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<div class="section" id="module-email.utils">
<span id="email-utils-miscellaneous-utilities"></span><h1>18.1.9. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-email.utils" title="email.utils: Miscellaneous email package utilities."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.utils</span></code></a>: Miscellaneous utilities<a class="headerlink" href="#module-email.utils" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>There are several useful utilities provided in the <a class="reference internal" href="#module-email.utils" title="email.utils: Miscellaneous email package utilities."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.utils</span></code></a> module:</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.quote">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">quote</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>str</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.quote" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a new string with backslashes in <em>str</em> replaced by two backslashes, and
double quotes replaced by backslash-double quote.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.unquote">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">unquote</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>str</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.unquote" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a new string which is an <em>unquoted</em> version of <em>str</em>. If <em>str</em> ends and
begins with double quotes, they are stripped off. Likewise if <em>str</em> ends and
begins with angle brackets, they are stripped off.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.parseaddr">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">parseaddr</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>address</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.parseaddr" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Parse address – which should be the value of some address-containing field such
as <em class="mailheader">To</em> or <em class="mailheader">Cc</em> – into its constituent <em>realname</em> and
<em>email address</em> parts. Returns a tuple of that information, unless the parse
fails, in which case a 2-tuple of <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">('',</span> <span class="pre">'')</span></code> is returned.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.formataddr">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">formataddr</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>pair</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.formataddr" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The inverse of <a class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parseaddr" title="email.utils.parseaddr"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">parseaddr()</span></code></a>, this takes a 2-tuple of the form <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(realname,</span>
<span class="pre">email_address)</span></code> and returns the string value suitable for a <em class="mailheader">To</em> or
<em class="mailheader">Cc</em> header. If the first element of <em>pair</em> is false, then the
second element is returned unmodified.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.getaddresses">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">getaddresses</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>fieldvalues</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.getaddresses" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>This method returns a list of 2-tuples of the form returned by <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">parseaddr()</span></code>.
<em>fieldvalues</em> is a sequence of header field values as might be returned by
<a class="reference internal" href="email.message.html#email.message.Message.get_all" title="email.message.Message.get_all"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message.get_all</span></code></a>. Here’s a simple
example that gets all the recipients of a message:</p>
<div class="highlight-default"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">email.utils</span> <span class="k">import</span> <span class="n">getaddresses</span>
<span class="n">tos</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_all</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'to'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">[])</span>
<span class="n">ccs</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_all</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'cc'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">[])</span>
<span class="n">resent_tos</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_all</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'resent-to'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">[])</span>
<span class="n">resent_ccs</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_all</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'resent-cc'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">[])</span>
<span class="n">all_recipients</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">getaddresses</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">tos</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">ccs</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">resent_tos</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">resent_ccs</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.parsedate">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">parsedate</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>date</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.parsedate" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Attempts to parse a date according to the rules in <span class="target" id="index-0"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>. however, some
mailers don’t follow that format as specified, so <a class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parsedate" title="email.utils.parsedate"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">parsedate()</span></code></a> tries to
guess correctly in such cases. <em>date</em> is a string containing an <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>
date, such as <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">"Mon,</span> <span class="pre">20</span> <span class="pre">Nov</span> <span class="pre">1995</span> <span class="pre">19:12:08</span> <span class="pre">-0500"</span></code>. If it succeeds in parsing
the date, <a class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parsedate" title="email.utils.parsedate"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">parsedate()</span></code></a> returns a 9-tuple that can be passed directly to
<a class="reference internal" href="time.html#time.mktime" title="time.mktime"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.mktime()</span></code></a>; otherwise <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code> will be returned. Note that indexes 6,
7, and 8 of the result tuple are not usable.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.parsedate_tz">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">parsedate_tz</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>date</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.parsedate_tz" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Performs the same function as <a class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parsedate" title="email.utils.parsedate"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">parsedate()</span></code></a>, but returns either <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code> or
a 10-tuple; the first 9 elements make up a tuple that can be passed directly to
<a class="reference internal" href="time.html#time.mktime" title="time.mktime"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.mktime()</span></code></a>, and the tenth is the offset of the date’s timezone from UTC
(which is the official term for Greenwich Mean Time) <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id2" id="id1">[1]</a>. If the input string
has no timezone, the last element of the tuple returned is <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code>. Note that
indexes 6, 7, and 8 of the result tuple are not usable.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.mktime_tz">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">mktime_tz</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>tuple</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.mktime_tz" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Turn a 10-tuple as returned by <a class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parsedate_tz" title="email.utils.parsedate_tz"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">parsedate_tz()</span></code></a> into a UTC
timestamp (seconds since the Epoch). If the timezone item in the
tuple is <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code>, assume local time.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.formatdate">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">formatdate</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>[timeval[, localtime][, usegmt]]</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.formatdate" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Returns a date string as per <span class="target" id="index-2"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>, e.g.:</p>
<div class="highlight-default"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Fri</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">09</span> <span class="n">Nov</span> <span class="mi">2001</span> <span class="mi">01</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="mi">08</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="mi">47</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="mi">0000</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Optional <em>timeval</em> if given is a floating point time value as accepted by
<a class="reference internal" href="time.html#time.gmtime" title="time.gmtime"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.gmtime()</span></code></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="time.html#time.localtime" title="time.localtime"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.localtime()</span></code></a>, otherwise the current time is
used.</p>
<p>Optional <em>localtime</em> is a flag that when <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></code>, interprets <em>timeval</em>, and
returns a date relative to the local timezone instead of UTC, properly taking
daylight savings time into account. The default is <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></code> meaning UTC is
used.</p>
<p>Optional <em>usegmt</em> is a flag that when <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></code>, outputs a date string with the
timezone as an ascii string <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">GMT</span></code>, rather than a numeric <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">-0000</span></code>. This is
needed for some protocols (such as HTTP). This only applies when <em>localtime</em> is
<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></code>. The default is <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></code>.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.4.</span></p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.make_msgid">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">make_msgid</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="optional">[</span><em>idstring</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.make_msgid" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Returns a string suitable for an <span class="target" id="index-3"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>-compliant
<em class="mailheader">Message-ID</em> header. Optional <em>idstring</em> if given, is a string used
to strengthen the uniqueness of the message id.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.decode_rfc2231">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">decode_rfc2231</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>s</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.decode_rfc2231" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Decode the string <em>s</em> according to <span class="target" id="index-4"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.encode_rfc2231">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">encode_rfc2231</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>s</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>charset</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>language</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.encode_rfc2231" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Encode the string <em>s</em> according to <span class="target" id="index-5"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a>. Optional <em>charset</em> and
<em>language</em>, if given is the character set name and language name to use. If
neither is given, <em>s</em> is returned as-is. If <em>charset</em> is given but <em>language</em>
is not, the string is encoded using the empty string for <em>language</em>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">collapse_rfc2231_value</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>value</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>errors</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>fallback_charset</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>When a header parameter is encoded in <span class="target" id="index-6"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a> format,
<a class="reference internal" href="email.message.html#email.message.Message.get_param" title="email.message.Message.get_param"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message.get_param</span></code></a> may return a
3-tuple containing the character set,
language, and value. <a class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value" title="email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">collapse_rfc2231_value()</span></code></a> turns this into a unicode
string. Optional <em>errors</em> is passed to the <em>errors</em> argument of the built-in
<a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#unicode" title="unicode"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode()</span></code></a> function; it defaults to <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">replace</span></code>. Optional
<em>fallback_charset</em> specifies the character set to use if the one in the
<span class="target" id="index-7"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a> header is not known by Python; it defaults to <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">us-ascii</span></code>.</p>
<p>For convenience, if the <em>value</em> passed to <a class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value" title="email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">collapse_rfc2231_value()</span></code></a> is not
a tuple, it should be a string and it is returned unquoted.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.decode_params">
<code class="descclassname">email.utils.</code><code class="descname">decode_params</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>params</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.decode_params" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Decode parameters list according to <span class="target" id="index-8"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a>. <em>params</em> is a sequence of
2-tuples containing elements of the form <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(content-type,</span> <span class="pre">string-value)</span></code>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.4: </span>The <code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">dump_address_pair()</span></code> function has been removed; use <a class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.formataddr" title="email.utils.formataddr"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">formataddr()</span></code></a>
instead.</p>
</div>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.4: </span>The <code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">decode()</span></code> function has been removed; use the
<code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">Header.decode_header</span></code> method
instead.</p>
</div>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.4: </span>The <code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">encode()</span></code> function has been removed; use the <a class="reference internal" href="email.header.html#email.header.Header.encode" title="email.header.Header.encode"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">Header.encode</span></code></a> method instead.</p>
</div>
<p class="rubric">Footnotes</p>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id2" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[1]</a></td><td>Note that the sign of the timezone offset is the opposite of the sign of the
<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.timezone</span></code> variable for the same timezone; the latter variable follows
the POSIX standard while this module follows <span class="target" id="index-9"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
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