
``email``: Representing an email message
****************************************

The central class in the ``email`` package is the ``Message`` class,
imported from the ``email.message`` module.  It is the base class for
the ``email`` object model.  ``Message`` provides the core
functionality for setting and querying header fields, and for
accessing message bodies.

Conceptually, a ``Message`` object consists of *headers* and
*payloads*. Headers are **RFC 2822** style field names and values
where the field name and value are separated by a colon.  The colon is
not part of either the field name or the field value.

Headers are stored and returned in case-preserving form but are
matched case-insensitively.  There may also be a single envelope
header, also known as the *Unix-From* header or the ``From_`` header.
The payload is either a string in the case of simple message objects
or a list of ``Message`` objects for MIME container documents (e.g.
*multipart/** and *message/rfc822*).

``Message`` objects provide a mapping style interface for accessing
the message headers, and an explicit interface for accessing both the
headers and the payload.  It provides convenience methods for
generating a flat text representation of the message object tree, for
accessing commonly used header parameters, and for recursively walking
over the object tree.

Here are the methods of the ``Message`` class:

class class email.message.Message

   The constructor takes no arguments.

   as_string([unixfrom])

      Return the entire message flattened as a string.  When optional
      *unixfrom* is ``True``, the envelope header is included in the
      returned string. *unixfrom* defaults to ``False``.

      Note that this method is provided as a convenience and may not
      always format the message the way you want.  For example, by
      default it mangles lines that begin with ``From``.  For more
      flexibility, instantiate a ``Generator`` instance and use its
      ``flatten()`` method directly.  For example:

         from cStringIO import StringIO
         from email.generator import Generator
         fp = StringIO()
         g = Generator(fp, mangle_from_=False, maxheaderlen=60)
         g.flatten(msg)
         text = fp.getvalue()

   __str__()

      Equivalent to ``as_string(unixfrom=True)``.

   is_multipart()

      Return ``True`` if the message's payload is a list of
      sub-``Message`` objects, otherwise return ``False``.  When
      ``is_multipart()`` returns False, the payload should be a string
      object.

   set_unixfrom(unixfrom)

      Set the message's envelope header to *unixfrom*, which should be
      a string.

   get_unixfrom()

      Return the message's envelope header.  Defaults to ``None`` if
      the envelope header was never set.

   attach(payload)

      Add the given *payload* to the current payload, which must be
      ``None`` or a list of ``Message`` objects before the call. After
      the call, the payload will always be a list of ``Message``
      objects.  If you want to set the payload to a scalar object
      (e.g. a string), use ``set_payload()`` instead.

   get_payload([i[, decode]])

      Return the current payload, which will be a list of ``Message``
      objects when ``is_multipart()`` is ``True``, or a string when
      ``is_multipart()`` is ``False``.  If the payload is a list and
      you mutate the list object, you modify the message's payload in
      place.

      With optional argument *i*, ``get_payload()`` will return the
      *i*-th element of the payload, counting from zero, if
      ``is_multipart()`` is ``True``.  An ``IndexError`` will be
      raised if *i* is less than 0 or greater than or equal to the
      number of items in the payload.  If the payload is a string
      (i.e.  ``is_multipart()`` is ``False``) and *i* is given, a
      ``TypeError`` is raised.

      Optional *decode* is a flag indicating whether the payload
      should be decoded or not, according to the *Content-Transfer-
      Encoding* header. When ``True`` and the message is not a
      multipart, the payload will be decoded if this header's value is
      ``quoted-printable`` or ``base64``. If some other encoding is
      used, or *Content-Transfer-Encoding* header is missing, or if
      the payload has bogus base64 data, the payload is returned as-is
      (undecoded).  If the message is a multipart and the *decode*
      flag is ``True``, then ``None`` is returned.  The default for
      *decode* is ``False``.

   set_payload(payload[, charset])

      Set the entire message object's payload to *payload*.  It is the
      client's responsibility to ensure the payload invariants.
      Optional *charset* sets the message's default character set; see
      ``set_charset()`` for details.

      Changed in version 2.2.2: *charset* argument added.

   set_charset(charset)

      Set the character set of the payload to *charset*, which can
      either be a ``Charset`` instance (see ``email.charset``), a
      string naming a character set, or ``None``.  If it is a string,
      it will be converted to a ``Charset`` instance.  If *charset* is
      ``None``, the ``charset`` parameter will be removed from the
      *Content-Type* header. Anything else will generate a
      ``TypeError``.

      The message will be assumed to be of type *text/** encoded with
      *charset.input_charset*.  It will be converted to
      *charset.output_charset* and encoded properly, if needed, when
      generating the plain text representation of the message.  MIME
      headers (*MIME-Version*, *Content-Type*, *Content-Transfer-
      Encoding*) will be added as needed.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   get_charset()

      Return the ``Charset`` instance associated with the message's
      payload.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   The following methods implement a mapping-like interface for
   accessing the message's **RFC 2822** headers.  Note that there are
   some semantic differences between these methods and a normal
   mapping (i.e. dictionary) interface.  For example, in a dictionary
   there are no duplicate keys, but here there may be duplicate
   message headers.  Also, in dictionaries there is no guaranteed
   order to the keys returned by ``keys()``, but in a ``Message``
   object, headers are always returned in the order they appeared in
   the original message, or were added to the message later.  Any
   header deleted and then re-added are always appended to the end of
   the header list.

   These semantic differences are intentional and are biased toward
   maximal convenience.

   Note that in all cases, any envelope header present in the message
   is not included in the mapping interface.

   __len__()

      Return the total number of headers, including duplicates.

   __contains__(name)

      Return true if the message object has a field named *name*.
      Matching is done case-insensitively and *name* should not
      include the trailing colon. Used for the ``in`` operator, e.g.:

         if 'message-id' in myMessage:
             print 'Message-ID:', myMessage['message-id']

   __getitem__(name)

      Return the value of the named header field.  *name* should not
      include the colon field separator.  If the header is missing,
      ``None`` is returned; a ``KeyError`` is never raised.

      Note that if the named field appears more than once in the
      message's headers, exactly which of those field values will be
      returned is undefined.  Use the ``get_all()`` method to get the
      values of all the extant named headers.

   __setitem__(name, val)

      Add a header to the message with field name *name* and value
      *val*.  The field is appended to the end of the message's
      existing fields.

      Note that this does *not* overwrite or delete any existing
      header with the same name.  If you want to ensure that the new
      header is the only one present in the message with field name
      *name*, delete the field first, e.g.:

         del msg['subject']
         msg['subject'] = 'Python roolz!'

   __delitem__(name)

      Delete all occurrences of the field with name *name* from the
      message's headers.  No exception is raised if the named field
      isn't present in the headers.

   has_key(name)

      Return true if the message contains a header field named *name*,
      otherwise return false.

   keys()

      Return a list of all the message's header field names.

   values()

      Return a list of all the message's field values.

   items()

      Return a list of 2-tuples containing all the message's field
      headers and values.

   get(name[, failobj])

      Return the value of the named header field.  This is identical
      to ``__getitem__()`` except that optional *failobj* is returned
      if the named header is missing (defaults to ``None``).

   Here are some additional useful methods:

   get_all(name[, failobj])

      Return a list of all the values for the field named *name*. If
      there are no such named headers in the message, *failobj* is
      returned (defaults to ``None``).

   add_header(_name, _value, **_params)

      Extended header setting.  This method is similar to
      ``__setitem__()`` except that additional header parameters can
      be provided as keyword arguments.  *_name* is the header field
      to add and *_value* is the *primary* value for the header.

      For each item in the keyword argument dictionary *_params*, the
      key is taken as the parameter name, with underscores converted
      to dashes (since dashes are illegal in Python identifiers).
      Normally, the parameter will be added as ``key="value"`` unless
      the value is ``None``, in which case only the key will be added.

      Here's an example:

         msg.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment', filename='bud.gif')

      This will add a header that looks like

         Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="bud.gif"

   replace_header(_name, _value)

      Replace a header.  Replace the first header found in the message
      that matches *_name*, retaining header order and field name
      case.  If no matching header was found, a ``KeyError`` is
      raised.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   get_content_type()

      Return the message's content type.  The returned string is
      coerced to lower case of the form *maintype/subtype*.  If there
      was no *Content-Type* header in the message the default type as
      given by ``get_default_type()`` will be returned.  Since
      according to **RFC 2045**, messages always have a default type,
      ``get_content_type()`` will always return a value.

      **RFC 2045** defines a message's default type to be *text/plain*
      unless it appears inside a *multipart/digest* container, in
      which case it would be *message/rfc822*.  If the *Content-Type*
      header has an invalid type specification, **RFC 2045** mandates
      that the default type be *text/plain*.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   get_content_maintype()

      Return the message's main content type.  This is the *maintype*
      part of the string returned by ``get_content_type()``.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   get_content_subtype()

      Return the message's sub-content type.  This is the *subtype*
      part of the string returned by ``get_content_type()``.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   get_default_type()

      Return the default content type.  Most messages have a default
      content type of *text/plain*, except for messages that are
      subparts of *multipart/digest* containers.  Such subparts have a
      default content type of *message/rfc822*.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   set_default_type(ctype)

      Set the default content type.  *ctype* should either be
      *text/plain* or *message/rfc822*, although this is not enforced.
      The default content type is not stored in the *Content-Type*
      header.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   get_params([failobj[, header[, unquote]]])

      Return the message's *Content-Type* parameters, as a list. The
      elements of the returned list are 2-tuples of key/value pairs,
      as split on the ``'='`` sign.  The left hand side of the ``'='``
      is the key, while the right hand side is the value.  If there is
      no ``'='`` sign in the parameter the value is the empty string,
      otherwise the value is as described in ``get_param()`` and is
      unquoted if optional *unquote* is ``True`` (the default).

      Optional *failobj* is the object to return if there is no
      *Content-Type* header.  Optional *header* is the header to
      search instead of *Content-Type*.

      Changed in version 2.2.2: *unquote* argument added.

   get_param(param[, failobj[, header[, unquote]]])

      Return the value of the *Content-Type* header's parameter
      *param* as a string.  If the message has no *Content-Type*
      header or if there is no such parameter, then *failobj* is
      returned (defaults to ``None``).

      Optional *header* if given, specifies the message header to use
      instead of *Content-Type*.

      Parameter keys are always compared case insensitively.  The
      return value can either be a string, or a 3-tuple if the
      parameter was **RFC 2231** encoded.  When it's a 3-tuple, the
      elements of the value are of the form ``(CHARSET, LANGUAGE,
      VALUE)``.  Note that both ``CHARSET`` and ``LANGUAGE`` can be
      ``None``, in which case you should consider ``VALUE`` to be
      encoded in the ``us-ascii`` charset.  You can usually ignore
      ``LANGUAGE``.

      If your application doesn't care whether the parameter was
      encoded as in **RFC 2231**, you can collapse the parameter value
      by calling ``email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value()``, passing in
      the return value from ``get_param()``.  This will return a
      suitably decoded Unicode string whn the value is a tuple, or the
      original string unquoted if it isn't.  For example:

         rawparam = msg.get_param('foo')
         param = email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value(rawparam)

      In any case, the parameter value (either the returned string, or
      the ``VALUE`` item in the 3-tuple) is always unquoted, unless
      *unquote* is set to ``False``.

      Changed in version 2.2.2: *unquote* argument added, and 3-tuple
      return value possible.

   set_param(param, value[, header[, requote[, charset[, language]]]])

      Set a parameter in the *Content-Type* header.  If the parameter
      already exists in the header, its value will be replaced with
      *value*.  If the *Content-Type* header as not yet been defined
      for this message, it will be set to *text/plain* and the new
      parameter value will be appended as per **RFC 2045**.

      Optional *header* specifies an alternative header to *Content-
      Type*, and all parameters will be quoted as necessary unless
      optional *requote* is ``False`` (the default is ``True``).

      If optional *charset* is specified, the parameter will be
      encoded according to **RFC 2231**. Optional *language* specifies
      the RFC 2231 language, defaulting to the empty string.  Both
      *charset* and *language* should be strings.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   del_param(param[, header[, requote]])

      Remove the given parameter completely from the *Content-Type*
      header.  The header will be re-written in place without the
      parameter or its value.  All values will be quoted as necessary
      unless *requote* is ``False`` (the default is ``True``).
      Optional *header* specifies an alternative to *Content-Type*.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   set_type(type[, header][, requote])

      Set the main type and subtype for the *Content-Type* header.
      *type* must be a string in the form *maintype/subtype*,
      otherwise a ``ValueError`` is raised.

      This method replaces the *Content-Type* header, keeping all the
      parameters in place.  If *requote* is ``False``, this leaves the
      existing header's quoting as is, otherwise the parameters will
      be quoted (the default).

      An alternative header can be specified in the *header* argument.
      When the *Content-Type* header is set a *MIME-Version* header is
      also added.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   get_filename([failobj])

      Return the value of the ``filename`` parameter of the *Content-
      Disposition* header of the message.  If the header does not have
      a ``filename`` parameter, this method falls back to looking for
      the ``name`` parameter.  If neither is found, or the header is
      missing, then *failobj* is returned.  The returned string will
      always be unquoted as per ``email.utils.unquote()``.

   get_boundary([failobj])

      Return the value of the ``boundary`` parameter of the *Content-
      Type* header of the message, or *failobj* if either the header
      is missing, or has no ``boundary`` parameter.  The returned
      string will always be unquoted as per ``email.utils.unquote()``.

   set_boundary(boundary)

      Set the ``boundary`` parameter of the *Content-Type* header to
      *boundary*.  ``set_boundary()`` will always quote *boundary* if
      necessary.  A ``HeaderParseError`` is raised if the message
      object has no *Content-Type* header.

      Note that using this method is subtly different than deleting
      the old *Content-Type* header and adding a new one with the new
      boundary via ``add_header()``, because ``set_boundary()``
      preserves the order of the *Content-Type* header in the list of
      headers. However, it does *not* preserve any continuation lines
      which may have been present in the original *Content-Type*
      header.

   get_content_charset([failobj])

      Return the ``charset`` parameter of the *Content-Type* header,
      coerced to lower case.  If there is no *Content-Type* header, or
      if that header has no ``charset`` parameter, *failobj* is
      returned.

      Note that this method differs from ``get_charset()`` which
      returns the ``Charset`` instance for the default encoding of the
      message body.

      New in version 2.2.2.

   get_charsets([failobj])

      Return a list containing the character set names in the message.
      If the message is a *multipart*, then the list will contain one
      element for each subpart in the payload, otherwise, it will be a
      list of length 1.

      Each item in the list will be a string which is the value of the
      ``charset`` parameter in the *Content-Type* header for the
      represented subpart.  However, if the subpart has no *Content-
      Type* header, no ``charset`` parameter, or is not of the *text*
      main MIME type, then that item in the returned list will be
      *failobj*.

   walk()

      The ``walk()`` method is an all-purpose generator which can be
      used to iterate over all the parts and subparts of a message
      object tree, in depth-first traversal order.  You will typically
      use ``walk()`` as the iterator in a ``for`` loop; each iteration
      returns the next subpart.

      Here's an example that prints the MIME type of every part of a
      multipart message structure:

         >>> for part in msg.walk():
         ...     print part.get_content_type()
         multipart/report
         text/plain
         message/delivery-status
         text/plain
         text/plain
         message/rfc822

   Changed in version 2.5: The previously deprecated methods
   ``get_type()``, ``get_main_type()``, and ``get_subtype()`` were
   removed.

   ``Message`` objects can also optionally contain two instance
   attributes, which can be used when generating the plain text of a
   MIME message.

   preamble

      The format of a MIME document allows for some text between the
      blank line following the headers, and the first multipart
      boundary string. Normally, this text is never visible in a MIME-
      aware mail reader because it falls outside the standard MIME
      armor.  However, when viewing the raw text of the message, or
      when viewing the message in a non-MIME aware reader, this text
      can become visible.

      The *preamble* attribute contains this leading extra-armor text
      for MIME documents.  When the ``Parser`` discovers some text
      after the headers but before the first boundary string, it
      assigns this text to the message's *preamble* attribute.  When
      the ``Generator`` is writing out the plain text representation
      of a MIME message, and it finds the message has a *preamble*
      attribute, it will write this text in the area between the
      headers and the first boundary.  See ``email.parser`` and
      ``email.generator`` for details.

      Note that if the message object has no preamble, the *preamble*
      attribute will be ``None``.

   epilogue

      The *epilogue* attribute acts the same way as the *preamble*
      attribute, except that it contains text that appears between the
      last boundary and the end of the message.

      Changed in version 2.5: You do not need to set the epilogue to
      the empty string in order for the ``Generator`` to print a
      newline at the end of the file.

   defects

      The *defects* attribute contains a list of all the problems
      found when parsing this message.  See ``email.errors`` for a
      detailed description of the possible parsing defects.

      New in version 2.4.
