Provided by: libmail-box-imap4-perl_3.010-1_all 
NAME
Mail::Box::IMAP4 - handle IMAP4 folders as client
INHERITANCE
Mail::Box::IMAP4
is a Mail::Box::Net
is a Mail::Box
is a Mail::Reporter
Mail::Box::IMAP4 is extended by
Mail::Box::IMAP4s
SYNOPSIS
my $url = 'imap4://user:passwd@host:port/INBOX';
my $url = 'imap://user:passwd@host:port/INBOX';
use Mail::Box::IMAP4;
my $folder = Mail::Box::IMAP4->new(folder => $url, ...);
use Mail::Box::Manager;
my $mgr = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
my $folder = $msg->open($url, retry => 3, interval => 5);
DESCRIPTION
Maintain a folder which has its messages stored on a remote server. The communication between the client
application and the server is implemented using the IMAP4 protocol. See also Mail::Server::IMAP4.
This class uses Mail::Transport::IMAP4 to hide the transport of information, and focusses solely on the
correct handling of messages within a IMAP4 folder. More than one IMAP4 folder can be handled by one
single IMAP4 connection.
This is a maintenance release for the old interface. Read
https://github.com/markov2/perl5-Mail-Box/wiki/ how to move towards version 4.
Extends "DESCRIPTION" in Mail::Box::Net.
OVERLOADED
Extends "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box::Net.
overload: "" stringification
Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
overload: @{} use as ARRAY
Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
overload: cmp string comparison
Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
METHODS
Extends "METHODS" in Mail::Box::Net.
Constructors
Extends "Constructors" in Mail::Box::Net.
$class->new(%options)
The "new" can have many %options. Not only the ones listed here below, but also all the %options for
Mail::Transport::IMAP4::new() can be passed.
The default depends on the value of new(cache_head).
Without folder name, no folder is selected. Only few methods are available now, for instance
listSubFolders() to get the top-level folder names. Usually, the folder named "INBOX" will be
present. Improves base, see "Constructors" in Mail::Box
-Option --Defined in --Default
access Mail::Box 'r'
body_delayed_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Delayed
body_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Lines
cache_body NO
cache_head NO or DELAY
cache_labels NO or DELAY
coerce_options Mail::Box +[]
create Mail::Box false
extract Mail::Box 10240
field_type Mail::Box undef
fix_headers Mail::Box false
folder Mail::Box /
folderdir Mail::Box <network location>
head_delayed_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Head::Delayed
head_type Mail::Box Mail::Box::IMAP4::Head or Mail::Message::Head::Complete
join_connection true
keep_dups Mail::Box false
lock_file Mail::Box undef
lock_timeout Mail::Box 1 hour
lock_type Mail::Box 'NONE'
lock_wait Mail::Box 10 seconds
locker Mail::Box undef
log Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS'
manager Mail::Box undef
message_type Mail::Box Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message
multipart_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Multipart
password Mail::Box::Net undef
remove_when_empty Mail::Box <false>
save_on_exit Mail::Box true
server_name Mail::Box::Net undef
server_port Mail::Box::Net 143
trace Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS'
transporter Mail::Transport::IMAP4
trusted Mail::Box <false>
username Mail::Box::Net undef
access => $mode
body_delayed_type => CLASS
body_type => CLASS|CODE
cache_body => 'NO'|'YES'|'DELAY'
Body objects are immutable, but may still cached or not. In common case, the body of a message is
requested via Mail::Message::body() or Mail::Message::decoded(). This returns a handle to a body
object. You may decide whether that body object can be reused or not. "NO" means: retrieve the
data each time again, "YES" will cache the body data, "DELAY" will send the whole message when the
folder is closed.
[local cache] [write]
NO no no
YES yes no
DELAY yes yes
cache_head => 'NO'|'PARTIAL'|'DELAY'
For a read-only folder, "DELAY" is the default, otherwise "NO" is chosen. The four configuration
parameter have subtile consequences. To start with a table:
[local cache] [write] [default head_type]
NO no no Mail::Box::IMAP4::Head
PARTIAL yes no Mail::Box::IMAP4::Head
DELAY yes yes Mail::Message::Head::Complete
The default "head_type" is Mail::Box::IMAP4::Head, the default "cached_head_type" is
Mail::Message::Head::Complete.
Having a local cache means that a lookup for a field is first done in a local data-structure (which
extends Mail::Message::Head::Partial), and only on the remote server if it was not found. This is
dangerous, because your locally cached data can be out-of-sync with the server. However, it may
give you a nice performance benefit.
"DELAY" will always collect the whole header for you. This is required when you want to look for
Resent Groups (See Mail::Message::Head::ResentGroup) or other field order dependent header access.
A Mail::Message::Head::Delayed will be created first.
cache_labels => 'NO'|'WRITE'|'DELAY'
When labels from a message are received, these values can be kept. However, this imposes dangers
where the server's internal label storage may get out of sync with your data.
With "NO", no caching will take place (but the performance will be worse). With "WRITE", all label
access will be cached, but written to the server as well. Both "NO" and "WRITE" will update the
labels on the served, even when the folder was opened read-only. "DELAY" will not write the
changed information to the server, but delay that till the moment that the folder is closed. It
only works when the folder is opened read/write or write is enforced.
The default is "DELAY" for folders which where opened read-only. This means that you still can
force an update with close(write). For folders which are opened read-write, the default is the
safeset setting, which is "NO".
coerce_options => ARRAY
create => BOOLEAN
extract => INTEGER | CODE | METHOD | 'LAZY'| 'ALWAYS'
field_type => CLASS
fix_headers => BOOLEAN
folder => $name
folderdir => $directory
head_delayed_type => CLASS
head_type => CLASS
join_connection => BOOLEAN
Within this Mail::Box::IMAP4 class is registered which transporters are already in use, i.e. which
connections to the IMAP server are already in established. When this option is set, multiple
folder openings on the same server will try to reuse one connection.
keep_dups => BOOLEAN
lock_file => $file
lock_timeout => $seconds
lock_type => CLASS|STRING|ARRAY
lock_wait => $seconds
locker => OBJECT
log => LEVEL
manager => $manager
message_type => CLASS
multipart_type => CLASS
password => $password
remove_when_empty => BOOLEAN
save_on_exit => BOOLEAN
server_name => $host
server_port => $number
trace => LEVEL
transporter => $object|$class
The name of the $class which will interface with the connection. When you implement your own
extension to Mail::Transport::IMAP4, you can either specify a fully instantiated transporter
$object, or the name of your own $class. When an $object is given, most other options will be
ignored.
trusted => BOOLEAN
username => $username
ยป example:
my $imap = Mail::Box::IMAP4->new(username => 'myname',
password => 'mypassword', server_name => 'imap.xs4all.nl');
my $url = 'imap4://user:password@imap.xs4all.nl';
my $imap = $mgr->open($url);
my $client = Mail::IMAPClient->new(...);
my $imap = Mail::Box::IMAP4->new(imap_client => $client);
Attributes
Extends "Attributes" in Mail::Box::Net.
$obj->fixHeaders()
Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box
$obj->folderdir( [$directory] )
Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box
$obj->isTrusted()
Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box
$obj->logSettings()
Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->name()
Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box
$obj->removeEmpty()
Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box
$obj->type()
Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box
The folder
Extends "The folder" in Mail::Box::Net.
$obj->addMessage($message, %options)
Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->addMessages(@messages)
Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box
$class->appendMessages(%options)
Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->close(%options)
Close the folder. In the case of IMAP, more than one folder can use the same connection, therefore,
closing a folder does not always close the connection to the server. Only when no folder is using
the connection anymore, a logout will be invoked by Mail::Transport::IMAP4::DESTROY() Improves base,
see "The folder" in Mail::Box
-Option --Defined in --Default
force Mail::Box false
save_deleted Mail::Box false
write Mail::Box 'MODIFIED'
force => BOOLEAN
save_deleted => BOOLEAN
write => 'ALWAYS'|'NEVER'|'MODIFIED'
$obj->copyTo($folder, %options)
Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->delete(%options)
Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->organization()
Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->size()
Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->update(%options)
Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->url()
Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box
Folder flags
Extends "Folder flags" in Mail::Box::Net.
$obj->access()
Inherited, see "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
$obj->isModified()
Inherited, see "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
$obj->modified( [BOOLEAN] )
Inherited, see "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
$obj->writable()
Inherited, see "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
The messages
Extends "The messages" in Mail::Box::Net.
$obj->current( [$number|$message|$message_id] )
Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->find($message_id)
Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->findFirstLabeled( $label, [BOOLEAN, [\@msgs]] )
Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->message( $index, [$message] )
Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->messageId( $message_id, [$message] )
Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->messageIds()
Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->messages( <'ALL'|$range|'ACTIVE'|'DELETED'|$label| !$label|$filter> )
Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->nrMessages(%options)
Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->scanForMessages($message, $message_ids, $timespan, $window)
Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
Sub-folders
Extends "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box::Net.
$any->listSubFolders(%options)
Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$any->nameOfSubFolder( $subname, [$parentname] )
Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$obj->openRelatedFolder(%options)
Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$obj->openSubFolder($subname, %options)
Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$any->topFolderWithMessages()
Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
Internals
Extends "Internals" in Mail::Box::Net.
$obj->body( [$body] )
$obj->coerce($message, %options)
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$any->create($folder, %options)
Inherited, see "METHODS" in Mail::Box::Net
$obj->createTransporter($class, %options)
Create a transporter object (an instance of Mail::Transport::IMAP4), where $class defines the exact
object type. As %options, everything which is acceptable to a transporter initiation can be used
(see Mail::Transport::IMAP4::new().
-Option --Default
join_connection true
join_connection => BOOLEAN
See new(join_connection). When "false", the connection will never be shared with other IMAP mail
boxes.
$obj->determineBodyType($message, $head)
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->fetch( <$messages|$selection>, $info )
Low-level data retreival about one or more messages via IMAP4 from the remote server. Some of this
data may differ from the information which is stored in the message objects which are created by
MailBox, so you should avoid the use of this method for your own purposes. The IMAP implementation
provides some wrappers around this, providing the correct behavior.
An ARRAY of $messages may be specified or some message $selection, acceptable to
Mail::Box::messages(). Examples of the latter are 'ALL', 'DELETED', or "spam" (messages labelled to
contain spam).
The $info contains one or more attributes as defined by the IMAP protocol. You have to read the full
specs of the related RFCs to see these.
$class->foundIn( [$foldername], %options )
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->getHead($message)
Read the header for the specified message from the remote server. "undef" is returned in case the
message disappeared.
$obj->getHeadAndBody($message)
Read all data for the specified message from the remote server. Return head and body of the mesasge
as list, or an empty list if the $message disappeared from the server.
$obj->lineSeparator( [<STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'>] )
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->locker()
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->read(%options)
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->readMessages(%options)
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->storeMessage($message)
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->toBeThreaded($messages)
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->toBeUnthreaded($messages)
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->transporter( [$object] )
Returns the object which is the interface to the IMAP4 protocol handler. The IMAP4 handler has the
current folder selected. When an $object is specified, it is set to be the transporter from that
moment on. The $object must extend Mail::Transport::IMAP4.
$obj->updateMessages(%options)
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->write(%options)
The IMAP protocol usually writes the data immediately to the remote server, because that's what the
protocol wants. However, some options to new() may delay that to boost performance. This method
will, when the folder is being closed, write that info after all. Improves base, see "Internals" in
Mail::Box
-Option --Defined in --Default
force Mail::Box false
save_deleted Mail::Box false
force => BOOLEAN
save_deleted => BOOLEAN
$obj->writeMessages(%options)
Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box
-Option --Defined in --Default
messages Mail::Box <required>
transporter <required>
messages => ARRAY
transporter => OBJECT
Other methods
Extends "Other methods" in Mail::Box::Net.
$any->timespan2seconds($time)
Inherited, see "Other methods" in Mail::Box
Error handling
Extends "Error handling" in Mail::Box::Net.
$obj->AUTOLOAD()
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->addReport($object)
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$any->defaultTrace( [$level]|[$loglevel, $tracelevel]|[$level, $callback] )
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->errors()
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$any->log( [$level, [$strings]] )
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$any->logPriority($level)
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->notImplemented()
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->report( [$level] )
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->reportAll( [$level] )
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->trace( [$level] )
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->warnings()
Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
Cleanup
Extends "Cleanup" in Mail::Box::Net.
$obj->DESTROY()
Inherited, see "Cleanup" in Mail::Box
DETAILS
Extends "DETAILS" in Mail::Box::Net.
DIAGNOSTICS
Warning: Cannot find head back for $uidl in $folder.
The header was read before, but now seems empty: the IMAP4 server does not produce the header lines
anymore. Cast by getHeadAndBody()
Warning: Cannot read body for $uidl in $folder.
The header of the message was retrieved from the IMAP4 server, but the body is not read, for an
unknown reason. Cast by getHeadAndBody()
Error: Copying failed for one message.
For some reason, for instance disc full, removed by external process, or read-protection, it is
impossible to copy one of the messages. Copying will proceed for the other messages. Cast by
copyTo()
Error: Couldn't select IMAP4 folder $name
Cast by transporter()
Error: Destination folder $name is not writable.
The folder where the messages are copied to is not opened with write access (see new(access)). This
has no relation with write permission to the folder which is controlled by your operating system.
Cast by copyTo()
Warning: Different messages with id $msgid
The message id is discovered more than once within the same folder, but the content of the message
seems to be different. This should not be possible: each message must be unique. Cast by
messageId()
Error: Folder $name not deleted: not writable.
The folder must be opened with write access via new(access), otherwise removing it will be refused.
So, you may have write-access according to the operating system, but that will not automatically mean
that this "delete" method permits you to. The reverse remark is valid as well. Cast by delete()
Notice: Impossible to keep deleted messages in IMAP
Some folder type have a 'deleted' flag which can be stored in the folder to be performed later. The
folder keeps that knowledge even when the folder is rewritten. Well, IMAP4 cannot play that trick.
Cast by write()
Error: Invalid timespan '$timespan' specified.
The string does not follow the strict rules of the time span syntax which is permitted as parameter.
Cast by timespan2seconds()
Warning: Message $uidl disappeared from $folder.
Trying to get the specific message from the server, but it appears to be gone. Cast by getHead()
Warning: Message $uidl disappeared from $folder.
Trying to get the specific message from the server, but it appears to be gone. Cast by
getHeadAndBody()
Warning: Message-id '$msgid' does not contain a domain.
According to the RFCs, message-ids need to contain a unique random part, then an "@", and then a
domain name. This is made to avoid the creation of two messages with the same id. The warning
emerges when the "@" is missing from the string. Cast by messageId()
Error: No IMAP4 transporter configured
Cast by transporter()
Error: Package $package does not implement $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: Unable to create subfolder $name of $folder.
The copy includes the subfolders, but for some reason it was not possible to copy one of these.
Copying will proceed for all other sub-folders. Cast by copyTo()
SEE ALSO
This module is part of Mail-Box-IMAP4 version 3.010, built on November 24, 2025. Website:
http://perl.overmeer.net/CPAN/
LICENSE
For contributors see file ChangeLog.
This software is copyright (c) 2001-2025 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.
perl v5.40.1 2025-12-07 Mail::Box::IMAP4(3pm)