Edit File: smtplib.html
<!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>20.12. smtplib — SMTP 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. Internet Protocols and Support" href="internet.html" /> <link rel="next" title="20.13. smtpd — SMTP Server" href="smtpd.html" /> <link rel="prev" title="20.11. nntplib — NNTP protocol client" href="nntplib.html" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="../_static/py.png" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/copybutton.js"></script> </head> <body> <div class="related"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" accesskey="I">index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="smtpd.html" title="20.13. smtpd — SMTP Server" accesskey="N">next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="nntplib.html" title="20.11. nntplib — NNTP protocol client" accesskey="P">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" accesskey="U">20. 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-smtplib"> <span id="smtplib-smtp-protocol-client"></span><h1>20.12. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-smtplib" title="smtplib: SMTP protocol client (requires sockets)."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtplib</span></tt></a> — SMTP protocol client<a class="headerlink" href="#module-smtplib" 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/smtplib.py">Lib/smtplib.py</a></p> <hr class="docutils" /> <p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-smtplib" title="smtplib: SMTP protocol client (requires sockets)."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtplib</span></tt></a> module defines an SMTP client session object that can be used to send mail to any Internet machine with an SMTP or ESMTP listener daemon. For details of SMTP and ESMTP operation, consult <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc821.html"><strong>RFC 821</strong></a> (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and <span class="target" id="index-2"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1869.html"><strong>RFC 1869</strong></a> (SMTP Service Extensions).</p> <dl class="class"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP"> <em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTP</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>local_hostname</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>timeout</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>A <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a> instance encapsulates an SMTP connection. It has methods that support a full repertoire of SMTP and ESMTP operations. If the optional host and port parameters are given, the SMTP <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.connect" title="smtplib.SMTP.connect"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">connect()</span></tt></a> method is called with those parameters during initialization. If the <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.connect" title="smtplib.SMTP.connect"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">connect()</span></tt></a> call returns anything other than a success code, an <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPConnectError" title="smtplib.SMTPConnectError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPConnectError</span></tt></a> is raised. The optional <em>timeout</em> parameter specifies a timeout in seconds for blocking operations like the connection attempt (if not specified, the global default timeout setting will be used).</p> <p>For normal use, you should only require the initialization/connect, <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendmail()</span></tt></a>, and <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">quit()</span></tt> methods. An example is included below.</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="smtplib.SMTP_SSL"> <em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTP_SSL</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>local_hostname</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>keyfile</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>certfile</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>timeout</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP_SSL" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>A <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP_SSL" title="smtplib.SMTP_SSL"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP_SSL</span></tt></a> instance behaves exactly the same as instances of <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a>. <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP_SSL" title="smtplib.SMTP_SSL"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP_SSL</span></tt></a> should be used for situations where SSL is required from the beginning of the connection and using <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">starttls()</span></tt> is not appropriate. If <em>host</em> is not specified, the local host is used. If <em>port</em> is omitted, the standard SMTP-over-SSL port (465) is used. <em>keyfile</em> and <em>certfile</em> are also optional, and can contain a PEM formatted private key and certificate chain file for the SSL connection. The optional <em>timeout</em> parameter specifies a timeout in seconds for blocking operations like the connection attempt (if not specified, the global default timeout setting will be used).</p> <p class="versionadded"> <span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.6.</span></p> </dd></dl> <dl class="class"> <dt id="smtplib.LMTP"> <em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">LMTP</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>local_hostname</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.LMTP" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>The LMTP protocol, which is very similar to ESMTP, is heavily based on the standard SMTP client. It’s common to use Unix sockets for LMTP, so our <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">connect()</span></tt> method must support that as well as a regular host:port server. To specify a Unix socket, you must use an absolute path for <em>host</em>, starting with a ‘/’.</p> <p>Authentication is supported, using the regular SMTP mechanism. When using a Unix socket, LMTP generally don’t support or require any authentication, but your mileage might vary.</p> <p class="versionadded"> <span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.6.</span></p> </dd></dl> <p>A nice selection of exceptions is defined as well:</p> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTPException"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPException</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPException" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>The base exception class for all the other excpetions provided by this module.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPServerDisconnected</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>This exception is raised when the server unexpectedly disconnects, or when an attempt is made to use the <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a> instance before connecting it to a server.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTPResponseException"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPResponseException</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPResponseException" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Base class for all exceptions that include an SMTP error code. These exceptions are generated in some instances when the SMTP server returns an error code. The error code is stored in the <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtp_code</span></tt> attribute of the error, and the <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtp_error</span></tt> attribute is set to the error message.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPSenderRefused</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Sender address refused. In addition to the attributes set by on all <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPResponseException" title="smtplib.SMTPResponseException"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPResponseException</span></tt></a> exceptions, this sets ‘sender’ to the string that the SMTP server refused.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTPRecipientsRefused"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPRecipientsRefused</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPRecipientsRefused" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>All recipient addresses refused. The errors for each recipient are accessible through the attribute <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">recipients</span></tt>, which is a dictionary of exactly the same sort as <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP.sendmail()</span></tt></a> returns.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTPDataError"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPDataError</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPDataError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>The SMTP server refused to accept the message data.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTPConnectError"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPConnectError</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPConnectError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Error occurred during establishment of a connection with the server.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTPHeloError"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPHeloError</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>The server refused our <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> message.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="exception"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError"> <em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">smtplib.</tt><tt class="descname">SMTPAuthenticationError</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>SMTP authentication went wrong. Most probably the server didn’t accept the username/password combination provided.</p> </dd></dl> <div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso"> <p class="first admonition-title">See also</p> <dl class="last docutils"> <dt><span class="target" id="index-3"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc821.html"><strong>RFC 821</strong></a> - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol</dt> <dd>Protocol definition for SMTP. This document covers the model, operating procedure, and protocol details for SMTP.</dd> <dt><span class="target" id="index-4"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1869.html"><strong>RFC 1869</strong></a> - SMTP Service Extensions</dt> <dd>Definition of the ESMTP extensions for SMTP. This describes a framework for extending SMTP with new commands, supporting dynamic discovery of the commands provided by the server, and defines a few additional commands.</dd> </dl> </div> <div class="section" id="smtp-objects"> <span id="id1"></span><h2>20.12.1. SMTP Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#smtp-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <p>An <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a> instance has the following methods:</p> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.set_debuglevel"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">set_debuglevel</tt><big>(</big><em>level</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.set_debuglevel" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Set the debug output level. A true value for <em>level</em> results in debug messages for connection and for all messages sent to and received from the server.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.docmd"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">docmd</tt><big>(</big><em>cmd</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>argstring</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.docmd" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Send a command <em>cmd</em> to the server. The optional argument <em>argstring</em> is simply concatenated to the command, separated by a space.</p> <p>This returns a 2-tuple composed of a numeric response code and the actual response line (multiline responses are joined into one long line.)</p> <p>In normal operation it should not be necessary to call this method explicitly. It is used to implement other methods and may be useful for testing private extensions.</p> <p>If the connection to the server is lost while waiting for the reply, <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected" title="smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPServerDisconnected</span></tt></a> will be raised.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.connect"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">connect</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>host</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>port</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.connect" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Connect to a host on a given port. The defaults are to connect to the local host at the standard SMTP port (25). If the hostname ends with a colon (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">':'</span></tt>) followed by a number, that suffix will be stripped off and the number interpreted as the port number to use. This method is automatically invoked by the constructor if a host is specified during instantiation. Returns a 2-tuple of the response code and message sent by the server in its connection response.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.helo"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">helo</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>hostname</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.helo" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Identify yourself to the SMTP server using <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt>. The hostname argument defaults to the fully qualified domain name of the local host. The message returned by the server is stored as the <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">helo_resp</span></tt> attribute of the object.</p> <p>In normal operation it should not be necessary to call this method explicitly. It will be implicitly called by the <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendmail()</span></tt></a> when necessary.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.ehlo"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">ehlo</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>hostname</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.ehlo" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Identify yourself to an ESMTP server using <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt>. The hostname argument defaults to the fully qualified domain name of the local host. Examine the response for ESMTP option and store them for use by <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.has_extn" title="smtplib.SMTP.has_extn"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">has_extn()</span></tt></a>. Also sets several informational attributes: the message returned by the server is stored as the <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">ehlo_resp</span></tt> attribute, <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">does_esmtp</span></tt> is set to true or false depending on whether the server supports ESMTP, and <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">esmtp_features</span></tt> will be a dictionary containing the names of the SMTP service extensions this server supports, and their parameters (if any).</p> <p>Unless you wish to use <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.has_extn" title="smtplib.SMTP.has_extn"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">has_extn()</span></tt></a> before sending mail, it should not be necessary to call this method explicitly. It will be implicitly called by <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendmail()</span></tt></a> when necessary.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.ehlo_or_helo_if_needed"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">ehlo_or_helo_if_needed</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.ehlo_or_helo_if_needed" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>This method call <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.ehlo" title="smtplib.SMTP.ehlo"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">ehlo()</span></tt></a> and or <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.helo" title="smtplib.SMTP.helo"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">helo()</span></tt></a> if there has been no previous <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> command this session. It tries ESMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> first.</p> <dl class="docutils"> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="smtplib.SMTPHeloError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPHeloError</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>The server didn’t reply properly to the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> greeting.</dd> </dl> <p class="versionadded"> <span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.6.</span></p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.has_extn"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">has_extn</tt><big>(</big><em>name</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.has_extn" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Return <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#True" title="True"><tt class="xref py py-const docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt></a> if <em>name</em> is in the set of SMTP service extensions returned by the server, <a class="reference internal" href="constants.html#False" title="False"><tt class="xref py py-const docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt></a> otherwise. Case is ignored.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.verify"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">verify</tt><big>(</big><em>address</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.verify" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Check the validity of an address on this server using SMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">VRFY</span></tt>. Returns a tuple consisting of code 250 and a full <span class="target" id="index-5"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> address (including human name) if the user address is valid. Otherwise returns an SMTP error code of 400 or greater and an error string.</p> <div class="admonition note"> <p class="first admonition-title">Note</p> <p class="last">Many sites disable SMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">VRFY</span></tt> in order to foil spammers.</p> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.login"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">login</tt><big>(</big><em>user</em>, <em>password</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.login" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Log in on an SMTP server that requires authentication. The arguments are the username and the password to authenticate with. If there has been no previous <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> command this session, this method tries ESMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> first. This method will return normally if the authentication was successful, or may raise the following exceptions:</p> <dl class="docutils"> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="smtplib.SMTPHeloError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPHeloError</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>The server didn’t reply properly to the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> greeting.</dd> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError" title="smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPAuthenticationError</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>The server didn’t accept the username/password combination.</dd> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPException" title="smtplib.SMTPException"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPException</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>No suitable authentication method was found.</dd> </dl> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.starttls"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">starttls</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>keyfile</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>certfile</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.starttls" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Put the SMTP connection in TLS (Transport Layer Security) mode. All SMTP commands that follow will be encrypted. You should then call <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP.ehlo" title="smtplib.SMTP.ehlo"><tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">ehlo()</span></tt></a> again.</p> <p>If <em>keyfile</em> and <em>certfile</em> are provided, these are passed to the <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’s <a class="reference internal" href="ssl.html#module-ssl" title="ssl: TLS/SSL wrapper for socket objects"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">ssl()</span></tt></a> function.</p> <p>If there has been no previous <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> command this session, this method tries ESMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> first.</p> <p class="versionchanged"> <span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.6.</span></p> <dl class="docutils"> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="smtplib.SMTPHeloError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPHeloError</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>The server didn’t reply properly to the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> greeting.</dd> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPException" title="smtplib.SMTPException"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPException</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>The server does not support the STARTTLS extension.</dd> </dl> <p class="versionchanged"> <span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.6.</span></p> <dl class="docutils"> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.RuntimeError" title="exceptions.RuntimeError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">RuntimeError</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>SSL/TLS support is not available to your Python interpreter.</dd> </dl> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.sendmail"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">sendmail</tt><big>(</big><em>from_addr</em>, <em>to_addrs</em>, <em>msg</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>mail_options</em>, <em>rcpt_options</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Send mail. The required arguments are an <span class="target" id="index-6"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> from-address string, a list of <span class="target" id="index-7"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> to-address strings (a bare string will be treated as a list with 1 address), and a message string. The caller may pass a list of ESMTP options (such as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">8bitmime</span></tt>) to be used in <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">MAIL</span> <span class="pre">FROM</span></tt> commands as <em>mail_options</em>. ESMTP options (such as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">DSN</span></tt> commands) that should be used with all <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">RCPT</span></tt> commands can be passed as <em>rcpt_options</em>. (If you need to use different ESMTP options to different recipients you have to use the low-level methods such as <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">mail()</span></tt>, <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">rcpt()</span></tt> and <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">data()</span></tt> to send the message.)</p> <div class="admonition note"> <p class="first admonition-title">Note</p> <p class="last">The <em>from_addr</em> and <em>to_addrs</em> parameters are used to construct the message envelope used by the transport agents. The <a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTP" title="smtplib.SMTP"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTP</span></tt></a> does not modify the message headers in any way.</p> </div> <p>If there has been no previous <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> command this session, this method tries ESMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> first. If the server does ESMTP, message size and each of the specified options will be passed to it (if the option is in the feature set the server advertises). If <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">EHLO</span></tt> fails, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> will be tried and ESMTP options suppressed.</p> <p>This method will return normally if the mail is accepted for at least one recipient. Otherwise it will raise an exception. That is, if this method does not raise an exception, then someone should get your mail. If this method does not raise an exception, it returns a dictionary, with one entry for each recipient that was refused. Each entry contains a tuple of the SMTP error code and the accompanying error message sent by the server.</p> <p>This method may raise the following exceptions:</p> <dl class="docutils"> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPRecipientsRefused" title="smtplib.SMTPRecipientsRefused"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPRecipientsRefused</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>All recipients were refused. Nobody got the mail. The <tt class="xref py py-attr docutils literal"><span class="pre">recipients</span></tt> attribute of the exception object is a dictionary with information about the refused recipients (like the one returned when at least one recipient was accepted).</dd> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPHeloError" title="smtplib.SMTPHeloError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPHeloError</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>The server didn’t reply properly to the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELO</span></tt> greeting.</dd> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused" title="smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPSenderRefused</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>The server didn’t accept the <em>from_addr</em>.</dd> <dt><a class="reference internal" href="#smtplib.SMTPDataError" title="smtplib.SMTPDataError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">SMTPDataError</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>The server replied with an unexpected error code (other than a refusal of a recipient).</dd> </dl> <p>Unless otherwise noted, the connection will be open even after an exception is raised.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="smtplib.SMTP.quit"> <tt class="descclassname">SMTP.</tt><tt class="descname">quit</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#smtplib.SMTP.quit" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Terminate the SMTP session and close the connection. Return the result of the SMTP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">QUIT</span></tt> command.</p> <p class="versionchanged"> <span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.6: </span>Return a value.</p> </dd></dl> <p>Low-level methods corresponding to the standard SMTP/ESMTP commands <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">HELP</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">RSET</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">NOOP</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">MAIL</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">RCPT</span></tt>, and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">DATA</span></tt> are also supported. Normally these do not need to be called directly, so they are not documented here. For details, consult the module code.</p> </div> <div class="section" id="smtp-example"> <span id="id2"></span><h2>20.12.2. SMTP Example<a class="headerlink" href="#smtp-example" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <p>This example prompts the user for addresses needed in the message envelope (‘To’ and ‘From’ addresses), and the message to be delivered. Note that the headers to be included with the message must be included in the message as entered; this example doesn’t do any processing of the <span class="target" id="index-8"></span><a class="rfc reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> headers. In particular, the ‘To’ and ‘From’ addresses must be included in the message headers explicitly.</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">smtplib</span> <span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">prompt</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">prompt</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="nb">raw_input</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">prompt</span><span class="p">)</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">strip</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="n">fromaddr</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">prompt</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">"From: "</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">toaddrs</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">prompt</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">"To: "</span><span class="p">)</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">split</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="k">print</span> <span class="s">"Enter message, end with ^D (Unix) or ^Z (Windows):"</span> <span class="c"># Add the From: and To: headers at the start!</span> <span class="n">msg</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="s">"From: </span><span class="si">%s</span><span class="se">\r\n</span><span class="s">To: </span><span class="si">%s</span><span class="se">\r\n\r\n</span><span class="s">"</span> <span class="o">%</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">fromaddr</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s">", "</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">join</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">toaddrs</span><span class="p">)))</span> <span class="k">while</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="k">try</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">line</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="nb">raw_input</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="k">except</span> <span class="ne">EOFError</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="k">break</span> <span class="k">if</span> <span class="ow">not</span> <span class="n">line</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="k">break</span> <span class="n">msg</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">msg</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="n">line</span> <span class="k">print</span> <span class="s">"Message length is "</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="nb">repr</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="nb">len</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">msg</span><span class="p">))</span> <span class="n">server</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">smtplib</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">SMTP</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'localhost'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">server</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_debuglevel</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">server</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">sendmail</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">fromaddr</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">toaddrs</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">msg</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">server</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">quit</span><span class="p">()</span> </pre></div> </div> <div class="admonition note"> <p class="first admonition-title">Note</p> <p class="last">In general, you will want to use the <a class="reference internal" href="email.html#module-email" title="email: Package supporting the parsing, manipulating, and generating email messages, including MIME documents."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">email</span></tt></a> package’s features to construct an email message, which you can then convert to a string and send via <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendmail()</span></tt>; see <a class="reference internal" href="email-examples.html#email-examples"><em>email: Examples</em></a>.</p> </div> </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="#">20.12. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtplib</span></tt> — SMTP protocol client</a><ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#smtp-objects">20.12.1. SMTP Objects</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#smtp-example">20.12.2. SMTP Example</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h4>Previous topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="nntplib.html" title="previous chapter">20.11. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">nntplib</span></tt> — NNTP protocol client</a></p> <h4>Next topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="smtpd.html" title="next chapter">20.13. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">smtpd</span></tt> — SMTP Server</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/smtplib.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="smtpd.html" title="20.13. smtpd — SMTP Server" >next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="nntplib.html" title="20.11. nntplib — NNTP 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. Internet Protocols and Support</a> »</li> </ul> </div> <div class="footer"> © <a href="../copyright.html">Copyright</a> 1990-2020, Python Software Foundation. <br /> The Python Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation. <a href="http://www.python.org/psf/donations/">Please donate.</a> <br /> Last updated on Oct 13, 2020. <a href="../bugs.html">Found a bug</a>? <br /> Created using <a href="http://sphinx.pocoo.org/">Sphinx</a> 1.1.3. </div> </body> </html>