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<div class="section" id="module-rfc822">
<span id="rfc822-parse-rfc-2822-mail-headers"></span><h1>18.11. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-rfc822" title="rfc822: Parse 2822 style mail messages. (deprecated)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">rfc822</span></code></a> — Parse RFC 2822 mail headers<a class="headerlink" href="#module-rfc822" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="deprecated">
<p><span class="versionmodified">Deprecated since version 2.3: </span>The <a class="reference internal" href="email.html#module-email" title="email: Package supporting the parsing, manipulating, and generating email messages, including MIME documents."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">email</span></code></a> package should be used in preference to the <a class="reference internal" href="#module-rfc822" title="rfc822: Parse 2822 style mail messages. (deprecated)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">rfc822</span></code></a>
module. This module is present only to maintain backward compatibility, and
has been removed in Python 3.</p>
</div>
<p>This module defines a class, <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message" title="rfc822.Message"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></code></a>, which represents an “email
message” as defined by the Internet standard <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>. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id4" id="id1">[1]</a> Such messages
consist of a collection of message headers, and a message body. This module
also defines a helper class <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="rfc822.AddressList"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AddressList</span></code></a> for parsing <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>
addresses. Please refer to the RFC for information on the specific syntax of
<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> messages.</p>
<p id="index-3">The <a class="reference internal" href="mailbox.html#module-mailbox" title="mailbox: Manipulate mailboxes in various formats"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">mailbox</span></code></a> module provides classes to read mailboxes produced by
various end-user mail programs.</p>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="rfc822.Message">
<em class="property">class </em><code class="descclassname">rfc822.</code><code class="descname">Message</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>file</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>seekable</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>A <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message" title="rfc822.Message"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></code></a> instance is instantiated with an input object as parameter.
Message relies only on the input object having a <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></code></a> method; in
particular, ordinary file objects qualify. Instantiation reads headers from the
input object up to a delimiter line (normally a blank line) and stores them in
the instance. The message body, following the headers, is not consumed.</p>
<p>This class can work with any input object that supports a <a class="reference internal" href="readline.html#module-readline" title="readline: GNU readline support for Python. (Unix)"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></code></a>
method. If the input object has seek and tell capability, the
<a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message.rewindbody" title="rfc822.Message.rewindbody"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">rewindbody()</span></code></a> method will work; also, illegal lines will be pushed back
onto the input stream. If the input object lacks seek but has an <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">unread()</span></code>
method that can push back a line of input, <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message" title="rfc822.Message"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></code></a> will use that to
push back illegal lines. Thus this class can be used to parse messages coming
from a buffered stream.</p>
<p>The optional <em>seekable</em> argument is provided as a workaround for certain stdio
libraries in which <code class="xref c c-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">tell()</span></code> discards buffered data before discovering that
the <code class="xref c c-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">lseek()</span></code> system call doesn’t work. For maximum portability, you
should set the seekable argument to zero to prevent that initial <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">tell()</span></code>
when passing in an unseekable object such as a file object created from a socket
object.</p>
<p>Input lines as read from the file may either be terminated by CR-LF or by a
single linefeed; a terminating CR-LF is replaced by a single linefeed before the
line is stored.</p>
<p>All header matching is done independent of upper or lower case; e.g.
<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m['From']</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m['from']</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m['FROM']</span></code> all yield the same result.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="rfc822.AddressList">
<em class="property">class </em><code class="descclassname">rfc822.</code><code class="descname">AddressList</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>field</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>You may instantiate the <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="rfc822.AddressList"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AddressList</span></code></a> helper class using a single string
parameter, a comma-separated list of <span class="target" id="index-4"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a> addresses to be parsed. (The
parameter <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code> yields an empty list.)</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="rfc822.quote">
<code class="descclassname">rfc822.</code><code class="descname">quote</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>str</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.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="rfc822.unquote">
<code class="descclassname">rfc822.</code><code class="descname">unquote</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>str</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.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="rfc822.parseaddr">
<code class="descclassname">rfc822.</code><code class="descname">parseaddr</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>address</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.parseaddr" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Parse <em>address</em>, 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 “realname” and
“email address” parts. Returns a tuple of that information, unless the parse
fails, in which case a 2-tuple <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(None,</span> <span class="pre">None)</span></code> is returned.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="rfc822.dump_address_pair">
<code class="descclassname">rfc822.</code><code class="descname">dump_address_pair</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>pair</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.dump_address_pair" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The inverse of <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.parseaddr" title="rfc822.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="rfc822.parsedate">
<code class="descclassname">rfc822.</code><code class="descname">parsedate</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>date</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.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-5"></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="#rfc822.parsedate" title="rfc822.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-6"></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="#rfc822.parsedate" title="rfc822.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="rfc822.parsedate_tz">
<code class="descclassname">rfc822.</code><code class="descname">parsedate_tz</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>date</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.parsedate_tz" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Performs the same function as <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.parsedate" title="rfc822.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). (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-7"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></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="rfc822.mktime_tz">
<code class="descclassname">rfc822.</code><code class="descname">mktime_tz</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>tuple</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.mktime_tz" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Turn a 10-tuple as returned by <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.parsedate_tz" title="rfc822.parsedate_tz"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">parsedate_tz()</span></code></a> into a UTC timestamp. If
the timezone item in the tuple is <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code>, assume local time. Minor
deficiency: this first interprets the first 8 elements as a local time and then
compensates for the timezone difference; this may yield a slight error around
daylight savings time switch dates. Not enough to worry about for common use.</p>
</dd></dl>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="first admonition-title">See also</p>
<dl class="last docutils">
<dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="email.html#module-email" title="email: Package supporting the parsing, manipulating, and generating email messages, including MIME documents."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">email</span></code></a></dt>
<dd>Comprehensive email handling package; supersedes the <a class="reference internal" href="#module-rfc822" title="rfc822: Parse 2822 style mail messages. (deprecated)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">rfc822</span></code></a> module.</dd>
<dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="mailbox.html#module-mailbox" title="mailbox: Manipulate mailboxes in various formats"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">mailbox</span></code></a></dt>
<dd>Classes to read various mailbox formats produced by end-user mail programs.</dd>
<dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="mimetools.html#module-mimetools" title="mimetools: Tools for parsing MIME-style message bodies. (deprecated)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">mimetools</span></code></a></dt>
<dd>Subclass of <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message" title="rfc822.Message"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">rfc822.Message</span></code></a> that handles MIME encoded messages.</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<div class="section" id="message-objects">
<span id="id2"></span><h2>18.11.1. Message Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#message-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>A <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message" title="rfc822.Message"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></code></a> instance has the following methods:</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.rewindbody">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">rewindbody</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.rewindbody" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Seek to the start of the message body. This only works if the file object is
seekable.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.isheader">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">isheader</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>line</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.isheader" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Returns a line’s canonicalized fieldname (the dictionary key that will be used
to index it) if the line is a legal <span class="target" id="index-8"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a> header; otherwise returns
<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code> (implying that parsing should stop here and the line be pushed back on
the input stream). It is sometimes useful to override this method in a
subclass.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.islast">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">islast</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>line</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.islast" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return true if the given line is a delimiter on which Message should stop. The
delimiter line is consumed, and the file object’s read location positioned
immediately after it. By default this method just checks that the line is
blank, but you can override it in a subclass.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.iscomment">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">iscomment</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>line</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.iscomment" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></code> if the given line should be ignored entirely, just skipped. By
default this is a stub that always returns <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></code>, but you can override it in
a subclass.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.getallmatchingheaders">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">getallmatchingheaders</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.getallmatchingheaders" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a list of lines consisting of all headers matching <em>name</em>, if any. Each
physical line, whether it is a continuation line or not, is a separate list
item. Return the empty list if no header matches <em>name</em>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.getfirstmatchingheader">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">getfirstmatchingheader</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.getfirstmatchingheader" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a list of lines comprising the first header matching <em>name</em>, and its
continuation line(s), if any. Return <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code> if there is no header matching
<em>name</em>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.getrawheader">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">getrawheader</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.getrawheader" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a single string consisting of the text after the colon in the first
header matching <em>name</em>. This includes leading whitespace, the trailing
linefeed, and internal linefeeds and whitespace if there any continuation
line(s) were present. Return <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code> if there is no header matching <em>name</em>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.getheader">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">getheader</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>default</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.getheader" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a single string consisting of the last header matching <em>name</em>,
but strip leading and trailing whitespace.
Internal whitespace is not stripped. The optional <em>default</em> argument can be
used to specify a different default to be returned when there is no header
matching <em>name</em>; it defaults to <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code>.
This is the preferred way to get parsed headers.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.get">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">get</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>default</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.get" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>An alias for <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message.getheader" title="rfc822.Message.getheader"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">getheader()</span></code></a>, to make the interface more compatible with
regular dictionaries.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.getaddr">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">getaddr</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.getaddr" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a pair <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(full</span> <span class="pre">name,</span> <span class="pre">email</span> <span class="pre">address)</span></code> parsed from the string returned by
<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">getheader(name)</span></code>. If no header matching <em>name</em> exists, return <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(None,</span>
<span class="pre">None)</span></code>; otherwise both the full name and the address are (possibly empty)
strings.</p>
<p>Example: If <em>m</em>‘s first <em class="mailheader">From</em> header contains the string
<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'jack@cwi.nl</span> <span class="pre">(Jack</span> <span class="pre">Jansen)'</span></code>, then <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m.getaddr('From')</span></code> will yield the pair
<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">('Jack</span> <span class="pre">Jansen',</span> <span class="pre">'jack@cwi.nl')</span></code>. If the header contained <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'Jack</span> <span class="pre">Jansen</span>
<span class="pre"><jack@cwi.nl>'</span></code> instead, it would yield the exact same result.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.getaddrlist">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">getaddrlist</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.getaddrlist" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>This is similar to <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">getaddr(list)</span></code>, but parses a header containing a list of
email addresses (e.g. a <em class="mailheader">To</em> header) and returns a list of <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(full</span>
<span class="pre">name,</span> <span class="pre">email</span> <span class="pre">address)</span></code> pairs (even if there was only one address in the header).
If there is no header matching <em>name</em>, return an empty list.</p>
<p>If multiple headers exist that match the named header (e.g. if there are several
<em class="mailheader">Cc</em> headers), all are parsed for addresses. Any continuation lines
the named headers contain are also parsed.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.getdate">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">getdate</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.getdate" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Retrieve a header using <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message.getheader" title="rfc822.Message.getheader"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">getheader()</span></code></a> and parse it into a 9-tuple compatible
with <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>; note that fields 6, 7, and 8 are not usable. If
there is no header matching <em>name</em>, or it is unparsable, return <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code>.</p>
<p>Date parsing appears to be a black art, and not all mailers adhere to the
standard. While it has been tested and found correct on a large collection of
email from many sources, it is still possible that this function may
occasionally yield an incorrect result.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.getdate_tz">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">getdate_tz</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>name</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.getdate_tz" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Retrieve a header using <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message.getheader" title="rfc822.Message.getheader"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">getheader()</span></code></a> and parse it into a 10-tuple; the
first 9 elements will make a tuple compatible with <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
10th is a number giving the offset of the date’s timezone from UTC. Note that
fields 6, 7, and 8 are not usable. Similarly to <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message.getdate" title="rfc822.Message.getdate"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">getdate()</span></code></a>, if there is
no header matching <em>name</em>, or it is unparsable, return <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></code>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message" title="rfc822.Message"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></code></a> instances also support a limited mapping interface. In
particular: <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m[name]</span></code> is like <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m.getheader(name)</span></code> but raises <a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.KeyError" title="exceptions.KeyError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">KeyError</span></code></a>
if there is no matching header; and <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">len(m)</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m.get(name[,</span> <span class="pre">default])</span></code>,
<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">name</span> <span class="pre">in</span> <span class="pre">m</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m.keys()</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m.values()</span></code> <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m.items()</span></code>, and
<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m.setdefault(name[,</span> <span class="pre">default])</span></code> act as expected, with the one difference
that <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">setdefault()</span></code> uses an empty string as the default value.
<a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message" title="rfc822.Message"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></code></a> instances also support the mapping writable interface <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">m[name]</span>
<span class="pre">=</span> <span class="pre">value</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">del</span> <span class="pre">m[name]</span></code>. <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message" title="rfc822.Message"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></code></a> objects do not support the
<code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">clear()</span></code>, <a class="reference internal" href="copy.html#module-copy" title="copy: Shallow and deep copy operations."><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">copy()</span></code></a>, <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">popitem()</span></code>, or <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">update()</span></code> methods of the
mapping interface. (Support for <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">get()</span></code> and <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">setdefault()</span></code> was only
added in Python 2.2.)</p>
<p>Finally, <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.Message" title="rfc822.Message"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></code></a> instances have some public instance variables:</p>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.headers">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">headers</code><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.headers" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>A list containing the entire set of header lines, in the order in which they
were read (except that setitem calls may disturb this order). Each line contains
a trailing newline. The blank line terminating the headers is not contained in
the list.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.fp">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">fp</code><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.fp" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The file or file-like object passed at instantiation time. This can be used to
read the message content.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="rfc822.Message.unixfrom">
<code class="descclassname">Message.</code><code class="descname">unixfrom</code><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.Message.unixfrom" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The Unix <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">From</span></code> line, if the message had one, or an empty string. This is
needed to regenerate the message in some contexts, such as an <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">mbox</span></code>-style
mailbox file.</p>
</dd></dl>
</div>
<div class="section" id="addresslist-objects">
<span id="id3"></span><h2>18.11.2. AddressList Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#addresslist-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>An <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="rfc822.AddressList"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AddressList</span></code></a> instance has the following methods:</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.AddressList.__len__">
<code class="descclassname">AddressList.</code><code class="descname">__len__</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.AddressList.__len__" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return the number of addresses in the address list.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.AddressList.__str__">
<code class="descclassname">AddressList.</code><code class="descname">__str__</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.AddressList.__str__" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a canonicalized string representation of the address list. Addresses are
rendered in “name” <<a class="reference external" href="mailto:host%40domain">host<span>@</span>domain</a>> form, comma-separated.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.AddressList.__add__">
<code class="descclassname">AddressList.</code><code class="descname">__add__</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>alist</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.AddressList.__add__" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a new <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="rfc822.AddressList"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AddressList</span></code></a> instance that contains all addresses in both
<a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="rfc822.AddressList"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AddressList</span></code></a> operands, with duplicates removed (set union).</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.AddressList.__iadd__">
<code class="descclassname">AddressList.</code><code class="descname">__iadd__</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>alist</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.AddressList.__iadd__" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>In-place version of <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList.__add__" title="rfc822.AddressList.__add__"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">__add__()</span></code></a>; turns this <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="rfc822.AddressList"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AddressList</span></code></a> instance
into the union of itself and the right-hand instance, <em>alist</em>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.AddressList.__sub__">
<code class="descclassname">AddressList.</code><code class="descname">__sub__</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>alist</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.AddressList.__sub__" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a new <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="rfc822.AddressList"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AddressList</span></code></a> instance that contains every address in the
left-hand <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="rfc822.AddressList"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AddressList</span></code></a> operand that is not present in the right-hand
address operand (set difference).</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="rfc822.AddressList.__isub__">
<code class="descclassname">AddressList.</code><code class="descname">__isub__</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>alist</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.AddressList.__isub__" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>In-place version of <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList.__sub__" title="rfc822.AddressList.__sub__"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">__sub__()</span></code></a>, removing addresses in this list which are
also in <em>alist</em>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<p>Finally, <a class="reference internal" href="#rfc822.AddressList" title="rfc822.AddressList"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AddressList</span></code></a> instances have one public instance variable:</p>
<dl class="attribute">
<dt id="rfc822.AddressList.addresslist">
<code class="descclassname">AddressList.</code><code class="descname">addresslist</code><a class="headerlink" href="#rfc822.AddressList.addresslist" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>A list of tuple string pairs, one per address. In each member, the first is the
canonicalized name part, the second is the actual route-address (<code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'@'</span></code>-separated username-host.domain pair).</p>
</dd></dl>
<p class="rubric">Footnotes</p>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id4" 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>This module originally conformed to <span class="target" id="index-9"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a>, hence the name. Since then,
<span class="target" id="index-10"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a> has been released as an update to <span class="target" id="index-11"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a>. This module should be
considered <span class="target" id="index-12"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>-conformant, especially in cases where the syntax or
semantics have changed since <span class="target" id="index-13"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a>.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
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<h3><a href="../contents.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">18.11. <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">rfc822</span></code> — Parse RFC 2822 mail headers</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#message-objects">18.11.1. Message Objects</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#addresslist-objects">18.11.2. AddressList Objects</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Previous topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="multifile.html"
title="previous chapter">18.10. <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">multifile</span></code> — Support for files containing distinct parts</a></p>
<h4>Next topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="base64.html"
title="next chapter">18.12. <code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">base64</span></code> — RFC 3548: Base16, Base32, Base64 Data Encodings</a></p>
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