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<div class="section" id="module-email.utils">
<h1>18.1.9. <a title="Package supporting the parsing, manipulating, and generating email messages, including MIME documents." class="reference external" href="email.html#module-email"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email</span></tt></a>: Miscellaneous utilities<a class="headerlink" href="#module-email.utils" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>There are several useful utilities provided in the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.utils</span></tt> module:</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.quote">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">quote</tt><big>(</big><em>str</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.quote" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return a new string with backslashes in <em>str</em> replaced by two backslashes, and
double quotes replaced by backslash-double quote.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.unquote">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">unquote</tt><big>(</big><em>str</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.unquote" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return a new string which is an <em>unquoted</em> version of <em>str</em>. If <em>str</em> ends and
begins with double quotes, they are stripped off. Likewise if <em>str</em> ends and
begins with angle brackets, they are stripped off.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.parseaddr">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">parseaddr</tt><big>(</big><em>address</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.parseaddr" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Parse address – which should be the value of some address-containing field such
as <em>To</em> or <em>Cc</em> – into its constituent <em>realname</em> and
<em>email address</em> parts. Returns a tuple of that information, unless the parse
fails, in which case a 2-tuple of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">('',</span> <span class="pre">'')</span></tt> is returned.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.formataddr">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">formataddr</tt><big>(</big><em>pair</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.formataddr" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>The inverse of <a title="email.utils.parseaddr" class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parseaddr"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">parseaddr()</span></tt></a>, this takes a 2-tuple of the form <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(realname,</span>
<span class="pre">email_address)</span></tt> and returns the string value suitable for a <em>To</em> or
<em>Cc</em> header. If the first element of <em>pair</em> is false, then the
second element is returned unmodified.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.getaddresses">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">getaddresses</tt><big>(</big><em>fieldvalues</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.getaddresses" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>This method returns a list of 2-tuples of the form returned by <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">parseaddr()</span></tt>.
<em>fieldvalues</em> is a sequence of header field values as might be returned by
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message.get_all()</span></tt>. Here’s a simple example that gets all the recipients
of a message:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">email.utils</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="n">getaddresses</span>
<span class="n">tos</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_all</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'to'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">[])</span>
<span class="n">ccs</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_all</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'cc'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">[])</span>
<span class="n">resent_tos</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_all</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'resent-to'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">[])</span>
<span class="n">resent_ccs</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_all</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'resent-cc'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">[])</span>
<span class="n">all_recipients</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">getaddresses</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">tos</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">ccs</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">resent_tos</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">resent_ccs</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.parsedate">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">parsedate</tt><big>(</big><em>date</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.parsedate" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Attempts to parse a date according to the rules in <span class="target" id="index-328"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>. however, some
mailers don’t follow that format as specified, so <a title="email.utils.parsedate" class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parsedate"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">parsedate()</span></tt></a> tries to
guess correctly in such cases. <em>date</em> is a string containing an <span class="target" id="index-329"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>
date, such as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">"Mon,</span> <span class="pre">20</span> <span class="pre">Nov</span> <span class="pre">1995</span> <span class="pre">19:12:08</span> <span class="pre">-0500"</span></tt>. If it succeeds in parsing
the date, <a title="email.utils.parsedate" class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parsedate"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">parsedate()</span></tt></a> returns a 9-tuple that can be passed directly to
<a title="time.mktime" class="reference external" href="time.html#time.mktime"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.mktime()</span></tt></a>; otherwise <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> will be returned. Note that indexes 6,
7, and 8 of the result tuple are not usable.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.parsedate_tz">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">parsedate_tz</tt><big>(</big><em>date</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.parsedate_tz" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Performs the same function as <a title="email.utils.parsedate" class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parsedate"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">parsedate()</span></tt></a>, but returns either <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> or
a 10-tuple; the first 9 elements make up a tuple that can be passed directly to
<a title="time.mktime" class="reference external" href="time.html#time.mktime"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.mktime()</span></tt></a>, and the tenth is the offset of the date’s timezone from UTC
(which is the official term for Greenwich Mean Time) <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id2" id="id1">[1]</a>. If the input string
has no timezone, the last element of the tuple returned is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>. Note that
indexes 6, 7, and 8 of the result tuple are not usable.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.mktime_tz">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">mktime_tz</tt><big>(</big><em>tuple</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.mktime_tz" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Turn a 10-tuple as returned by <a title="email.utils.parsedate_tz" class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.parsedate_tz"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">parsedate_tz()</span></tt></a> into a UTC timestamp. It
the timezone item in the tuple is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>, assume local time. Minor
deficiency: <a title="email.utils.mktime_tz" class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.mktime_tz"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">mktime_tz()</span></tt></a> interprets the first 8 elements of <em>tuple</em> as a
local time and then compensates for the timezone difference. This may yield a
slight error around changes in daylight savings time, though not worth worrying
about for common use.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.formatdate">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">formatdate</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>timeval</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>localtime</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>usegmt</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.formatdate" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Returns a date string as per <span class="target" id="index-330"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>, e.g.:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><pre>Fri, 09 Nov 2001 01:08:47 -0000</pre>
</div>
<p>Optional <em>timeval</em> if given is a floating point time value as accepted by
<a title="time.gmtime" class="reference external" href="time.html#time.gmtime"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.gmtime()</span></tt></a> and <a title="time.localtime" class="reference external" href="time.html#time.localtime"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.localtime()</span></tt></a>, otherwise the current time is
used.</p>
<p>Optional <em>localtime</em> is a flag that when <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt>, interprets <em>timeval</em>, and
returns a date relative to the local timezone instead of UTC, properly taking
daylight savings time into account. The default is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt> meaning UTC is
used.</p>
<p>Optional <em>usegmt</em> is a flag that when <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt>, outputs a date string with the
timezone as an ascii string <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">GMT</span></tt>, rather than a numeric <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">-0000</span></tt>. This is
needed for some protocols (such as HTTP). This only applies when <em>localtime</em> is
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt>. The default is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt>.</p>
<p class="versionadded">
<span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.4.</span></p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.make_msgid">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">make_msgid</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>idstring</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.make_msgid" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Returns a string suitable for an <span class="target" id="index-331"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>-compliant
<em>Message-ID</em> header. Optional <em>idstring</em> if given, is a string used
to strengthen the uniqueness of the message id.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.decode_rfc2231">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">decode_rfc2231</tt><big>(</big><em>s</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.decode_rfc2231" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Decode the string <em>s</em> according to <span class="target" id="index-332"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a>.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.encode_rfc2231">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">encode_rfc2231</tt><big>(</big><em>s</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>charset</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>language</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.encode_rfc2231" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Encode the string <em>s</em> according to <span class="target" id="index-333"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a>. Optional <em>charset</em> and
<em>language</em>, if given is the character set name and language name to use. If
neither is given, <em>s</em> is returned as-is. If <em>charset</em> is given but <em>language</em>
is not, the string is encoded using the empty string for <em>language</em>.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">collapse_rfc2231_value</tt><big>(</big><em>value</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>errors</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>fallback_charset</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>When a header parameter is encoded in <span class="target" id="index-334"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a> format,
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message.get_param()</span></tt> may return a 3-tuple containing the character set,
language, and value. <a title="email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value" class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">collapse_rfc2231_value()</span></tt></a> turns this into a unicode
string. Optional <em>errors</em> is passed to the <em>errors</em> argument of the built-in
<a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode()</span></tt></a> function; it defaults to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">replace</span></tt>. Optional
<em>fallback_charset</em> specifies the character set to use if the one in the
<span class="target" id="index-335"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a> header is not known by Python; it defaults to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">us-ascii</span></tt>.</p>
<p>For convenience, if the <em>value</em> passed to <a title="email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value" class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">collapse_rfc2231_value()</span></tt></a> is not
a tuple, it should be a string and it is returned unquoted.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="email.utils.decode_params">
<tt class="descclassname">email.utils.</tt><tt class="descname">decode_params</tt><big>(</big><em>params</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.utils.decode_params" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Decode parameters list according to <span class="target" id="index-336"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231.html"><strong>RFC 2231</strong></a>. <em>params</em> is a sequence of
2-tuples containing elements of the form <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(content-type,</span> <span class="pre">string-value)</span></tt>.</dd></dl>
<p class="versionchanged">
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.4: </span>The <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">dump_address_pair()</span></tt> function has been removed; use <a title="email.utils.formataddr" class="reference internal" href="#email.utils.formataddr"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">formataddr()</span></tt></a>
instead.</p>
<p class="versionchanged">
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.4: </span>The <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">decode()</span></tt> function has been removed; use the
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Header.decode_header()</span></tt> method instead.</p>
<p class="versionchanged">
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.4: </span>The <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">encode()</span></tt> function has been removed; use the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Header.encode()</span></tt>
method instead.</p>
<p class="rubric">Footnotes</p>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id2" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[1]</a></td><td>Note that the sign of the timezone offset is the opposite of the sign of the
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">time.timezone</span></tt> variable for the same timezone; the latter variable follows
the POSIX standard while this module follows <span class="target" id="index-337"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822.html"><strong>RFC 2822</strong></a>.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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