Provided by: perl-doc_5.38.2-3.2build2_all 
NAME
Net::SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Client
SYNOPSIS
use Net::SMTP;
# Constructors
$smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost');
$smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost', Timeout => 60);
DESCRIPTION
This module implements a client interface to the SMTP and ESMTP protocol, enabling a perl5
application to talk to SMTP servers. This documentation assumes that you are familiar with
the concepts of the SMTP protocol described in RFC2821. With IO::Socket::SSL installed it
also provides support for implicit and explicit TLS encryption, i.e. SMTPS or
SMTP+STARTTLS.
The Net::SMTP class is a subclass of Net::Cmd and (depending on avaibility) of
IO::Socket::IP, IO::Socket::INET6 or IO::Socket::INET.
Class Methods
"new([$host][, %options])"
This is the constructor for a new Net::SMTP object. $host is the name of the remote
host to which an SMTP connection is required.
On failure "undef" will be returned and $@ will contain the reason for the failure.
$host is optional. If $host is not given then it may instead be passed as the "Host"
option described below. If neither is given then the "SMTP_Hosts" specified in
"Net::Config" will be used.
%options are passed in a hash like fashion, using key and value pairs. Possible
options are:
Hello - SMTP requires that you identify yourself. This option specifies a string to
pass as your mail domain. If not given localhost.localdomain will be used.
SendHello - If false then the EHLO (or HELO) command that is normally sent when
constructing the object will not be sent. In that case the command will have to be
sent manually by calling hello() instead.
Host - SMTP host to connect to. It may be a single scalar (hostname[:port]), as
defined for the "PeerAddr" option in IO::Socket::INET, or a reference to an array with
hosts to try in turn. The "host" method will return the value which was used to
connect to the host. Format - "PeerHost" from IO::Socket::INET new method.
Port - port to connect to. Default - 25 for plain SMTP and 465 for immediate SSL.
SSL - If the connection should be done from start with SSL, contrary to later upgrade
with "starttls". You can use SSL arguments as documented in IO::Socket::SSL, but it
will usually use the right arguments already.
LocalAddr and LocalPort - These parameters are passed directly to IO::Socket to allow
binding the socket to a specific local address and port.
Domain - This parameter is passed directly to IO::Socket and makes it possible to
enforce IPv4 connections even if IO::Socket::IP is used as super class. Alternatively
Family can be used.
Timeout - Maximum time, in seconds, to wait for a response from the SMTP server
(default: 120)
ExactAddresses - If true then all $address arguments must be as defined by "addr-spec"
in RFC2822. If not given, or false, then Net::SMTP will attempt to extract the address
from the value passed.
Debug - Enable debugging information
Example:
$smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost',
Hello => 'my.mail.domain',
Timeout => 30,
Debug => 1,
);
# the same
$smtp = Net::SMTP->new(
Host => 'mailhost',
Hello => 'my.mail.domain',
Timeout => 30,
Debug => 1,
);
# the same with direct SSL
$smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost',
Hello => 'my.mail.domain',
Timeout => 30,
Debug => 1,
SSL => 1,
);
# Connect to the default server from Net::config
$smtp = Net::SMTP->new(
Hello => 'my.mail.domain',
Timeout => 30,
);
Object Methods
Unless otherwise stated all methods return either a true or false value, with true meaning
that the operation was a success. When a method states that it returns a value, failure
will be returned as undef or an empty list.
"Net::SMTP" inherits from "Net::Cmd" so methods defined in "Net::Cmd" may be used to send
commands to the remote SMTP server in addition to the methods documented here.
banner()
Returns the banner message which the server replied with when the initial connection
was made.
domain()
Returns the domain that the remote SMTP server identified itself as during connection.
hello($domain)
Tell the remote server the mail domain which you are in using the EHLO command (or
HELO if EHLO fails). Since this method is invoked automatically when the Net::SMTP
object is constructed the user should normally not have to call it manually.
host()
Returns the value used by the constructor, and passed to IO::Socket::INET, to connect
to the host.
etrn($domain)
Request a queue run for the $domain given.
starttls(%sslargs)
Upgrade existing plain connection to SSL. You can use SSL arguments as documented in
IO::Socket::SSL, but it will usually use the right arguments already.
"auth($username, $password)"
auth($sasl)
Attempt SASL authentication. Requires Authen::SASL module. The first form constructs a
new Authen::SASL object using the given username and password; the second form uses
the given Authen::SASL object.
"mail($address[, %options])"
send($address)
send_or_mail($address)
send_and_mail($address)
Send the appropriate command to the server MAIL, SEND, SOML or SAML. $address is the
address of the sender. This initiates the sending of a message. The method "recipient"
should be called for each address that the message is to be sent to.
The "mail" method can take some additional ESMTP %options which is passed in hash like
fashion, using key and value pairs. Possible options are:
Size => <bytes>
Return => "FULL" | "HDRS"
Bits => "7" | "8" | "binary"
Transaction => <ADDRESS>
Envelope => <ENVID> # xtext-encodes its argument
ENVID => <ENVID> # similar to Envelope, but expects argument encoded
XVERP => 1
AUTH => <submitter> # encoded address according to RFC 2554
The "Return" and "Envelope" parameters are used for DSN (Delivery Status
Notification).
The submitter address in "AUTH" option is expected to be in a format as required by
RFC 2554, in an RFC2821-quoted form and xtext-encoded, or <> .
reset()
Reset the status of the server. This may be called after a message has been initiated,
but before any data has been sent, to cancel the sending of the message.
"recipient($address[, $address[, ...]][, %options])"
Notify the server that the current message should be sent to all of the addresses
given. Each address is sent as a separate command to the server. Should the sending
of any address result in a failure then the process is aborted and a false value is
returned. It is up to the user to call "reset" if they so desire.
The "recipient" method can also pass additional case-sensitive %options as an
anonymous hash using key and value pairs. Possible options are:
Notify => ['NEVER'] or ['SUCCESS','FAILURE','DELAY'] (see below)
ORcpt => <ORCPT>
SkipBad => 1 (to ignore bad addresses)
If "SkipBad" is true the "recipient" will not return an error when a bad address is
encountered and it will return an array of addresses that did succeed.
$smtp->recipient($recipient1,$recipient2); # Good
$smtp->recipient($recipient1,$recipient2, { SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
$smtp->recipient($recipient1,$recipient2, { Notify => ['FAILURE','DELAY'], SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
@goodrecips=$smtp->recipient(@recipients, { Notify => ['FAILURE'], SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
$smtp->recipient("$recipient,$recipient2"); # BAD
Notify is used to request Delivery Status Notifications (DSNs), but your SMTP/ESMTP
service may not respect this request depending upon its version and your site's SMTP
configuration.
Leaving out the Notify option usually defaults an SMTP service to its default behavior
equivalent to ['FAILURE'] notifications only, but again this may be dependent upon
your site's SMTP configuration.
The NEVER keyword must appear by itself if used within the Notify option and "requests
that a DSN not be returned to the sender under any conditions."
{Notify => ['NEVER']}
$smtp->recipient(@recipients, { Notify => ['NEVER'], SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
You may use any combination of these three values 'SUCCESS','FAILURE','DELAY' in the
anonymous array reference as defined by RFC3461 (see
<https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3461.txt> for more information. Note: quotations in this
topic from same.).
A Notify parameter of 'SUCCESS' or 'FAILURE' "requests that a DSN be issued on
successful delivery or delivery failure, respectively."
A Notify parameter of 'DELAY' "indicates the sender's willingness to receive delayed
DSNs. Delayed DSNs may be issued if delivery of a message has been delayed for an
unusual amount of time (as determined by the Message Transfer Agent (MTA) at which the
message is delayed), but the final delivery status (whether successful or failure)
cannot be determined. The absence of the DELAY keyword in a NOTIFY parameter requests
that a "delayed" DSN NOT be issued under any conditions."
{Notify => ['SUCCESS','FAILURE','DELAY']}
$smtp->recipient(@recipients, { Notify => ['FAILURE','DELAY'], SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
ORcpt is also part of the SMTP DSN extension according to RFC3461. It is used to pass
along the original recipient that the mail was first sent to. The machine that
generates a DSN will use this address to inform the sender, because he can't know if
recipients get rewritten by mail servers. It is expected to be in a format as
required by RFC3461, xtext-encoded.
"to($address[, $address[, ...]])"
"cc($address[, $address[, ...]])"
"bcc($address[, $address[, ...]])"
Synonyms for "recipient".
data([$data])
Initiate the sending of the data from the current message.
$data may be a reference to a list or a list and must be encoded by the caller to
octets of whatever encoding is required, e.g. by using the Encode module's encode()
function.
If specified the contents of $data and a termination string ".\r\n" is sent to the
server. The result will be true if the data was accepted.
If $data is not specified then the result will indicate that the server wishes the
data to be sent. The data must then be sent using the "datasend" and "dataend" methods
described in Net::Cmd.
bdat($data)
bdatlast($data)
Use the alternate $data command "BDAT" of the data chunking service extension defined
in RFC1830 for efficiently sending large MIME messages.
expand($address)
Request the server to expand the given address Returns an array which contains the
text read from the server.
verify($address)
Verify that $address is a legitimate mailing address.
Most sites usually disable this feature in their SMTP service configuration. Use
"Debug => 1" option under new() to see if disabled.
help([$subject])
Request help text from the server. Returns the text or undef upon failure
quit()
Send the QUIT command to the remote SMTP server and close the socket connection.
can_inet6()
Returns whether we can use IPv6.
can_ssl()
Returns whether we can use SSL.
Addresses
Net::SMTP attempts to DWIM with addresses that are passed. For example an application
might extract The From: line from an email and pass that to mail(). While this may work,
it is not recommended. The application should really use a module like Mail::Address to
extract the mail address and pass that.
If "ExactAddresses" is passed to the constructor, then addresses should be a valid
rfc2821-quoted address, although Net::SMTP will accept the address surrounded by angle
brackets.
funny user@domain WRONG
"funny user"@domain RIGHT, recommended
<"funny user"@domain> OK
EXAMPLES
This example prints the mail domain name of the SMTP server known as mailhost:
#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
use Net::SMTP;
$smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost');
print $smtp->domain,"\n";
$smtp->quit;
This example sends a small message to the postmaster at the SMTP server known as mailhost:
#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
use Net::SMTP;
my $smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost');
$smtp->mail($ENV{USER});
if ($smtp->to('postmaster')) {
$smtp->data();
$smtp->datasend("To: postmaster\n");
$smtp->datasend("\n");
$smtp->datasend("A simple test message\n");
$smtp->dataend();
} else {
print "Error: ", $smtp->message();
}
$smtp->quit;
EXPORTS
None.
KNOWN BUGS
See <https://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Status=Active&Queue=libnet>.
SEE ALSO
Net::Cmd, IO::Socket::SSL.
AUTHOR
Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com <mailto:gbarr@pobox.com>>.
Steve Hay <shay@cpan.org <mailto:shay@cpan.org>> is now maintaining libnet as of version
1.22_02.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1995-2004 Graham Barr. All rights reserved.
Copyright (C) 2013-2016, 2020 Steve Hay. All rights reserved.
LICENCE
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
terms as Perl itself, i.e. under the terms of either the GNU General Public License or the
Artistic License, as specified in the LICENCE file.
VERSION
Version 3.15
DATE
20 March 2023
HISTORY
See the Changes file.