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<title>12.6 mimetools -- Tools for parsing MIME messages</title>
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<H1><A NAME="SECTION0014600000000000000000">
12.6 <tt class="module">mimetools</tt> --
Tools for parsing MIME messages</A>
</H1>
<P>
<A NAME="module-mimetools"></A>
<P>
<div class="versionnote"><b>Deprecated since release 2.3.</b>
The <tt class="module"><a href="module-email.html">email</a></tt> package should be used in
preference to the <tt class="module">mimetools</tt> module. This
module is present only to maintain backward
compatibility.</div><p></p>
<P>
This module defines a subclass of the
<tt class="module"><a href="module-rfc822.html">rfc822</a></tt><a id='l2h-4011' xml:id='l2h-4011'></a> module's
<tt class="class">Message</tt> class and a number of utility functions that are
useful for the manipulation for MIME multipart or encoded message.
<P>
It defines the following items:
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><span class="typelabel">class</span> <tt id='l2h-4005' xml:id='l2h-4005' class="class">Message</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>fp</var><big>[</big><var>, seekable</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Return a new instance of the <tt class="class">Message</tt> class. This is a
subclass of the <tt class="class">rfc822.Message</tt> class, with some additional
methods (see below). The <var>seekable</var> argument has the same meaning
as for <tt class="class">rfc822.Message</tt>.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-4006' xml:id='l2h-4006' class="function">choose_boundary</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Return a unique string that has a high likelihood of being usable as a
part boundary. The string has the form
<code>'<var>hostipaddr</var>.<var>uid</var>.<var>pid</var>.<var>timestamp</var>.<var>random</var>'</code>.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-4007' xml:id='l2h-4007' class="function">decode</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>input, output, encoding</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Read data encoded using the allowed MIME <var>encoding</var> from open file
object <var>input</var> and write the decoded data to open file object
<var>output</var>. Valid values for <var>encoding</var> include
<code>'base64'</code>, <code>'quoted-printable'</code>, <code>'uuencode'</code>,
<code>'x-uuencode'</code>, <code>'uue'</code>, <code>'x-uue'</code>, <code>'7bit'</code>, and
<code>'8bit'</code>. Decoding messages encoded in <code>'7bit'</code> or <code>'8bit'</code>
has no effect. The input is simply copied to the output.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-4008' xml:id='l2h-4008' class="function">encode</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>input, output, encoding</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Read data from open file object <var>input</var> and write it encoded using
the allowed MIME <var>encoding</var> to open file object <var>output</var>.
Valid values for <var>encoding</var> are the same as for <tt class="method">decode()</tt>.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-4009' xml:id='l2h-4009' class="function">copyliteral</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>input, output</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Read lines from open file <var>input</var> until EOF and write them to
open file <var>output</var>.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-4010' xml:id='l2h-4010' class="function">copybinary</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>input, output</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Read blocks until EOF from open file <var>input</var> and write them to
open file <var>output</var>. The block size is currently fixed at 8192.
</dl>
<P>
<div class="seealso">
<p class="heading">See Also:</p>
<dl compact="compact" class="seemodule">
<dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-email.html">email</a></tt>:</b>
<dd>Comprehensive email handling package; supersedes
the <tt class="module">mimetools</tt> module.
</dl>
<dl compact="compact" class="seemodule">
<dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-rfc822.html">rfc822</a></tt>:</b>
<dd>Provides the base class for
<tt class="class">mimetools.Message</tt>.
</dl>
<dl compact="compact" class="seemodule">
<dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-multifile.html">multifile</a></tt>:</b>
<dd>Support for reading files which contain
distinct parts, such as MIME data.
</dl>
<dl compact="compact" class="seeurl">
<dt><a href="http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/mail/mime-faq/.html"
class="url">http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/mail/mime-faq/.html</a></dt>
<dd>
The MIME Frequently Asked Questions document. For an
overview of MIME, see the answer to question 1.1 in Part 1
of this document.</dd>
</dl>
</div>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.4.3, documentation updated on 29 March 2006.</span>
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