require 'net/imap'
Net::IMAP
Net::IMAP implements Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) client functionality.
IMAP Overview
An IMAP client connects to a server, and then authenticates itself using either #authenticate() or #login(). Having authenticated itself, there is a range of commands available to it. Most work with mailboxes, which may be arranged in an hierarchical namespace, and each of which contains zero or more messages. How this is implemented on the server is implementation-dependent; on a UNIX server, it will frequently be implemented as files in mailbox format within a hierarchy of directories.
To work on the messages within a mailbox, the client must first select that mailbox, using either #select() or (for read-only access) #examine(). Once the client has successfully selected a mailbox, they enter selected state, and that mailbox becomes the current mailbox, on which mail-item related commands implicitly operate.
Messages have two sorts of identifiers: message sequence numbers and UIDs.
Message sequence numbers number messages within a mailbox from 1 up to the number of items in the mailbox. If a new message arrives during a session, it receives a sequence number equal to the new size of the mailbox. If messages are expunged from the mailbox, remaining messages have their sequence numbers “shuffled down” to fill the gaps.
UIDs, on the other hand, are permanently guaranteed not to identify another message within the same mailbox, even if the existing message is deleted. UIDs are required to be assigned in ascending (but not necessarily sequential) order within a mailbox; this means that if a non-IMAP client rearranges the order of mailitems within a mailbox, the UIDs have to be reassigned. An IMAP client thus cannot rearrange message orders.
Examples of Usage
List sender and subject of all recent messages in the default mailbox
imap = Net::IMAP.new('mail.example.com')
imap.authenticate('LOGIN', 'joe_user', 'joes_password')
imap.examine('INBOX')
imap.search(["RECENT"]).each do |message_id|
envelope = imap.fetch(message_id, "ENVELOPE")[0].attr["ENVELOPE"]
puts "#{envelope.from[0].name}: \t#{envelope.subject}"
end
Move all messages from April 2003 from “Mail/sent-mail” to “Mail/sent-apr03”
imap = Net::IMAP.new('mail.example.com')
imap.authenticate('LOGIN', 'joe_user', 'joes_password')
imap.select('Mail/sent-mail')
if not imap.list('Mail/', 'sent-apr03')
imap.create('Mail/sent-apr03')
end
imap.search(["BEFORE", "30-Apr-2003", "SINCE", "1-Apr-2003"]).each do |message_id|
imap.copy(message_id, "Mail/sent-apr03")
imap.store(message_id, "+FLAGS", [:Deleted])
end
imap.expunge
Thread Safety
Net::IMAP supports concurrent threads. For example,
imap = Net::IMAP.new("imap.foo.net", "imap2")
imap.authenticate("cram-md5", "bar", "password")
imap.select("inbox")
fetch_thread = Thread.start { imap.fetch(1..-1, "UID") }
search_result = imap.search(["BODY", "hello"])
fetch_result = fetch_thread.value
imap.disconnect
This script invokes the FETCH command and the SEARCH command concurrently.