Mail::Box::Parser(3)

NAME
Mail::Box::Parser - reading and writing messages

INHERITANCE
 Mail::Box::Parser
   is a Mail::Reporter

 Mail::Box::Parser is extended by
   Mail::Box::Parser::C
   Mail::Box::Parser::Lines
   Mail::Box::Parser::Perl

SYNOPSIS
  # Not instatiatiated itself

DESCRIPTION
The "Mail::Box::Parser" manages the parsing of folders. Usually, you won't need to know anything about this module, except the options which are involved with this code.

There are currently three implementations of this module:

•   Mail::Box::Parser::C

    A fast parser written in "C". This package is released as separate module on CPAN, because the module distribution via CPAN can not handle XS files which are not located in the root directory of the module tree. If a C compiler is available on your system, it will be used automatically.

•   Mail::Box::Parser::Perl

    A slower parser when the message is in a file, like mbox, which only uses plain Perl. This module is a bit slower, and does less checking and less recovery.

•   Mail::Box::Parser::Lines

    Useful when the message is already in memory. When you plan to use this yourself, you probably need to use Mail::Message::Construct::Read.

Extends "DESCRIPTION" in Mail::Reporter.

METHODS
Extends "METHODS" in Mail::Reporter.

  Constructors
Extends "Constructors" in Mail::Reporter.

$class->new(%options)
    Create a parser object which can handle one file. For mbox-like mailboxes, this object can be used to read a whole folder. In case of MH-like mailboxes, each message is contained in a single file, so each message has its own parser object. Improves base, see "Constructors" in Mail::Reporter

     -Option           --Default
      fix_header_errors  false
      trusted            false

    fix_header_errors => BOOLEAN
        When header errors are detected, the parsing of the header will be stopped. Other header lines will become part of the body of the message. Set this flag to have the erroneous line added to the previous header line.

    trusted => BOOLEAN
        Is the input from the file to be trusted, or does it require extra tests. Related to Mail::Box::new(trusted).

  Attributes
Extends "Attributes" in Mail::Reporter.

$any->defaultParserType( [$class] )
    Returns the parser to be used to parse all subsequent messages, possibly first setting the parser using the optional argument. Usually, the parser is autodetected; the "C"-based parser will be used when it can be, and the Perl-based parser will be used otherwise.

    The $class argument allows you to specify a package name to force a particular parser to be used (such as your own custom parser). You have to "use" or "require" the package yourself before calling this method with an argument. The parser must be a sub-class of "Mail::Box::Parser".

$obj->fixHeaderErrors( [BOOLEAN] )
    If set to "true", parsing of a header will not stop on an error, but attempt to add the erroneous this line to previous field. Without "BOOLEAN", the current setting is returned.

    » example:

      $folder->parser->fixHeaderErrors(1);
      my $folder = $mgr->open('folder', fix_header_errors => 1);

$obj->trusted()
    Trust the source of the data: do not run additional tests.

  Parsing

$obj->bodyAsFile( $fh [$chars, [$lines]] )
    Try to read one message-body from the file, and immediately write it to the specified file-handle. Optionally, the predicted number of CHARacterS and/or $lines to be read can be supplied. These values may be "undef" and may be wrong.

    The return is a list of three scalars: the location of the body (begin and end) and the number of lines in the body.

$obj->bodyAsList( [$chars, [$lines]] )
    Try to read one message-body from the file. Optionally, the predicted number of CHARacterS and/or $lines to be read can be supplied. These values may be "undef" and may be wrong.

    The return is a list of scalars, each containing one line (including line terminator), preceded by two integers representing the location in the file where this body started and ended.

$obj->bodyAsString( [$chars, [$lines]] )
    Try to read one message-body from the file. Optionally, the predicted number of CHARacterS and/or $lines to be read can be supplied. These values may be "undef" and may be wrong.

    Returned is a list of three scalars: the location in the file where the body starts, where the body ends, and the string containing the whole body.

$obj->bodyDelayed( [$chars, [$lines]] )
    Try to read one message-body from the file, but the data is skipped. Optionally, the predicted number of CHARacterS and/or $lines to be skipped can be supplied. These values may be "undef" and may be wrong.

    The return is a list of four scalars: the location of the body (begin and end), the size of the body, and the number of lines in the body. The number of lines may be "undef".

$obj->lineSeparator()
    Returns the character or characters which are used to separate lines in the folder file. This is based on the first line of the file. UNIX systems use a single LF to separate lines. Windows uses a CR and a LF. Mac uses CR.

$obj->readHeader()
    Read the whole message-header and return it as list of field-value pairs. Mind that some fields will appear more than once.

    The first element will represent the position in the file where the header starts. The follows the list of header field names and bodies.

    » example:

      my ($where, @header) = $parser->readHeader;

$obj->stop()
    Stop the parser.

Administering separators

The various "separators" methods are used by Mail::Message::Body::Multipart to detect parts, and for the file based mailboxes to flag where the new message starts.

$obj->activeSeparator()

$obj->popSeparator()
    Remove the last-pushed separator from the list which is maintained by the parser. This will return "undef" when there is none left.

$obj->pushSeparator(STRING|Regexp)
    Add a boundary line. Separators tell the parser where to stop reading. A famous separator is the "From"-line, which is used in Mbox-like folders to separate messages. But also parts (attachments) is a message are divided by separators.

    The specified "STRING" describes the start of the separator-line. The Regexp can specify a more complicated format.

$obj->readSeparator(%options)
    Read the currently active separator (the last one which was pushed). The line (or "undef") is returned. Blank-lines before the separator lines are ignored.

    The return are two scalars, where the first gives the location of the separator in the file, and the second the line which is found as separator. A new separator is activated using pushSeparator().

$obj->resetSeparators()

$obj->separators()

$obj->stripGt()

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

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

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

  Cleanup
Extends "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter.

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

DIAGNOSTICS

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: parser $type does not extend $pkg.
    Cast by defaultParserType()

Warning: unexpected end of header in $source: $line
    While parsing a message from the specified source (usually a file name), the parser found a syntax error. According to the MIME specification in the RFCs, each header line must either contain a colon, or start with a blank to indicate a folded field. Apparently, this header contains a line which starts on the first position, but not with a field name.

    By default, parsing of the header will be stopped. If there are more header lines after the erroneous line, they will be added to the body of the message. In case of new(fix_header_errors) set, the parsing of the header will be continued. The erroneous line will be added to the preceding field. Cast by readHeader()

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.