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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <title>20.9. poplib — POP3 protocol client — Python 2.7.5 documentation</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/default.css" type="text/css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pygments.css" type="text/css" /> <script type="text/javascript"> var DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS = { URL_ROOT: '../', VERSION: '2.7.5', COLLAPSE_INDEX: false, FILE_SUFFIX: '.html', HAS_SOURCE: true }; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/underscore.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/doctools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Search within Python 2.7.5 documentation" href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/> <link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" /> <link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" /> <link rel="top" title="Python 2.7.5 documentation" href="../index.html" /> <link rel="up" title="20. 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Internet Protocols and Support</a> »</li> </ul> </div> <div class="document"> <div class="documentwrapper"> <div class="bodywrapper"> <div class="body"> <div class="section" id="module-poplib"> <span id="poplib-pop3-protocol-client"></span><h1>20.9. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-poplib" title="poplib: POP3 protocol client (requires sockets)."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">poplib</span></tt></a> — POP3 protocol client<a class="headerlink" href="#module-poplib" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1> <p id="index-0"><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="reference external" href="http://hg.python.org/cpython/file/2.7/Lib/poplib.py">Lib/poplib.py</a></p> <hr class="docutils" /> <p>This module defines a class, <a class="reference internal" href="#poplib.POP3" title="poplib.POP3"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">POP3</span></tt></a>, which encapsulates a connection to a POP3 server and implements the protocol as defined in <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1725.html"><strong>RFC 1725</strong></a>. The <a class="reference internal" href="#poplib.POP3" title="poplib.POP3"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">POP3</span></tt></a> class supports both the minimal and optional command sets. Additionally, this module provides a class <a class="reference internal" href="#poplib.POP3_SSL" title="poplib.POP3_SSL"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">POP3_SSL</span></tt></a>, which provides support for connecting to POP3 servers that use SSL as an underlying protocol layer.</p> <p>Note that POP3, though widely supported, is obsolescent. The implementation quality of POP3 servers varies widely, and too many are quite poor. If your mailserver supports IMAP, you would be better off using the <a class="reference internal" href="imaplib.html#imaplib.IMAP4" title="imaplib.IMAP4"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">imaplib.IMAP4</span></tt></a> class, as IMAP servers tend to be better implemented.</p> <p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-poplib" title="poplib: POP3 protocol client (requires sockets)."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">poplib</span></tt></a> module provides two classes:</p> <dl class="class"> <dt id="poplib.POP3"> <em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">poplib.</tt><tt class="descname">POP3</tt><big>(</big><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>timeout</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>This class implements the actual POP3 protocol. The connection is created when the instance is initialized. If <em>port</em> is omitted, the standard POP3 port (110) is used. The optional <em>timeout</em> parameter specifies a timeout in seconds for the connection attempt (if not specified, the global default timeout setting will be used).</p> <p class="versionchanged"> <span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.6: </span><em>timeout</em> was added.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="class"> <dt id="poplib.POP3_SSL"> <em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">poplib.</tt><tt class="descname">POP3_SSL</tt><big>(</big><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>keyfile</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>certfile</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3_SSL" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>This is a subclass of <a class="reference internal" href="#poplib.POP3" title="poplib.POP3"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">POP3</span></tt></a> that connects to the server over an SSL encrypted socket. If <em>port</em> is not specified, 995, the standard POP3-over-SSL port is used. <em>keyfile</em> and <em>certfile</em> are also optional - they can contain a PEM formatted private key and certificate chain file for the SSL connection.</p> <p class="versionadded"> <span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.4.</span></p> </dd></dl> <p>One exception is defined as an attribute of the <a class="reference internal" href="#module-poplib" title="poplib: POP3 protocol client (requires sockets)."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">poplib</span></tt></a> module:</p> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="poplib.error_proto"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">poplib.</tt><tt class="descname">error_proto</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.error_proto" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Exception raised on any errors from this module (errors from <a class="reference internal" href="socket.html#module-socket" title="socket: Low-level networking interface."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">socket</span></tt></a> module are not caught). The reason for the exception is passed to the constructor as a string.</p> </dd></dl> <div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso"> <p class="first admonition-title">See also</p> <dl class="last docutils"> <dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="imaplib.html#module-imaplib" title="imaplib: IMAP4 protocol client (requires sockets)."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">imaplib</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>The standard Python IMAP module.</dd> <dt><a class="reference external" href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail/fetchmail-FAQ.html">Frequently Asked Questions About Fetchmail</a></dt> <dd>The FAQ for the <strong class="program">fetchmail</strong> POP/IMAP client collects information on POP3 server variations and RFC noncompliance that may be useful if you need to write an application based on the POP protocol.</dd> </dl> </div> <div class="section" id="pop3-objects"> <span id="id1"></span><h2>20.9.1. POP3 Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#pop3-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <p>All POP3 commands are represented by methods of the same name, in lower-case; most return the response text sent by the server.</p> <p>An <a class="reference internal" href="#poplib.POP3" title="poplib.POP3"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">POP3</span></tt></a> instance has the following methods:</p> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.set_debuglevel"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">set_debuglevel</tt><big>(</big><em>level</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.set_debuglevel" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Set the instance’s debugging level. This controls the amount of debugging output printed. The default, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">0</span></tt>, produces no debugging output. A value of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">1</span></tt> produces a moderate amount of debugging output, generally a single line per request. A value of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">2</span></tt> or higher produces the maximum amount of debugging output, logging each line sent and received on the control connection.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.getwelcome"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">getwelcome</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.getwelcome" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Returns the greeting string sent by the POP3 server.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.user"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">user</tt><big>(</big><em>username</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.user" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Send user command, response should indicate that a password is required.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.pass_"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">pass_</tt><big>(</big><em>password</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.pass_" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Send password, response includes message count and mailbox size. Note: the mailbox on the server is locked until <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">quit()</span></tt> is called.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.apop"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">apop</tt><big>(</big><em>user</em>, <em>secret</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.apop" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Use the more secure APOP authentication to log into the POP3 server.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.rpop"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">rpop</tt><big>(</big><em>user</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.rpop" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Use RPOP authentication (similar to UNIX r-commands) to log into POP3 server.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.stat"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">stat</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.stat" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Get mailbox status. The result is a tuple of 2 integers: <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(message</span> <span class="pre">count,</span> <span class="pre">mailbox</span> <span class="pre">size)</span></tt>.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.list"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">list</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>which</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.list" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Request message list, result is in the form <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(response,</span> <span class="pre">['mesg_num</span> <span class="pre">octets',</span> <span class="pre">...],</span> <span class="pre">octets)</span></tt>. If <em>which</em> is set, it is the message to list.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.retr"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">retr</tt><big>(</big><em>which</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.retr" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Retrieve whole message number <em>which</em>, and set its seen flag. Result is in form <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(response,</span> <span class="pre">['line',</span> <span class="pre">...],</span> <span class="pre">octets)</span></tt>.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.dele"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">dele</tt><big>(</big><em>which</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.dele" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Flag message number <em>which</em> for deletion. On most servers deletions are not actually performed until QUIT (the major exception is Eudora QPOP, which deliberately violates the RFCs by doing pending deletes on any disconnect).</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.rset"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">rset</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.rset" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Remove any deletion marks for the mailbox.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.noop"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">noop</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.noop" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Do nothing. Might be used as a keep-alive.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.quit"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">quit</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.quit" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Signoff: commit changes, unlock mailbox, drop connection.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.top"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">top</tt><big>(</big><em>which</em>, <em>howmuch</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.top" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Retrieves the message header plus <em>howmuch</em> lines of the message after the header of message number <em>which</em>. Result is in form <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(response,</span> <span class="pre">['line',</span> <span class="pre">...],</span> <span class="pre">octets)</span></tt>.</p> <p>The POP3 TOP command this method uses, unlike the RETR command, doesn’t set the message’s seen flag; unfortunately, TOP is poorly specified in the RFCs and is frequently broken in off-brand servers. Test this method by hand against the POP3 servers you will use before trusting it.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="poplib.POP3.uidl"> <tt class="descclassname">POP3.</tt><tt class="descname">uidl</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>which</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#poplib.POP3.uidl" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Return message digest (unique id) list. If <em>which</em> is specified, result contains the unique id for that message in the form <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'response</span> <span class="pre">mesgnum</span> <span class="pre">uid</span></tt>, otherwise result is list <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(response,</span> <span class="pre">['mesgnum</span> <span class="pre">uid',</span> <span class="pre">...],</span> <span class="pre">octets)</span></tt>.</p> </dd></dl> <p>Instances of <a class="reference internal" href="#poplib.POP3_SSL" title="poplib.POP3_SSL"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">POP3_SSL</span></tt></a> have no additional methods. The interface of this subclass is identical to its parent.</p> </div> <div class="section" id="pop3-example"> <span id="id2"></span><h2>20.9.2. POP3 Example<a class="headerlink" href="#pop3-example" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <p>Here is a minimal example (without error checking) that opens a mailbox and retrieves and prints all messages:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">getpass</span><span class="o">,</span> <span class="nn">poplib</span> <span class="n">M</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">poplib</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">POP3</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'localhost'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">M</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">user</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">getpass</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getuser</span><span class="p">())</span> <span class="n">M</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">pass_</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">getpass</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getpass</span><span class="p">())</span> <span class="n">numMessages</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="nb">len</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">M</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">list</span><span class="p">()[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">])</span> <span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">i</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="nb">range</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">numMessages</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">j</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">M</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">retr</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">i</span><span class="o">+</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]:</span> <span class="k">print</span> <span class="n">j</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>At the end of the module, there is a test section that contains a more extensive example of usage.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="sphinxsidebar"> <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper"> <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3> <ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#">20.9. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">poplib</span></tt> — POP3 protocol client</a><ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#pop3-objects">20.9.1. POP3 Objects</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#pop3-example">20.9.2. POP3 Example</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h4>Previous topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="ftplib.html" title="previous chapter">20.8. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ftplib</span></tt> — FTP protocol client</a></p> <h4>Next topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="imaplib.html" title="next chapter">20.10. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">imaplib</span></tt> — IMAP4 protocol client</a></p> <h3>This Page</h3> <ul class="this-page-menu"> <li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li> <li><a href="../_sources/library/poplib.txt" rel="nofollow">Show Source</a></li> </ul> <div id="searchbox" style="display: none"> <h3>Quick search</h3> <form class="search" action="../search.html" method="get"> <input type="text" name="q" /> <input type="submit" value="Go" /> <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" /> <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" /> </form> <p class="searchtip" style="font-size: 90%"> Enter search terms or a module, class or function name. </p> </div> <script type="text/javascript">$('#searchbox').show(0);</script> </div> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> </div> <div class="related"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" >index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="imaplib.html" title="20.10. imaplib — IMAP4 protocol client" >next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="ftplib.html" title="20.8. ftplib — FTP protocol client" >previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="http://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <a href="../index.html">Python 2.7.5 documentation</a> » </li> <li><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li> <li><a href="internet.html" >20. 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