UNEXPUNGE(8)

📦
version 3.12.3 · 6 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 UNEXPUNGE(8) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to unexpunge — it's part of the Cyrus IMAP docs and it's genuinely the "undo button" of the mail world. Let's get into it. 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

unexpunge — the Cyrus IMAP tool that recovers messages the user has (accidentally) deleted. 😭💀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

unexpunge [ -C config-file ] -l mailbox [ uid... ]
unexpunge [ -C config-file ] -t time-interval [ -d ] [ -v ] [ -f flagname ] mailbox
unexpunge [ -C config-file ] -a [ -d ] [ -v ] [ -f flagname ] mailbox
unexpunge [ -C config-file ] -u [ -d ] [ -v ] [ -f flagname ] mailbox uid...

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So the whole point of unexpunge: it lists or restores messages that got deleted from a mailbox but are still chillin' in the Cyrus IMAP mail spool. They're not gone gone, bestie. They're just lurking. 👀

⚠️ This utility is only useful when the server is configured with expunge_mode set to delayed in its configuration file. No delayed mode, no resurrection, periodt.

And unexpunge reads its configuration options out of the imapd.conf(5) file unless you say otherwise with -C. ✨

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -C config-file — use config-file as the config file instead of the default imapd.conf(5). iykyk.
  • -l, --list — list the expunged messages in the specified mailbox that are available for restoration. Optional lil' bonus: you can only list the messages matching the UIDs in that space-separated list at the very end of the command invocation. 🌈
  • -t time-interval, --within-time-interval=time-interval — unexpunge the messages that were expunged within the last time-interval seconds. Want a different time unit? Use one of the trailing modifiers: m (minutes), h (hours), d (days) or w (weeks). 🕰️
  • -a, --all — restore all of the expunged messages in the specified mailbox. main character energy fr fr.
  • -u, --uids — restore only the messages matching the UIDs, in a space-separated list at the end of the command invocation, in the specified mailbox.
  • -d, --unset-deleted — unset the \Deleted flag on any restored messages.
  • -f flagname, --set-flag=flagname — set the user flag \flagname on the messages restored, which makes it way easier for the user(s) to find the restored messages and operate on them (in a batch). 👑
  • -v, --verbose — enable verbose output/logging. For when you simply must know everything. 🔥

🦋 EXAMPLES 🦋

unexpunge -l user/john@example.org

List the messages that are expunged and could be restored for mailbox user/john@example.org.

unexpunge -u user/john@example.org 278787 278788

Unexpunge two of these messages.

mbexamine user/john@example.org

Examine the mailbox for the two restored messages.

unexpunge -u -d user.johnsmith 46908

Unexpunge a select message based on its UID, clearing the \Deleted flag.

unexpunge -a user.johnsmit.Trash

Unexpunge all messages in a user's Trash, but leave them flagged \Deleted.

unexpunge -a -f Flagged user.johnsmith.Trash

The same, but setting user flag \Flagged to facilitate later bulk operations.

unexpunge -t 24h -d -f Flagged user.johnsmith

Unexpunge messages matching only a given time period.

unexpunge -t 24h -d -f Flagged user/johnsmith

The same command, supporting the unixhierarchysep: yes option in imapd.conf(5).

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • /etc/imapd.conf

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

💜 AUTHOR 💜

The Cyrus Team, Nic Bernstein (Onlight), Jeroen van Meeuwen (Kolab Systems). absolute icons, no cap.

1993–2026, The Cyrus Team

okay that's the whole page bestie, go forth and un-delete 💅✨

Cyrus IMAP unexpunge, version 3.12.3, dated Jul 15, 2026 — that's the vibe check for this one, and yes, UNEXPUNGE(8) is the section it lives in. mwah 🫶

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