NAME

Mail::Box::Search::SpamAssassin - select spam messages with Mail::SpamAssassin

INHERITANCE

Mail::Box::Search::SpamAssassin
  is a Mail::Box::Search
  is a Mail::Reporter

SYNOPSIS

use Mail::Box::Manager;
my $mgr    = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
my $folder = $mgr->open('Inbox');

my $spam = Mail::Box::Search::SpamAssassin->new;
if($spam->search($message)) {...}

my @msgs   = $filter->search($folder);
foreach my $msg ($folder->messages)
{   $msg->delete if $msg->label('spam');
}

my $spam2 = Mail::Box::Search::SpamAssassin->new(deliver => 'DELETE');
$spam2->search($folder);
$mgr->moveMessages($spamfolder, $folder->messages('spam'));

DESCRIPTION

Spam means "unsollicited e-mail", and is as name derived from a Monty Python scatch. Although Monty Python is fun, spam is a pain: it needlessly spoils minutes of time from most people: telephone bills, overful mailboxes which block honest e-mail, and accidentally removal of honest e-mail which looks like spam. Spam is the pest of Internet.

Happily, Mail::Box can be used as spam filter, in combination with the useful Mail::SpamAssassin module (which must be installed separately). Each message which is searched is wrapped in a Mail::Message::Wrapper::SpamAssassin object.

The spam-assassin module version 2 is not really well adapted for Mail::Message objects, which will make this search even slower than spam-detection already is.

Extends "DESCRIPTION" in Mail::Box::Search.

METHODS

Extends "METHODS" in Mail::Box::Search.

Constructors

Extends "Constructors" in Mail::Box::Search.

$class->new(%options)

Create a spam filter. Internally, a Mail::SpamAssassin object is maintained.

Only the whole message can be searched; this is a limitation of the Mail::SpamAssassin module. Improves base, see "METHODS" in Mail::Box::Search

-Option       --Defined in       --Default
 binaries       Mail::Box::Search  <C<false>>
 decode         Mail::Box::Search  <C<true>>
 delayed        Mail::Box::Search  true
 deleted        Mail::Box::Search  false
 deliver        Mail::Box::Search  undef
 in             Mail::Box::Search  'MESSAGE'
 label                             c<'spam'>
 limit          Mail::Box::Search  0
 log            Mail::Reporter     'WARNINGS'
 logical        Mail::Box::Search  'REPLACE'
 multiparts     Mail::Box::Search  true
 rewrite_mail                      true
 sa_options                        +{ }
 spam_assassin                     undef
 trace          Mail::Reporter     'WARNINGS'
binaries => BOOLEAN
decode => BOOLEAN
delayed => BOOLEAN
deleted => BOOLEAN
deliver => undef|CODE|'DELETE'
in => 'HEAD'|'BODY'|'MESSAGE'
label => $label|undef

Mark all selected message with the specified $label. If this option is explicitly set to undef, the label will not be set.

limit => $number
log => LEVEL
logical => 'REPLACE'|'AND'|'OR'|'NOT'|'AND NOT'|'OR NOT'
multiparts => BOOLEAN
rewrite_mail => BOOLEAN

Add lines to the message header describing the results of the spam scan. See Mail::SpamAssassin::PerMsgStatus subroutine rewrite_mail.

sa_options => \%options

The %options to create the internal Mail::SpamAssassin object; see its manual page for the available options. Other setting may be provided via SpamAssassins configuration file mechanism, which is explained in Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf.

spam_assassin => $object

Provide a Mail::SpamAssassin $object to be used for searching spam. If none is specified, one is created internally. The object can be retrieved with assassinator().

trace => LEVEL

» example:

my $filter = Mail::Box::Search::SpamAssassin->new(found => 'DELETE');

Attributes

Extends "Attributes" in Mail::Box::Search.

$obj->assassinator()

Returns the internally maintained assassinator object. You may want to reach this object for complex configuration.

$obj->deliver()

Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box::Search

$obj->doMultiparts()

Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box::Search

$obj->logSettings()

Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->parseDelayed()

Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box::Search

$obj->rewriteMail()

$obj->skipDeleted()

Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Box::Search

Error handling

Extends "Error handling" in Mail::Box::Search.

$obj->AUTOLOAD()

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->addReport($object)

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$any->defaultTrace( [$level]|[$loglevel, $tracelevel]|[$level, $callback] )

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->errors()

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$any->log( [$level, [$strings]] )

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$any->logPriority($level)

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->notImplemented()

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->report( [$level] )

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->reportAll( [$level] )

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->trace( [$level] )

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->warnings()

Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

Cleanup

Extends "Cleanup" in Mail::Box::Search.

$obj->DESTROY()

Inherited, see "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter

Searching

Extends "Searching" in Mail::Box::Search.

$obj->inBody($part, $body)

Inherited, see "Searching" in Mail::Box::Search

$obj->inHead($part, $head)

Inherited, see "Searching" in Mail::Box::Search

$obj->search($folder|$thread|$message|ARRAY)

Inherited, see "Searching" in Mail::Box::Search

$obj->searchPart($part)

Inherited, see "Searching" in Mail::Box::Search

The Results

Extends "The Results" in Mail::Box::Search.

$obj->printMatch( [$fh], HASH )

Inherited, see "The Results" in Mail::Box::Search

DIAGNOSTICS

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. Cast by notImplemented()

SEE ALSO

This module is part of Mail-Box version 3.012, built on November 27, 2025. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/CPAN/

LICENSE

For contributors see file ChangeLog.

This software is copyright (c) 2001-2025 by Mark Overmeer.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.