(Perl) Search IMAP Mailbox for Email Matching Criteria

Searching an IMAP mailbox for messages that match search criteria.

Chilkat Perl Downloads Perl Module for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Alpine Linux, Solaris

use chilkat();

# This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
# See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

$imap = chilkat::CkImap->new();

# Connect to an IMAP server.
# Use TLS
$imap->put_Ssl(1);
$imap->put_Port(993);
$success = $imap->Connect("imap.someMailServer.com");
if ($success != 1) {
    print $imap->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

# Login
$success = $imap->Login("myLogin","myPassword");
if ($success != 1) {
    print $imap->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

# Select an IMAP mailbox
$success = $imap->SelectMailbox("Inbox");
if ($success != 1) {
    print $imap->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

# We can choose to fetch UIDs or sequence numbers.
$fetchUids = 1;

# Here are examples of different search criteria:

# Return all messages.
$allMsgs = "ALL";

# Search for already-answered emails.
$answered = "ANSWERED";

# Search for messages on a specific date.
# The date string is DD-Month-YYYY where Month is
# Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, or Dec.
$onDate = "SENTON 05-Mar-2007";

# Search for messages between two dates.  SENTBEFORE
# finds emails sent before a date, and SENTSINCE finds
# email sent on or after a date.  The "AND" operation
# is implied by joining criteria, separated by spaces.
$betweenDates = "SENTSINCE 01-Mar-2007 SENTBEFORE 05-Mar-2007";

# Another example of AND: find all unanswered emails
# sent after 04-Mar-2007 with "Problem" in the subject:
$complexSearch1 = "UNANSWERED SENTSINCE 04-Mar-2007 Subject \"Problem\"";

# Find messages with a specific string in the body:
$bodySearch = "BODY \"problem solved\"";

# Using OR.  The syntax is OR <criteria1> <criteria2>. 
# The "OR" comes first, followed by each criteria.
# For example, to match all emails with "Help" or "Question" in the subject.
# You'll notice that literal strings may be quoted or unquoted.
# If a literal contains SPACE characters, quote it:
$orSearch = "OR SUBJECT Help SUBJECT Question";

# ----------------------------------------------
# Strings are case-insensitive when searching....
# ----------------------------------------------

# Find all emails sent from yahoo.com addresses:
$fromSearch = "FROM yahoo.com";
# Find all emails sent from anyone with "John" in their name:
$johnSearch = "FROM John";

# Find emails with the RECENT flag set:
$recentSearch = "RECENT";

# Find emails that don't have the recent flag set:
$notRecentSearch = "NOT RECENT";
# This is synonymous with "OLD":
$oldSearch = "OLD";

# Find all emails marked for deletion:
$markedForDeleteSearch = "DELETED";

# Find all emails having a specified header field with a value
# containing a substring:
$headerSearch = "HEADER DomainKey-Signature paypal.com";

# Find any emails having a specific header field.  If the 
# 2nd argument to the "HEADER" criteria is an empty string,
# any email having the header field is returned regardless
# of the header field's content.
# Find any emails with a DomainKey-Signature field:
$headerExistsSearch = "HEADER DomainKey-Signature \"\"";

# Find NEW emails: these are emails that have the RECENT flag
# set, but not the SEEN flag:
$newSearch = "NEW";

# Find emails larger than a certain number of bytes:
$sizeLargerSearch = "LARGER 500000";

# Find emails marked as seen or not already seen:
$seenSearch = "SEEN";
$notSeenSearch = "NOT SEEN";

# Find emails having a given substring in the TO header field:
$toSearch = 'TO support@chilkatsoft.com';
# A more long-winded way to do the same thing:
$toSearch2 = 'HEADER TO support@chilkatsoft.com';

# Find emails smaller than a size in bytes:
$smallerSearch = "SMALLER 30000";

# Find emails that have a substring anywhere in the header
# or body:
$fullSubstringSearch = "TEXT \"Zip Component\"";

# Pass any of the above strings here to test a search:
# messageSet is a MessageSet
$messageSet = $imap->Search($orSearch,$fetchUids);
if ($imap->get_LastMethodSuccess() == 0) {
    print $imap->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

# Fetch the email headers into a bundle object:

# bundle is a EmailBundle
$bundle = $imap->FetchHeaders($messageSet);
if ($imap->get_LastMethodSuccess() == 0) {

    print $imap->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

# Display the Subject and From of each email.
$i = 0;
while ($i < $bundle->get_MessageCount()) {

    # email is a Email
    $email = $bundle->GetEmail($i);

    print $email->getHeaderField("Date") . "\r\n";
    print $email->subject() . "\r\n";
    print $email->ck_from() . "\r\n";
    print "--" . "\r\n";

    $i = $i + 1;
}

# Disconnect from the IMAP server.
$success = $imap->Disconnect();