Ruby Requires Chilkat v11.0.0+

IMAP Find Emails by Date

See more IMAP Examples

Explains how to find emails by date using the IMAP protocol. Ruby

require 'chilkat'

success = false

#  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.
imap.put_Ssl(true)
imap.put_Port(993)
success = imap.Connect("imap.example.com")
if (success == false)
    print imap.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

#  Login
success = imap.Login("myLogin","myPassword")
if (success == false)
    print imap.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

#  Select an IMAP mailbox
success = imap.SelectMailbox("Inbox")
if (success == false)
    print imap.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

#  In the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) protocol, criteria strings are used to search for emails matching specific criteria on the mail server. 
#  When searching for emails by date, you can use criteria strings to specify the date range you're interested in.
#  
#  IMAP provides several options for searching emails by date using criteria strings. Here are the commonly used ones:
#  
#  1. BEFORE: Searches for emails sent before a specific date.
#     Example: BEFORE 01-Apr-2022
#  
#  2. ON: Searches for emails sent on a specific date.
#     Example: ON 01-Apr-2022
#  
#  3. SINCE: Searches for emails sent after a specific date.
#     Example: SINCE 01-Apr-2022
#  
#  4. SENTBEFORE: Searches for emails whose date header (sent date) is before a specific date.
#     Example: SENTBEFORE 01-Apr-2022
#  
#  5. SENTON: Searches for emails whose date header (sent date) is on a specific date.
#     Example: SENTON 01-Apr-2022
#  
#  6. SENTSINCE: Searches for emails whose date header (sent date) is after a specific date.
#     Example: SENTSINCE 01-Apr-2022
#  

#  The date format used in IMAP criteria strings is typically a specific format like "DD-Mon-YYYY" (e.g., "01-Apr-2022"), but some servers may also accept other formats 
#  such as "YYYY-MM-DD". It's essential to check the documentation or specifications of the IMAP server you're working with to ensure compatibility with the 
#  date format you're using.
#  
#  By combining these date criteria strings with other search criteria (such as sender, recipient, subject, etc.), 
#  you can effectively filter and retrieve emails based on various conditions.
#  

#  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 15-Apr-2024"

#  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 12-Apr-2024 SENTBEFORE 15-Apr-2024"

#  We can choose to fetch UIDs or sequence numbers.
fetchUids = true

messageSet = Chilkat::CkMessageSet.new()
success = imap.QueryMbx(betweenDates,fetchUids,messageSet)
if (success == false)
    print imap.lastErrorText() + "\n";
    exit
end

print messageSet.toCompactString() + "\n";

#  Download each email in the message set.
email = Chilkat::CkEmail.new()
messageCount = messageSet.get_Count()
i = 0
while i < messageCount
    success = imap.FetchEmail(false,messageSet.GetId(i),fetchUids,email)
    if (success == false)
        print imap.lastErrorText() + "\n";
        exit
    end

    print email.subject() + "\n";
    #  ...

    i = i + 1
end

#  Disconnect from the IMAP server.
success = imap.Disconnect()