NAME

Mail::Box::Search - select messages within a mail box

CLASS HIERARCHY

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

SYNOPSIS

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

my $filter = Mail::Box::Search::Grep->new;
my @msgs   = $filter->search($folder, ...);
if($filter->search($message)) {...}

DESCRIPTION

Read Mail::Box-Overview first. This Mail::Box::Search method is the base-class for various message-scan algorithms. The selected messages can be labeled. Boolean operations on messages are supported.

Currently implemented searches:

Mail::Box::Search::Grep

Match header or body against a regular expression in a grep like fashion.

A Mail::Box::Search::Spam is on the wishlist.

METHOD INDEX

Methods prefixed with an abbreviation are described in Mail::Reporter (MR).

The general methods for Mail::Box::Search objects:

MR errors                            MR report [LEVEL]
MR log [LEVEL [,STRINGS]]            MR reportAll [LEVEL]
   new OPTIONS                          search FOLDER|THREAD|MESSAG...
   printMatch [FILEHANDLE], HASH     MR trace [LEVEL]

The extra methods for extension writers:

MR AUTOLOAD                             inHead PART, HEAD
MR DESTROY                           MR logPriority LEVEL
   inBody PART, BODY                 MR logSettings
MR inGlobalDestruction               MR notImplemented

METHODS

new OPTIONS

Create a filter.

OPTION     DEFINED BY         DEFAULT
binaries   Mail::Box::Search  0
details    Mail::Box::Search  undef
decode     Mail::Box::Search  1
in         Mail::Box::Search  'BODY'
delayed    Mail::Box::Search  1
deleted    Mail::Box::Search  0
label      Mail::Box::Search  undef
limit      Mail::Box::Search  0
log        Mail::Reporter     'WARNINGS'
logical    Mail::Box::Search  'REPLACE'
multiparts Mail::Box::Search  1
trace      Mail::Reporter     'WARNINGS'

• binaries => BOOLEAN

  Whether to include binary bodies in the search.

• decode => BOOLEAN

  Decode the messages before the search takes place. Even plain text messages can be encoded, for instance as quoted-printable, which may disturb the results. However, decoding will slow-down the search.

• details => undef|'PRINT'|'DELETE'|REF-ARRAY|CODE

  The exact functionality of this parameter differs per search method, so read the applicable man-page. In any case undef means that details are not collected for this search, which is the fastest search.

  PRINT will cause a call to a standard printing routine per line found. DELETE will flag the message to be flagged for deletion. You may also specify your own CODE reference. With an reference to an array, the information about the matches is collected as a list of hashes, one hash per match.

• in => 'HEAD'|'BODY'|'MESSAGE'

  Where to look for the match.

• delayed => BOOLEAN

  Include the delayed messages (which will be parsed) in the search. If you set this to false, you may find fewer hits.

• deleted => BOOLEAN

  In most cases, you will not be interested in results which are found in messages flagged to be deleted. However, with this option you can specify you want them to be searched too.

• label => STRING

  Mark all selected messages with the specified STRING. If this field is not specified, the message will not get a label; search also returns a list of selected messages.

• limit => NUMBER

  Limit the search to the specified number of messages. When the NUMBER is positive, the search starts at the first message in the folder or thread. A negative NUMBER starts at the end of the folder. If the limit is set to zero, there is no limit.

• logical => 'REPLACE'|'AND'|'OR'|'NOT'|'AND NOT'|'OR NOT'

  Only applicable in combination with a label. How to handle the existing labels. In case of REPLACE, messages which already are carrying the label are stripped from their selection (unless they match again). With AND, the message must be selected by this search and already carry the label, otherwise the label will not be set. Specify OR to have newly selected messages added to the set of already selected messages.

  NOT is true for messages which do not fulfil the search. The details output will still contain the places where the the match was found, however those messages will complementary set of messages will be labeled and returned.

• multiparts => BOOLEAN

  Are multiparts to be included in the search results? Some MUA have problems handling details received from the search. When this flag is turned off, the body of multiparts will be ignored. The parts search will include the preamble and epilogue.

search FOLDER|THREAD|MESSAGE|ARRAY-OF-MESSAGES

Check which messages from the FOLDER (Mail::Box) match the search parameters. The matched messages are returned as list. You can also specify a THREAD (Mail::Box::Thread::Node), one single MESSAGE (Mail::Message), or an array of messages.

Sometimes we know how only one match is needed. In this case, this searching will stop at the first match. For instance, when limit is -1 or 1, or when the search in done in scalar context.

Example:

my $grep = Mail::Box::Search::Grep->new
 ( match   => 'My Name Is Nobody'
 , details => 'PRINT'
 );

$grep->search($folder);

my $message = $folder->message(3);
$grep->search($message);

my $thread  = $message->threadStart;
$grep->search($thread);

printMatch [FILEHANDLE], HASH

Print the information about the match (see details option in the search method above) in some understandable way. If no file handle is specified, the output will go to the selected filehandle (see perldoc -f select).

METHODS for extension writers

searchPart PART

Search this message PART for matches.

inHead PART, HEAD

Tests whether header contains the requesting information. See the specific search module for its parameters.

inBody PART, BODY

Tests whether body contains the requesting information. See the specific search module for its parameters.

SEE ALSO

Mail::Box-Overview

For support and additional documentation, see http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/

AUTHOR

Mark Overmeer (mailbox@overmeer.net). All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

VERSION

This code is beta, version 2.015.

Copyright (c) 2001-2002 Mark Overmeer. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.