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<H1><A NAME="SECTION0014600000000000000000">
12.6 <tt class="module">mimetools</tt> --
Tools for parsing MIME messages</A>
</H1>
<P>
<P>
This module defines a subclass of the
<tt class="module"><a href="module-rfc822.html">rfc822</a></tt><a name="l2h-2917"> </a>module's
<tt class="class">Message</tt> class and a number of utility functions that are
useful for the manipulation for MIME multipart or encoded message.
<P>
It defines the following items:
<P>
<dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">class</span> <a name="l2h-2911"><tt class="class">Message</tt></a></b>(<var>fp</var><big>[</big><var>, seekable</var><big>]</big>)
<dd>
Return a new instance of the <tt class="class">Message</tt> class. This is a
subclass of the <tt class="class">rfc822.Message</tt> class, with some additional
methods (see below). The <var>seekable</var> argument has the same meaning
as for <tt class="class">rfc822.Message</tt>.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><a name="l2h-2912"><tt class="function">choose_boundary</tt></a></b>()
<dd>
Return a unique string that has a high likelihood of being usable as a
part boundary. The string has the form
<code>'<var>hostipaddr</var>.<var>uid</var>.<var>pid</var>.<var>timestamp</var>.<var>random</var>'</code>.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><a name="l2h-2913"><tt class="function">decode</tt></a></b>(<var>input, output, encoding</var>)
<dd>
Read data encoded using the allowed MIME <var>encoding</var> from open file
object <var>input</var> and write the decoded data to open file object
<var>output</var>. Valid values for <var>encoding</var> include
<code>'base64'</code>, <code>'quoted-printable'</code> and <code>'uuencode'</code>.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><a name="l2h-2914"><tt class="function">encode</tt></a></b>(<var>input, output, encoding</var>)
<dd>
Read data from open file object <var>input</var> and write it encoded using
the allowed MIME <var>encoding</var> to open file object <var>output</var>.
Valid values for <var>encoding</var> are the same as for <tt class="method">decode()</tt>.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><a name="l2h-2915"><tt class="function">copyliteral</tt></a></b>(<var>input, output</var>)
<dd>
Read lines from open file <var>input</var> until EOF and write them to
open file <var>output</var>.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><a name="l2h-2916"><tt class="function">copybinary</tt></a></b>(<var>input, output</var>)
<dd>
Read blocks until EOF from open file <var>input</var> and write them to
open file <var>output</var>. The block size is currently fixed at 8192.
</dl>
<P>
<div class="seealso">
<p class="heading"><b>See Also:</b></p>
<dl compact class="seemodule">
<dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-rfc822.html">rfc822</a></tt>:</b>
<dd>Provides the base class for
<tt class="class">mimetools.Message</tt>.
</dl>
<dl compact class="seemodule">
<dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-multifile.html">multifile</a></tt>:</b>
<dd>Support for reading files which contain
distinct parts, such as MIME data.
</dl>
<dl compact class="seeurl">
<dt><a href="http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/mail/mime-faq/.html"
class="url">http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/mail/mime-faq/.html</a>
<dd>
The MIME Frequently Asked Questions document. For an
overview of MIME, see the answer to question 1.1 in Part 1
of this document.
</dl>
</div>
<P>
<p><hr>
<!--Table of Child-Links-->
<A NAME="CHILD_LINKS"><STRONG>Subsections</STRONG></a>
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<LI><A href="mimetools-message-objects.html">12.6.1 Additional Methods of Message Objects</a>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.2, documentation updated on December 21, 2001.</span>
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