, but you shall *not* change that data directly: call "label" for changes!

    In LIST context, you get a list of names which are defined. Be warned that they will not all evaluate to "true", although most of them will.

$obj->labelsToStatus()
    When the labels were changed, that may effect the "Status" and/or "X-Status" header lines of mbox messages. Read about the relation between these fields and the labels in the DETAILS chapter.

    The method will carefully only affect the result of modified() when there is a real change of flags, so not for each call to label().

$obj->modified( [BOOLEAN] )
    Returns (optionally after setting) whether this message is flagged as being modified. See isModified().

$obj->statusToLabels()
    Update the labels according the status lines in the header. See the description in the DETAILS chapter.

  The whole message as text

$obj->file()
    Inherited, see "The whole message as text" in Mail::Message::Construct::Text

$obj->lines()
    Inherited, see "The whole message as text" in Mail::Message::Construct::Text

$obj->printStructure( [$fh|undef],[$indent] )
    Inherited, see "The whole message as text" in Mail::Message::Construct::Text

$obj->string()
    Inherited, see "The whole message as text" in Mail::Message::Construct::Text

  Internals

$obj->clonedFrom()
    Returns the message which is the original of this message, when this was created by a clone() operation.

$class->coerce($message, %options)
    Coerce a $message into a Mail::Message. In some occasions, for instance where you add a message to a folder, this coercion is automatically called to ensure that the correct message type is stored.

    The coerced message is returned on success, otherwise "undef". The coerced message may be a reblessed version of the original message or a new object. In case the message has to be specialized, for instance from a general Mail::Message into a Mail::Box::Mbox::Message, no copy is needed. However, to coerce a Mail::Internet object into a Mail::Message, a lot of copying and converting will take place.

    Valid MESSAGEs which can be coerced into Mail::Message objects are of type

    •   Any type of Mail::Box::Message

    •   MIME::Entity objects, using Mail::Message::Convert::MimeEntity

    •   Mail::Internet objects, using Mail::Message::Convert::MailInternet

    •   Email::Simple objects, using Mail::Message::Convert::EmailSimple

    •   Email::Abstract objects

    Mail::Message::Part's, which are extensions of "Mail::Message"'s, can also be coerced directly from a Mail::Message::Body.

    » example:

      my $folder  = Mail::Box::Mbox->new;
      my $message = Mail::Message->build(...);

      my $coerced = Mail::Box::Mbox::Message->coerce($message);
      $folder->addMessage($coerced);

      # simpler replacement for the previous two lines:
      my $coerced = $folder->addMessage($message);

$obj->isDelayed()
    Check whether the message is delayed (not yet read from file). Returns "true" or "false", dependent on the body type.

$obj->isTrusted()
    [4.05] Returns whether the message comes from an external source, which requires extra checking. Trusted messages must have correct use of CRLF.

$obj->readBody( $parser, $head, [$bodytype] )
    Read a body of a message. The $parser is the access to the folder's file, and the $head is already read. Information from the $head is used to create expectations about the message's length, but also to determine the mime-type and encodings of the body data.

    The $bodytype determines which kind of body will be made and defaults to the value specified by new(body_type). $bodytype may be the name of a body class, or a reference to a routine which returns the body's class when passed the $head as only argument.

$obj->readFromParser( $parser, [$bodytype] )
    Read one message from file. The $parser is opened on the file. First readHead() is called, and the head is stored in the message. Then readBody() is called, to produce a body. Also the body is added to the message without decodings being done.

    The optional $bodytype may be a body class or a reference to a code which returns a body-class based on the header.

$obj->readHead( $parser, [$class] )
    Read a head into an object of the specified $class. The $class defaults to new(head_type). The $parser is the access to the folder's file.

$obj->recursiveRebuildPart($part, %options)
    Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Message::Construct::Rebuild

$obj->storeBody($body)
    Where the body() method can be used to set and get a body, with all the necessary checks, this method is bluntly adding the specified body to the message. No conversions, no checking.

$obj->takeMessageId( [STRING] )
    Take the message-id from the "STRING", or create one when the "undef" is specified. If not "STRING" nor "undef" is given, the current header of the message is requested for the value of the 'Message-ID' field.

    Angles (if present) are removed from the id.

  Error handling
Extends "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter.

$obj->AUTOLOAD()
    Inherited, see "METHODS" in Mail::Message::Construct

$obj->notImplemented()
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$any->shortSize( [$value] )
    Represent an integer $value representing the size of file or memory, (which can be large) into a short string using M and K (Megabytes and Kilobytes). Without $value, the size of the message head is used.

$obj->shortString()
    Convert the message header to a short string (without trailing newline), representing the most important facts (for debugging purposes only). For now, it only reports size and subject.

  Cleanup
Extends "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter.

$obj->DESTROY()
    Inherited, see "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->destruct()
    Remove the information contained in the message object. This will be ignored when more than one reference to the same message object exists, because the method has the same effect as assigning "undef" to the variable which contains the reference. Normal garbage collection will call DESTROY() when possible.

    This method is only provided to hide differences with messages which are located in folders: their Mail::Box::Message::destruct() works quite differently.

    » example: of Mail::Message destruct

      my $msg = Mail::Message->read;
      $msg->destruct;
      $msg = undef;    # same

DETAILS

  Structure of a Message
A MIME-compliant message is build upon two parts: the header and the body.

The header

The header is a list of fields, some spanning more than one line (folded) each telling something about the message. Information stored in here are for instance the sender of the message, the receivers of the message, when it was transported, how it was transported, etc. Headers can grow quite large.

In MailBox, each message object manages exactly one header object (a Mail::Message::Head) and one body object (a Mail::Message::Body). The header contains a list of header fields, which are represented by Mail::Message::Field objects.

The body

The body contains the "payload": the data to be transferred. The data can be encoded, only accessible with a specific application, and may use some weird character-set; MailBox tries to assist you with handling these e-mails without the need to know all the details. This additional information ("meta-information") about the body data is stored in the header. The header contains more information, for instance about the message transport and relations to other messages.

  Message object implementation
The general idea about the structure of a message is

  Mail::Message
   |  |
   |  `-has-one--Mail::Message::Body
   |
   `----has-one--Mail::Message::Head
                   |
                   `-has-many--Mail::Message::Field

However: there are about 7 kinds of body objects, 3 kinds of headers, and 3 kinds of fields. You will usually not see too much of these variations, because they are merely created for performance reasons and can be used all in the same for normal libarary usage.

A multipart body is either a Mail::Message::Body::Multipart (mime type "multipart/*") or a Mail::Message::Body::Nested (mime type "message/rfc822"). These bodies are more complex:

  Mail::Message::Body::Multipart
   |
   `-has-many--Mail::Message::Part
                |  |
                |  `-has-one--Mail::Message::Body
                |
                `----has-one--Mail::Message::Head

Before you try to reconstruct multiparts or nested messages yourself, you can better take a look at Mail::Message::Construct::Rebuild.

  Message class implementation
The class structure of messages is very close to that of folders. For instance, a Mail::Box::File::Message relates to a Mail::Box::File folder.

As extra level of inheritance, it has a Mail::Message, which is a message without location. And there is a special case of message: Mail::Message::Part is a message encapsulated in a multipart body.

The message types are:

  Mail::Box::Mbox::Message            Mail::Box::POP3::Message
  |  Mail::Box::Dbx::Message      Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message  |
  |  |                                                    |  |
  Mail::Box::File::Message             Mail::Box::Net::Message
          |                                      |
          |       Mail::Box::Maildir::Message    |
          |       |   Mail::Box::MH::Message     |
          |       |   |                          |
          |       Mail::Box::Dir::Message        |
          |                |                     |
          `------------.   |   .-----------------'
                       |   |   |
                    Mail::Box::Message    Mail::Message::Part
                           |                     |
                           |       .-------------'
                           |       |
                       Mail::Message
                           |
                           |
                     Mail::Reporter (general base class)

By far most folder features are implemented in Mail::Box, so available to all folder types. Sometimes, features which appear in only some of the folder types are simulated for folders that miss them, like sub-folder support for MBOX.

Two strange other message types are defined: the Mail::Message::Dummy, which fills holes in Mail::Box::Thread::Node lists, and a Mail::Box::Message::Destructed, this is an on purpose demolished message to reduce memory consumption.

  Labels
Labels (also named "Flags") are used to indicate some special condition on the message, primary targeted on organizational issues: which messages are already read or should be deleted. There is a very strong user relation to labels.

The main complication is that each folder type has its own way of storing labels. To give an indication: MBOX folders use "Status" and "X-Status" header fields, MH uses a ".mh-sequences" file, MAILDIR encodes the flags in the message's filename, and IMAP has flags as part of the protocol.

Besides, some folder types can store labels with user defined names, where other lack that feature. Some folders have case-insensitive labels, other don't. Read all about the specifics in the manual page of the message type you actually have.

Predefined labels

To standardize the folder types, MailBox has defined the following labels, which can be used with the label() and labels() methods on all kinds of messages:

•   deleted

    This message is flagged to be deleted once the folder closes. Be very careful about the concept of 'delete' in a folder context : it is only a flag, and does not involve immediate action! This means, for instance, that the memory which is used by Perl to store the message is not released immediately (see destruct() if you need to).

    The methods delete(), deleted(), and isDeleted() are only short-cuts for managing the "delete" label (as of MailBox 2.052).

•   draft

    The user has prepared this message, but is has not been send (yet). This flag is not automatically added to a message by MailBox, and has only a meaning in user applications.

•   flagged

    Messages can be flagged for some purpose, for instance as result of a search for spam in a folder. The Mail::Box::messages() method can be used to collect all these flagged messages from the folder.

    Probably it is more useful to use an understandable name (like "spam") for these selections, however these self-defined labels can not stored in all folder types.

•   old

    The message was already in the folder when it was opened the last time, so was not recently added to the folder. This flag will never automatically be set by MailBox, because it would probably conflict with the user's idea of what is old.

•   passed

    Not often used or kept, this flag indicates that the message was bounced or forwarded to someone else.

•   replied

    The user (or application) has sent a message back to the sender of the message, as response of this one. This flag is automatically set if you use reply(), but not with forward() or bounce().

•   seen

    When this flag is set, the receiver of the message has consumed the message. A mail user agent (MUA) will set this flag when the user has opened the message once.

Status and X-Status fields

Mbox folders have no special means of storing information about messages (except the message separator line), and therefore have to revert to adding fields to the message header when something special comes up. This feature is also enabled for POP3, although whether that works depends on the POP server.

All applications which can handle mbox folders support the "Status" and "X-Status" field convensions. The following encoding is used:

  Flag   Field       Label
  R      Status   => seen    (Read)
  O      Status   => old     (not recent)
  A      X-Status => replied (Answered)
  F      X-Status => flagged

There is no special flag for "deleted", which most other folders support: messages flagged to be deleted will never be written to a folder file when it is closed.

DIAGNOSTICS

Error: Cannot include forward source as $kind.
    Unknown alternative for the forward(include). Valid choices are "NO", "INLINE", "ATTACH", and "ENCAPSULATE". Cast by forward()

Error: No default mailer found to send message.
    The message send() mechanism had not enough information to automatically find a mail transfer agent to sent this message. Specify a mailer explicitly using the "via" options. Cast by send()

Error: cannot coerce a $type object into a $me object.
    Cast by coerce()

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()

Error: cannot read message from a $source.
    Cast by read()

Error: class $package does not implement method $method.
    Fatal error: the specific $package (or one of its superclasses) does not implement this method where it should. This message means that some other related classes do implement this method however the class at hand does not. Probably you should investigate this and probably inform the author of the package. Cast by notImplemented()

Error: coercion starts with some object, not '$type'.
    Cast by coerce()

Error: method bounce requires To, Cc, or Bcc.
    The message bounce() method forwards a received message off to someone else without modification; you must specified it's new destination. If you have the urge not to specify any destination, you probably are looking for reply(). When you wish to modify the content, use forward(). Cast by bounce()

Error: method forwardAttach requires a preamble.
    Cast by forwardAttach()

Error: method forwardEncapsulate requires a preamble.
    Cast by forwardEncapsulate()

Error: method forwardNo requires a To.
    Cast by forwardNo()

Error: method forwardNo requires a body.
    Cast by forwardNo()

Error: no rebuild rule $name defined.
    Cast by rebuild()

Error: only build() Mail::Message's; they are not in a folder yet.
    You may wish to construct a message to be stored in a some kind of folder, but you need to do that in two steps. First, create a normal Mail::Message, and then add it to the folder. During this Mail::Box::addMessage() process, the message will get coerce()-d into the right message type, adding storage information and the like. Cast by build()

Error: please install Email::Simple.
    Cast by coerce()

Error: please install MIME::Entity.
    Cast by coerce()

Error: please install Mail::Internet.
    Cast by coerce()

Error: select parts via '$what'?
    Cast by parts()

Warning: skipped unknown key '$key' in build.
    Cast by build()

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.