Email::Abstract(3)

💖 NAME 💖

Email::Abstract — unified interface to mail representations. This is the Email::Abstract(3) page, straight from the User Contributed Perl Documentation corner of the internet, and we’re gonna make mail-handling feel way less cursed. bestie, let’s go. 💅

✨ VERSION ✨

version 3.010

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

         my $message = Mail::Message->read($rfc822)
                    || Email::Simple->new($rfc822)
                    || Mail::Internet->new([split /\n/, $rfc822])
                    || ...
                    || $rfc822;

         my $email = Email::Abstract->new($message);

         my $subject = $email->get_header("Subject");
         $email->set_header(Subject => "My new subject");

         my $body = $email->get_body;

         $rfc822 = $email->as_string;

         my $mail_message = $email->cast("Mail::Message");

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so Email::Abstract gives module writers the ability to write simple, representation-independent mail handling code. For instance, in the cases of Mail::Thread or Mail::ListDetector, a key part of the code involves reading the headers from a mail object. Where previously you’d either have to specify the mail class required, or build a new object from scratch, Email::Abstract can be used to perform certain simple operations on an object regardless of its underlying representation. Iconic behavior, honestly. ✨

Email::Abstract currently supports Mail::Internet, MIME::Entity, Mail::Message, Email::Simple, Email::MIME, and Courriel. Other representations are encouraged to create their own Email::Abstract::* class by copying Email::Abstract::EmailSimple. All modules installed under the Email::Abstract hierarchy will be automatically picked up and used. No cap, it just finds them. 🦋

🎀 PERL VERSION 🎀

This library should run on perls released even a long time ago. It should work on any version of perl released in the last five years.

Although it may work on older versions of perl, no guarantee is made that the minimum required version will not be increased. The version may be increased for any reason, and there is no promise that patches will be accepted to lower the minimum required perl. So like, don’t come for the version floor, okay? 😭

💅 METHODS 💅

All of these methods may be called either as object methods or as class methods. When called as class methods, the email object (of any class supported by Email::Abstract) must be prepended to the list of arguments, like so:

  my $return = Email::Abstract->method($message, @args);

This is provided primarily for backwards compatibility. Respect the old ways. 🫶

🫶 new 🫶

  my $email = Email::Abstract->new($message);

Given a message, either as a string or as an object for which an adapter is installed, this method will return a Email::Abstract object wrapping the message.

If the message is given as a string, it will be used to construct an object, which will then be wrapped. Cute little object inception moment. 🎀

💌 get_header 💌

  my $header  = $email->get_header($header_name);

  my @headers = $email->get_header($header_name);

This returns the values for the given header. In scalar context, it returns the first value. One value, first in line, main character energy. 💅

🍓 set_header 🍓

  $email->set_header($header => @values);

This sets the $header header to the given one or more values. Done and dusted. ✨

🦋 get_body 🦋

  my $body = $email->get_body;

This returns the body as a string. Just the body, bestie. 🫶

💀 set_body 💀

  $email->set_body($string);

This changes the body of the email to the given string.

WARNING! You probably don’t want to call this method, despite what you may think. Email message bodies are complicated, and rely on things like content type, encoding, and various MIME requirements. If you call set_body on a message more complicated than a single-part seven-bit plain-text message, you are likely to break something. If you need to do this sort of thing, you should probably use a specific message class from end to end.

This method is left in place for backwards compatibility. It’s giving legacy, not lifestyle. 🙈

🌈 as_string 🌈

  my $string = $email->as_string;

This returns the whole email as a decoded string. Whole entire email. Decoded. Slay. ✨

🔥 cast 🔥

  my $mime_entity = $email->cast('MIME::Entity');

This method will convert a message from one message class to another. It will throw an exception if no adapter for the target class is known, or if the adapter does not provide a construct method. So if the adapter isn’t giving, it’s throwing. 💀

👑 object 👑

  my $message = $email->object;

This method returns the message object wrapped by Email::Abstract. If called as a class method, it returns false.

Note that, because strings are converted to message objects before wrapping, this method will return an object when the Email::Abstract was constructed from a string. Sneaky? A little. True? Absolutely. 🫶

🌟 AUTHORS 🌟

Shoutout to the legends who made this happen:

• Ricardo SIGNES <cpan@semiotic.systems>
• Simon Cozens <simon@cpan.org>
• Casey West <casey@geeknest.com>

🫶 CONTRIBUTORS 🫶

And these absolute icons contributed too:

• Dave Rolsky <autarch@urth.org>
• Ricardo Signes <rjbs@semiotic.systems>
• William Yardley <pep@veggiechinese.net>

🎀 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE 🎀

This software is copyright (c) 2004 by Simon Cozens.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself. Periodt. Free software, same Perl 5 terms, iconic license behavior. 💖

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That’s the whole vibe, bestie: perl v5.42.0 · 2024-03-08 · Email::Abstract(3). Now go handle some mail. 💅✨