NAME

$obj->isEmpty

$obj->isModified

$obj->knownNames

$obj->message([MESSAGE])

$obj->modified([BOOLEAN])

$obj->nrLines

Return the number of lines needed to display this header (including the trailing newline)

$obj->orderedFields

See Mail::Message::Head/"Access to the header"

$obj->size

Return the number of bytes needed to display this header (including the trailing newline). On systems which use CRLF as line separator, the number of lines in the header (see nrLines()) must be added to find the actual size in the file.

$obj->wrap(INTEGER)

Re-fold all fields from the header to contain at most INTEGER number of characters per line.

example: re-folding a header

 $msg->head->wrap(78);

Access to the header

$obj->add(FIELD | LINE | (NAME,BODY[,ATTRS]))

Add a field to the header. If a field is added more than once, all values are stored in the header, in the order they are added.

When a FIELD object is specified (some Mail::Message::Field instance), that will be added. Another possibility is to specify a raw header LINE, or a header line nicely split-up in NAME and BODY, in which case the field constructor is called for you.

LINE or BODY specifications which are terminated by a new-line are considered to be correctly folded. Lines which are not terminated by a new-line will be folded when needed: new-lines will be added where required. It is strongly adviced to let MailBox do the folding for you.

The return value of this method is the Mail::Message::Field object which is created (or was specified).

example:

 my $head  = Mail::Message::Head->new;
 $head->add('Subject: hi!');
 $head->add(From => 'me@home');
 my $field = Mail::Message::Field->new('To: you@there');
 $head->add($field);
 my Mail::Message::Field $s = $head->add(Sender => 'I');

$obj->addListGroup(OBJECT)

A list group is a set of header fields which contain data about a mailing list which was used to transmit the message. See Mail::Message::Head::ListGroup for details about the implementation of the OBJECT.

When you have a list group prepared, you can add it later using this method. You will get your private copy of the list group data in return, because the same group can be used for multiple messages.

example: of adding a list group to a header

 my $lg = Mail::Message::Head::ListGroup->new(...);
 my $own_lg = $msg->head->addListGroup($lg);

$obj->addResentGroup(RESENT-GROUP|DATA)

Add a RESENT-GROUP (a Mail::Message::Head::ResentGroup object) to the header. If you specify DATA, that is used to create such group first. If no Received line is specified, it will be created for you.

These header lines have nothing to do with the user's sense of reply or forward actions: these lines trace the e-mail transport mechanism.

example:

 my $rg = Mail::Message::Head::ResentGroup->new(head => $head, ...);
 $head->addResentGroup($rg);

 my $rg = $head->addResentGroup(From => 'me');

$obj->addSpamGroup(OBJECT)

A spam fighting group is a set of header fields which contains data which is used to fight spam. See Mail::Message::Head::SpamGroup for details about the implementation of the OBJECT.

When you have a spam group prepared, you can add it later using this method. You will get your private copy of the spam group data in return, because the same group can be used for multiple messages.

example: of adding a spam group to a header

 my $sg = Mail::Message::Head::SpamGroup->new(...);
 my $own_sg = $msg->head->addSpamGroup($sg);

$obj->count(NAME)

Count the number of fields with this NAME. Most fields will return 1: only one occurance in the header. As example, the Received fields are usually present more than once.

$obj->delete(NAME)

Remove the field with the specified name. If the header contained multiple lines with the same name, they will be replaced all together. This method simply calls reset() without replacement fields. READ THE IMPORTANT WARNING IN removeField()

$obj->get(NAME [,INDEX])

$obj->grepNames([NAMES|ARRAY-OF-NAMES|REGEXS])

Filter from all header fields those with names which start will any of the specified list. When no names are specified, all fields will be returned. The list is ordered as they where read from file, or added later.

The NAMES are considered regular expressions, and will all be matched case insensitive and attached to the front of the string only. You may also specify one or more prepared regexes.

example:

 my @f  = $head->grepNames();       # same as $head->orderedFields
 my @f  = $head->grepNames('X-', 'Subject', ');
 my @to = $head->grepNames('To\b'); # will only select To

$obj->listGroup

Returns a list group description: the set of headers which form the information about mailing list software used to transport the message. See also addListGroup() and removeListGroup().

example: use of listGroup()

 if(my $lg = $msg->head->listGroup)
 {  $lg->print(\*STDERR);
    $lg->delete;
 }

 $msg->head->removeListGroup;

$obj->names

Returns a full ordered list of known field names, as defined in the header. Fields which were reset() to be empty will still be listed here.

$obj->print([FILEHANDLE])

Print all headers to the specified FILEHANDLE, by default the selected filehandle. See printUndisclosed() to limit the headers to include only the public headers.

example:

 $head->print(\*OUT);
 $head->print;

 my $fh = IO::File->new(...);
 $head->print($fh);

$obj->printSelected(FILEHANDLE, (STRING|REGEXP)s)

Like the usual print(), the header lines are printed to the specified FILEHANDLE. In this case, however, only the fields with names as specified by STRING (case insensative) or REGEXP are printed. They will stay the in-order of the source header.

example: printing only a subset of the fields

 $head->printSelected(STDOUT, qw/Subject From To/, qr/^x\-(spam|xyz)\-/i)

$obj->printUndisclosed([FILEHANDLE])

Like the usual print(), the header lines are printed to the specified FILEHANDLE, by default the selected filehandle. In this case, however, Bcc and Resent-Bcc lines are included.

$obj->removeContentInfo

Remove all body related fields from the header. The header will become partial.

$obj->removeField(FIELD)

Remove the specified FIELD object from the header. This is useful when there are possible more than one fields with the same name, and you need to remove exactly one of them. Also have a look at delete(), reset(), and set().

See also Mail::Message::Head::Partial::removeFields() (mind the 's' at the end of the name), which accepts a string or regular expression as argument to select the fields to be removed.

WARNING WARNING WARNING: for performance reasons, the header administration uses weak references (see Scalar::Util method weaken()> to figure-out which fields have been removed. A header is a hash of field for fast search and an array of weak references to remember the order of the fields, required for printing. If the field is removed from the hash, the weak-ref is set to undef and the field not printed.

However... it is easy to disturb this process. Example: my $msg = ....; # subject ref-count = 1 + 0 = 1 $msg->head->delete('Subject'); # subject ref-count = 0 = 0: clean-up $msg->print; # subject doesn't show: ok

But my $msg = ....; # subject ref-count = 1 + 0 = 1 my $s = $msg->head->get('subject'); # ref-count = 1 + 1 + 0 = 2 $msg->head->delete('Subject'); # subject ref-count = 1 + 0 = 1: no clean-up $msg->print; # subject DOES show: not ok undef $s; # ref-count becomes 0: clean-up $msg->print; # subject doesn't show: ok

To avoid the latter situation, do not catch the field object, but only the field content. SAVE are all methods which return the text: my $s = $msg->head->get('subject')->body; my $s = $msg->head->get('subject')->unfoldedBody; my $s = $msg->head->get('subject')->foldedBody; my $s = $msg->head->get('subject')->foldedBody; my $s = $msg->get('subject'); my $s = $msg->subject; my $s = $msg->string;

$obj->removeFields(STRING|REGEXP, [STRING|REGEXP, ...])

The header object is turned into a Mail::Message::Head::Partial object which has a set of fields removed. Read about the implications and the possibilities in Mail::Message::Head::Partial::removeFields().

$obj->removeFieldsExcept(STRING|REGEXP, [STRING|REGEXP, ...])

$obj->removeListGroup

Removes all fields related to mailing list administration at once. The header object is turned into a Mail::Message::Head::Partial object. Read about the implications and the possibilities in Mail::Message::Head::Partial::removeListGroup().

$obj->removeResentGroups

Removes all resent groups at once. The header object is turned into a Mail::Message::Head::Partial object. Read about the implications and the possibilities in Mail::Message::Head::Partial::removeResentGroups().

$obj->removeSpamGroups

Removes all fields which were added by various spam detection software at once. The header object is turned into a Mail::Message::Head::Partial object. Read about the implications and the possibilities in Mail::Message::Head::Partial::removeSpamGroups().

$obj->resentGroups

Returns a list of Mail::Message::Head::ResentGroup objects which each represent one intermediate point in the message's transmission in the order as they appear in the header: the most recent one first. See also addResentGroup() and removeResentGroups().

A resent group contains a set of header fields whose names start with Resent-. Before the first Resent line is trace information, which is composed of an optional Return-Path field and an required Received field.

$obj->reset(NAME, FIELDS)

Replace the values in the header fields named by NAME with the values specified in the list of FIELDS. A single name can correspond to multiple repeated fields. READ THE IMPORTANT WARNING IN removeField()

Removing fields which are part of one of the predefined field groups is not a smart idea. You can better remove these fields as group, all together. For instance, the 'Received' lines are part of resent groups, 'X-Spam' is past of a spam group, and List-Post belongs to a list group. You can delete a whole group with Mail::Message::Head::FieldGroup::delete(), or with methods which are provided by Mail::Message::Head::Partial.

If FIELDS is empty, the corresponding NAME fields will be removed. The location of removed fields in the header order will be remembered. Fields with the same name which are added later will appear at the remembered position. This is equivalent to the delete() method.

example:

 # reduce number of 'Keywords' lines to last 5)
 my @keywords = $head->get('Keywords');
 $head->reset('Keywords', @keywords[-5..-1]) if @keywords > 5;

 # Reduce the number of Received lines to only the last added one.
 my @rgs = $head->resentGroups;
 shift @rgs;     # keep this one (later is added in front)
 $_->delete foreach @rgs;

$obj->set(FIELD | LINE | (NAME, BODY [,ATTRS]))

The set method is similar to the add() method, and takes the same options. However, existing values for fields will be removed before a new value is added. READ THE IMPORTANT WARNING IN removeField()

$obj->spamDetected

Returns whether one of the spam groups defines a report about spam. If there are not header fields in the message which relate to spam-detection software, undef is returned. The spamgroups which report spam are returned.

example:

 $message->delete if $message->spamDetected;

 call_spamassassin($message)
    unless defined $message->spamDetected;

$obj->spamGroups([NAMES])

Returns a list of Mail::Message::Head::SpamGroup objects, each collecting some lines which contain spam fighting information. When any NAMES are given, then only these groups are returned. See also addSpamGroup() and removeSpamGroups().

In scalar context, with exactly one NAME specified, that group will be returned. With more NAMES or without NAMES, a list will be returned (which defaults to the length of the list in scalar context).

example: use of listGroup()

 my @sg = $msg->head->spamGroups;
 $sg[0]->print(\*STDERR);
 $sg[-1]->delete;

 my $sg = $msg->head->spamGroups('SpamAssassin');

$obj->string

Returns the whole header as one scalar (in scalar context) or list of lines (list context). Triggers completion.

$obj->study(NAME [,INDEX])

See Mail::Message::Head/"Access to the header"

About the body

$obj->guessBodySize

See Mail::Message::Head/"About the body"

$obj->guessTimeStamp

Make a guess about when the message was origanally posted, based on the information found in the header's Date field.

For some kinds of folders, Mail::Message::guessTimestamp() may produce a better result, for instance by looking at the modification time of the file in which the message is stored. Also some protocols, like POP can supply that information.

$obj->isMultipart

See Mail::Message::Head/"About the body"

$obj->recvstamp

Returns an indication about when the message was sent, but only using the Date field in the header as last resort: we do not trust the sender of the message to specify the correct date. See timestamp() when you do trust the sender.

Many spam producers fake a date, which mess up the order of receiving things. The timestamp which is produced is derived from the Received headers, if they are present, and undef otherwise.

The timestamp is encoded as time is on your system (see perldoc -f time), and as such usable for the gmtime and localtime methods.

example: of time-sorting folders with received messages

 my $folder = $mgr->open('InBox');
 my @messages = sort {$a->recvstamp <=> $b->recvstamp}
                   $folder->messages;

example: of time-sorting messages of mixed origin

 my $folder = $mgr->open('MyFolder');

 # Pre-calculate timestamps to be sorted (for speed)
 my @stamps = map { [ ($_->timestamp || 0), $_ ] }
                     $folder->messages;

 my @sorted
   = map { $_->[1] }      # get the message for the stamp
       sort {$a->[0] <=> $b->[0]}   # stamps are numerics
          @stamps;

$obj->timestamp

Returns an indication about when the message was sent, with as little guessing as possible. In this case, the date as specified by the sender is trusted. See recvstamp() when you do not want to trust the sender.

The timestamp is encoded as time is on your system (see perldoc -f time), and as such usable for the gmtime and localtime methods.

Internals

$obj->addNoRealize(FIELD)

$obj->addOrderedFields(FIELDS)

$obj->createFromLine

For some mail-folder types separate messages by a line starting with 'From '. If a message is moved to such folder from a folder-type which does not support these separators, this method is called to produce one.

$obj->createMessageId

Creates a message-id for this message. This method will be run when a new message is created, or a message is discovered without the message-id header field. Message-ids are required for detection of message-threads. See messageIdPrefix().

$obj->fileLocation

$obj->load

$obj->messageIdPrefix([PREFIX, [HOSTNAME]|CODE])

Mail::Message::Head::Complete->messageIdPrefix([PREFIX, [HOSTNAME]|CODE])

When options are provided, it sets a new way to create message-ids, as used by createMessageId(). You have two choices: either by providing a PREFIX and optionally a HOSTNAME, or a CODE reference.

The CODE reference will be called with the header as first argument. You must ensure yourself that the returned value is RFC compliant.

The PREFIX defaults to mailbox-$$, the HOSTNAME defaults to the return of Sys::Hostname's method hostname(). Inbetween the two, a nano-second time provided by Time::Hires is used. If that module is not available, time is called at the start of the program, and incremented for each newly created id.

In any case, a subroutine will be created to be used. A reference to that will be returned. When the method is called without arguments, but no subroutine is defined yet, one will be created.

example: setting a message prefix

  $head->messageIdPrefix('prefix');
  Mail::Message::Head::Complete->messageIdPrefix('prefix');
  my $code = $head->messageIdPrefix('mailbox', 'nohost');

  sub new_msgid()
  {   my $head = shift;
      "myid-$$-${(rand 10000)}@example.com";
  }

  $many_msg->messageIdPrefix(\&new_msgid);
  Mail::Message::Head::Complete->messageIdPrefix(&new_msgid);

$obj->moveLocation(DISTANCE)

$obj->read(PARSER)

$obj->setNoRealize(FIELD)

Error handling

$obj->AUTOLOAD

$obj->addReport(OBJECT)

$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])

Mail::Message::Head::Complete->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])

$obj->errors

$obj->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

Mail::Message::Head::Complete->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)

Mail::Message::Head::Complete->logPriority(LEVEL)

$obj->logSettings

$obj->notImplemented

$obj->report([LEVEL])

$obj->reportAll([LEVEL])

$obj->trace([LEVEL])

$obj->warnings