<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <link rel="STYLESHEET" href="lib.css" type='text/css' /> <link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="../icons/pyfav.gif" /> <link rel='start' href='../index.html' title='Python Documentation Index' /> <link rel="first" href="lib.html" title='Python Library Reference' /> <link rel='contents' href='contents.html' title="Contents" /> <link rel='index' href='genindex.html' title='Index' /> <link rel='last' href='about.html' title='About this document...' /> <link rel='help' href='about.html' title='About this document...' /> <LINK rel="prev" href="node497.html"> <LINK rel="parent" href="module-email.Parser.html"> <LINK rel="next" href="module-email.Generator.html"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <meta name='aesop' content='information' /> <META name="description" content="Additional notes"> <META name="keywords" content="lib"> <META name="resource-type" content="document"> <META name="distribution" content="global"> <title>12.2.2.2 Additional notes</title> </head> <body> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <div id='top-navigation-panel'> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="12.2.2.1 Parser class API" href="node497.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="12.2.2 Parsing email messages" href="module-email.Parser.html"><img src='../icons/up.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Up One Level' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="12.2.3 Generating MIME documents" href="module-email.Generator.html"><img src='../icons/next.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Next Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td align="center" width="100%">Python Library Reference</td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents" href="contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Contents' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a href="modindex.html" title="Module Index"><img src='../icons/modules.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Module Index' width='32' /></a></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="index" title="Index" href="genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Index' width='32' /></A></td> </tr></table> <div class='online-navigation'> <b class="navlabel">Previous:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="node497.html">12.2.2.1 Parser class API</A> <b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="module-email.Parser.html">12.2.2 Parsing email messages</A> <b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="next" href="module-email.Generator.html">12.2.3 Generating MIME documents</A> </div> <hr /></div> </DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <H3><A NAME="SECTION0014222000000000000000"> 12.2.2.2 Additional notes</A> </H3> <P> Here are some notes on the parsing semantics: <P> <UL> <LI>Most non-<span class="mimetype">multipart</span> type messages are parsed as a single message object with a string payload. These objects will return <code>False</code> for <tt class="method">is_multipart()</tt>. Their <tt class="method">get_payload()</tt> method will return a string object. <P> </LI> <LI>All <span class="mimetype">multipart</span> type messages will be parsed as a container message object with a list of sub-message objects for their payload. The outer container message will return <code>True</code> for <tt class="method">is_multipart()</tt> and their <tt class="method">get_payload()</tt> method will return the list of <tt class="class">Message</tt> subparts. <P> </LI> <LI>Most messages with a content type of <span class="mimetype">message/*</span> (e.g. <span class="mimetype">message/delivery-status</span> and <span class="mimetype">message/rfc822</span>) will also be parsed as container object containing a list payload of length 1. Their <tt class="method">is_multipart()</tt> method will return <code>True</code>. The single element in the list payload will be a sub-message object. </LI> </UL> <P> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <div class='online-navigation'><hr /> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="12.2.2.1 Parser class API" rel="prev" title="12.2.2.1 Parser class API" href="node497.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="12.2.2 Parsing email messages" rel="parent" title="12.2.2 Parsing email messages" href="module-email.Parser.html"><img src='../icons/up.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Up One Level' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="12.2.3 Generating MIME documents" rel="next" title="12.2.3 Generating MIME documents" href="module-email.Generator.html"><img src='../icons/next.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Next Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td align="center" width="100%">Python Library Reference</td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents" href="contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Contents' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a href="modindex.html" title="Module Index"><img src='../icons/modules.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Module Index' width='32' /></a></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="index" title="Index" rel="index" title="Index" href="genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Index' width='32' /></A></td> </tr></table> <div class='online-navigation'> <b class="navlabel">Previous:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="node497.html">12.2.2.1 Parser class API</A> <b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="module-email.Parser.html">12.2.2 Parsing email messages</A> <b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="next" href="module-email.Generator.html">12.2.3 Generating MIME documents</A> </div> </div> <hr /> <span class="release-info">Release 2.3.4, documentation updated on May 20, 2004.</span> </DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <ADDRESS> See <i><a href="about.html">About this document...</a></i> for information on suggesting changes. </ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>