Mail::Box::Parser(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Mail::Box::Parser(3)NAMEMail::Box::Parser - reading and writing messages
INHERITANCEMail::Box::Parser
is a Mail::Reporter
Mail::Box::Parser is extended by
Mail::Box::Parser::Perl
SYNOPSIS
# Not instatiatiated itself
DESCRIPTION
The "Mail::Box::Parser" manages the parsing of folders. Usually, you
won't need to know anything about this module, except the options which
are involved with this code.
There are two implementations of this module planned:
· Mail::Box::Parser::Perl
A slower parser which only uses plain Perl. This module is a bit
slower, and does less checking and less recovery.
· Mail::Box::Parser::C
A fast parser written in "C". This package is released as separate
module on CPAN, because the module distribution via CPAN can not
handle XS files which are not located in the root directory of the
module tree. If a C compiler is available on your system, it will
be used automatically.
METHODS
Constructors
Mail::Box::Parser->new(OPTIONS)
Create a parser object which can handle one file. For mbox-like
mailboxes, this object can be used to read a whole folder. In case
of MH-like mailboxes, each message is contained in a single file,
so each message has its own parser object.
-Option--Defined in --Default
file undef
filename <required>
log Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS'
mode 'r'
trace Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS'
file => FILE-HANDLE
Any "IO::File" or "GLOB" which can be used to read the data from.
In case this option is specified, the "filename" is informational
only.
filename => FILENAME
The name of the file to be read.
log => LEVEL
mode => OPENMODE
File-open mode, which defaults to 'r', which means `read-only'.
See "perldoc -f open" for possible modes. Only applicable when
no "file" is specified.
trace => LEVEL
The parser
$obj->fileChanged
Returns whether the file which is parsed has changed after the last
time takeFileInfo() was called.
$obj->filename
Returns the name of the file this parser is working on.
$obj->restart
Restart the parser on a certain file, usually because the content
has changed.
$obj->start(OPTIONS)
Start the parser by opening a file.
-Option--Default
file undef
file => FILEHANDLE|undef
The file is already open, for instance because the data must be
read from STDIN.
$obj->stop
Stop the parser, which will include a close of the file. The lock
on the folder will not be removed (is not the responsibility of the
parser).
Parsing
$obj->bodyAsFile(FILEHANDLE [,CHARS [,LINES]])
Try to read one message-body from the file, and immediately write
it to the specified file-handle. Optionally, the predicted number
of CHARacterS and/or LINES to be read can be supplied. These
values may be "undef" and may be wrong.
The return is a list of three scalars: the location of the body
(begin and end) and the number of lines in the body.
$obj->bodyAsList([,CHARS [,LINES]])
Try to read one message-body from the file. Optionally, the
predicted number of CHARacterS and/or LINES to be read can be
supplied. These values may be "undef" and may be wrong.
The return is a list of scalars, each containing one line
(including line terminator), preceded by two integers representing
the location in the file where this body started and ended.
$obj->bodyAsString([,CHARS [,LINES]])
Try to read one message-body from the file. Optionally, the
predicted number of CHARacterS and/or LINES to be read can be
supplied. These values may be "undef" and may be wrong.
The return is a list of three scalars, the location in the file
where the body starts, where the body ends, and the string
containing the whole body.
$obj->bodyDelayed([,CHARS [,LINES]])
Try to read one message-body from the file, but the data is
skipped. Optionally, the predicted number of CHARacterS and/or
LINES to be skipped can be supplied. These values may be "undef"
and may be wrong.
The return is a list of four scalars: the location of the body
(begin and end), the size of the body, and the number of lines in
the body. The number of lines may be "undef".
$obj->filePosition([POSITION])
Returns the location of the next byte to be used in the file which
is parsed. When a POSITION is specified, the location in the file
is moved to the indicated spot first.
$obj->lineSeparator
Returns the character or characters which are used to separate
lines in the folder file. This is based on the first line of the
file. UNIX systems use a single LF to separate lines. Windows
uses a CR and a LF. Mac uses CR.
$obj->popSeparator
Remove the last-pushed separator from the list which is maintained
by the parser. This will return "undef" when there is none left.
$obj->pushSeparator(STRING|REGEXP)
Add a boundary line. Separators tell the parser where to stop
reading. A famous separator is the "From"-line, which is used in
Mbox-like folders to separate messages. But also parts
(attachments) is a message are divided by separators.
The specified STRING describes the start of the separator-line.
The REGEXP can specify a more complicated format.
$obj->readHeader
Read the whole message-header and return it as list of field-value
pairs. Mind that some fields will appear more than once.
The first element will represent the position in the file where the
header starts. The follows the list of header field names and
bodies.
example:
my ($where, @header) = $parser->readHeader;
$obj->readSeparator(OPTIONS)
Read the currently active separator (the last one which was
pushed). The line (or "undef") is returned. Blank-lines before
the separator lines are ignored.
The return are two scalars, where the first gives the location of
the separator in the file, and the second the line which is found
as separator. A new separator is activated using pushSeparator().
Internals
$obj->closeFile
Close the file which was being parsed.
$obj->defaultParserType([CLASS])
Mail::Box::Parser->defaultParserType([CLASS])
Returns the parser to be used to parse all subsequent messages,
possibly first setting the parser using the optional argument.
Usually, the parser is autodetected; the "C"-based parser will be
used when it can be, and the Perl-based parser will be used
otherwise.
The CLASS argument allows you to specify a package name to force a
particular parser to be used (such as your own custom parser). You
have to "use" or "require" the package yourself before calling this
method with an argument. The parser must be a sub-class of
"Mail::Box::Parser".
$obj->openFile(ARGS)
Open the file to be parsed. ARGS is a ref-hash of options.
-Option--Default
filename <required>
mode <required>
filename => FILENAME
mode => STRING
$obj->takeFileInfo
Capture some data about the file being parsed, to be compared
later.
Error handling
$obj->AUTOLOAD
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->addReport(OBJECT)
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])
Mail::Box::Parser->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL,
TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->errors
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
Mail::Box::Parser->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)
Mail::Box::Parser->logPriority(LEVEL)
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->logSettings
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->notImplemented
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->report([LEVEL])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->reportAll([LEVEL])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->trace([LEVEL])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->warnings
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
Cleanup
$obj->DESTROY
See "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->inGlobalDestruction
See "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter
DIAGNOSTICS
Warning: File $filename changed during access.
When a message parser starts working, it takes size and
modification time of the file at hand. If the folder is written,
it checks wether there were changes in the file made by external
programs.
Calling Mail::Box::update() on a folder before it being closed will
read these new messages. But the real source of this problem is
locking: some external program (for instance the mail transfer
agent, like sendmail) uses a different locking mechanism as you do
and therefore violates your rights.
Error: Filename or handle required to create a parser.
A message parser needs to know the source of the message at
creation. These sources can be a filename (string), file handle
object or GLOB. See new(filename) and new(file).
Error: Package $package does not implement $method.
Fatal error: the specific package (or one of its superclasses) does
not implement this method where it should. This message means that
some other related classes do implement this method however the
class at hand does not. Probably you should investigate this and
probably inform the author of the package.
SEE ALSO
This module is part of Mail-Box distribution version 2.097, built on
January 26, 2011. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/
LICENSE
Copyrights 2001-2011 by Mark Overmeer. For other contributors see
ChangeLog.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself. See
http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html
perl v5.14.1 2011-01-26 Mail::Box::Parser(3)
