1Net::SMTP(3pm) Perl Programmers Reference Guide Net::SMTP(3pm)
2
6 Net::SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Client
7
9 use Net::SMTP;
10 # Constructors
12 $smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost');
13 $smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost', Timeout => 60);
14
16 This module implements a client interface to the SMTP and ESMTP
17 protocol, enabling a perl5 application to talk to SMTP servers. This
18 documentation assumes that you are familiar with the concepts of the
19 SMTP protocol described in RFC821.
20 A new Net::SMTP object must be created with the new method. Once this
22 has been done, all SMTP commands are accessed through this object.
23 The Net::SMTP class is a subclass of Net::Cmd and IO::Socket::INET.
25
27 This example prints the mail domain name of the SMTP server known as
28 mailhost:
29 #!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
31 use Net::SMTP;
33 $smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost');
35 print $smtp->domain,"\n";
36 $smtp->quit;
37 This example sends a small message to the postmaster at the SMTP server
39 known as mailhost:
40 #!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
42 use Net::SMTP;
44 $smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost');
46 $smtp->mail($ENV{USER});
48 $smtp->to('postmaster');
49 $smtp->data();
51 $smtp->datasend("To: postmaster\n");
52 $smtp->datasend("\n");
53 $smtp->datasend("A simple test message\n");
54 $smtp->dataend();
55 $smtp->quit;
57
59 new ( [ HOST ] [, OPTIONS ] )
60 This is the constructor for a new Net::SMTP object. "HOST" is the
61 name of the remote host to which an SMTP connection is required.
62 "HOST" is optional. If "HOST" is not given then it may instead be
64 passed as the "Host" option described below. If neither is given
65 then the "SMTP_Hosts" specified in "Net::Config" will be used.
66 "OPTIONS" are passed in a hash like fashion, using key and value
68 pairs. Possible options are:
69 Hello - SMTP requires that you identify yourself. This option
71 specifies a string to pass as your mail domain. If not given
72 localhost.localdomain will be used.
73 Host - SMTP host to connect to. It may be a single scalar, as
75 defined for the "PeerAddr" option in IO::Socket::INET, or a
76 reference to an array with hosts to try in turn. The "host" method
77 will return the value which was used to connect to the host.
78 LocalAddr and LocalPort - These parameters are passed directly to
80 IO::Socket to allow binding the socket to a local port.
81 Timeout - Maximum time, in seconds, to wait for a response from the
83 SMTP server (default: 120)
84 ExactAddresses - If true the all ADDRESS arguments must be as
86 defined by "addr-spec" in RFC2822. If not given, or false, then
87 Net::SMTP will attempt to extract the address from the value
88 passed.
89 Debug - Enable debugging information
91 Example:
93 $smtp = Net::SMTP->new('mailhost',
95 Hello => 'my.mail.domain',
96 Timeout => 30,
97 Debug => 1,
98 );
99 # the same
101 $smtp = Net::SMTP->new(
102 Host => 'mailhost',
103 Hello => 'my.mail.domain',
104 Timeout => 30,
105 Debug => 1,
106 );
107 # Connect to the default server from Net::config
109 $smtp = Net::SMTP->new(
110 Hello => 'my.mail.domain',
111 Timeout => 30,
112 );
113
115 Unless otherwise stated all methods return either a true or false
116 value, with true meaning that the operation was a success. When a
117 method states that it returns a value, failure will be returned as
118 undef or an empty list.
119 banner ()
121 Returns the banner message which the server replied with when the
122 initial connection was made.
123 domain ()
125 Returns the domain that the remote SMTP server identified itself as
126 during connection.
127 hello ( DOMAIN )
129 Tell the remote server the mail domain which you are in using the
130 EHLO command (or HELO if EHLO fails). Since this method is invoked
131 automatically when the Net::SMTP object is constructed the user
132 should normally not have to call it manually.
133 host ()
135 Returns the value used by the constructor, and passed to
136 IO::Socket::INET, to connect to the host.
137 etrn ( DOMAIN )
139 Request a queue run for the DOMAIN given.
140 auth ( USERNAME, PASSWORD )
142 Attempt SASL authentication.
143 mail ( ADDRESS [, OPTIONS] )
145 send ( ADDRESS )
146 send_or_mail ( ADDRESS )
147 send_and_mail ( ADDRESS )
148 Send the appropriate command to the server MAIL, SEND, SOML or
149 SAML. "ADDRESS" is the address of the sender. This initiates the
150 sending of a message. The method "recipient" should be called for
151 each address that the message is to be sent to.
152 The "mail" method can some additional ESMTP OPTIONS which is passed
154 in hash like fashion, using key and value pairs. Possible options
155 are:
156 Size => <bytes>
158 Return => "FULL" | "HDRS"
159 Bits => "7" | "8" | "binary"
160 Transaction => <ADDRESS>
161 Envelope => <ENVID> # xtext-encodes its argument
162 ENVID => <ENVID> # similar to Envelope, but expects argument encoded
163 XVERP => 1
164 AUTH => <submitter> # encoded address according to RFC 2554
165 The "Return" and "Envelope" parameters are used for DSN (Delivery
167 Status Notification).
168 The submitter address in "AUTH" option is expected to be in a
170 format as required by RFC 2554, in an RFC2821-quoted form and
171 xtext-encoded, or <> .
172 reset ()
174 Reset the status of the server. This may be called after a message
175 has been initiated, but before any data has been sent, to cancel
176 the sending of the message.
177 recipient ( ADDRESS [, ADDRESS, [...]] [, OPTIONS ] )
179 Notify the server that the current message should be sent to all of
180 the addresses given. Each address is sent as a separate command to
181 the server. Should the sending of any address result in a failure
182 then the process is aborted and a false value is returned. It is up
183 to the user to call "reset" if they so desire.
184 The "recipient" method can also pass additional case-sensitive
186 OPTIONS as an anonymous hash using key and value pairs. Possible
187 options are:
188 Notify => ['NEVER'] or ['SUCCESS','FAILURE','DELAY'] (see below)
190 ORcpt => <ORCPT>
191 SkipBad => 1 (to ignore bad addresses)
192 If "SkipBad" is true the "recipient" will not return an error when
194 a bad address is encountered and it will return an array of
195 addresses that did succeed.
196 $smtp->recipient($recipient1,$recipient2); # Good
198 $smtp->recipient($recipient1,$recipient2, { SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
199 $smtp->recipient($recipient1,$recipient2, { Notify => ['FAILURE','DELAY'], SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
200 @goodrecips=$smtp->recipient(@recipients, { Notify => ['FAILURE'], SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
201 $smtp->recipient("$recipient,$recipient2"); # BAD
202 Notify is used to request Delivery Status Notifications (DSNs), but
204 your SMTP/ESMTP service may not respect this request depending upon
205 its version and your site's SMTP configuration.
206 Leaving out the Notify option usually defaults an SMTP service to
208 its default behavior equivalent to ['FAILURE'] notifications only,
209 but again this may be dependent upon your site's SMTP
210 configuration.
211 The NEVER keyword must appear by itself if used within the Notify
213 option and "requests that a DSN not be returned to the sender under
214 any conditions."
215 {Notify => ['NEVER']}
217 $smtp->recipient(@recipients, { Notify => ['NEVER'], SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
219 You may use any combination of these three values
221 'SUCCESS','FAILURE','DELAY' in the anonymous array reference as
222 defined by RFC3461 (see http://rfc.net/rfc3461.html for more
223 information. Note: quotations in this topic from same.).
224 A Notify parameter of 'SUCCESS' or 'FAILURE' "requests that a DSN
226 be issued on successful delivery or delivery failure,
227 respectively."
228 A Notify parameter of 'DELAY' "indicates the sender's willingness
230 to receive delayed DSNs. Delayed DSNs may be issued if delivery of
231 a message has been delayed for an unusual amount of time (as
232 determined by the Message Transfer Agent (MTA) at which the message
233 is delayed), but the final delivery status (whether successful or
234 failure) cannot be determined. The absence of the DELAY keyword in
235 a NOTIFY parameter requests that a "delayed" DSN NOT be issued
236 under any conditions."
237 {Notify => ['SUCCESS','FAILURE','DELAY']}
239 $smtp->recipient(@recipients, { Notify => ['FAILURE','DELAY'], SkipBad => 1 }); # Good
241 ORcpt is also part of the SMTP DSN extension according to RFC3461.
243 It is used to pass along the original recipient that the mail was
244 first sent to. The machine that generates a DSN will use this
245 address to inform the sender, because he can't know if recipients
246 get rewritten by mail servers. It is expected to be in a format as
247 required by RFC3461, xtext-encoded.
248 to ( ADDRESS [, ADDRESS [...]] )
250 cc ( ADDRESS [, ADDRESS [...]] )
251 bcc ( ADDRESS [, ADDRESS [...]] )
252 Synonyms for "recipient".
253 data ( [ DATA ] )
255 Initiate the sending of the data from the current message.
256 "DATA" may be a reference to a list or a list. If specified the
258 contents of "DATA" and a termination string ".\r\n" is sent to the
259 server. And the result will be true if the data was accepted.
260 If "DATA" is not specified then the result will indicate that the
262 server wishes the data to be sent. The data must then be sent using
263 the "datasend" and "dataend" methods described in Net::Cmd.
264 expand ( ADDRESS )
266 Request the server to expand the given address Returns an array
267 which contains the text read from the server.
268 verify ( ADDRESS )
270 Verify that "ADDRESS" is a legitimate mailing address.
271 Most sites usually disable this feature in their SMTP service
273 configuration. Use "Debug => 1" option under new() to see if
274 disabled.
275 help ( [ $subject ] )
277 Request help text from the server. Returns the text or undef upon
278 failure
279 quit ()
281 Send the QUIT command to the remote SMTP server and close the
282 socket connection.
283
285 Net::SMTP attempts to DWIM with addresses that are passed. For example
286 an application might extract The From: line from an email and pass that
287 to mail(). While this may work, it is not recommended. The application
288 should really use a module like Mail::Address to extract the mail
289 address and pass that.
290 If "ExactAddresses" is passed to the constructor, then addresses should
292 be a valid rfc2821-quoted address, although Net::SMTP will accept
293 accept the address surrounded by angle brackets.
294 funny user@domain WRONG
296 "funny user"@domain RIGHT, recommended
297 <"funny user"@domain> OK
298
300 Net::Cmd
301
303 Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com>
304
306 Copyright (c) 1995-2004 Graham Barr. All rights reserved. This program
307 is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
308 same terms as Perl itself.
309perl v5.10.1 2009-02-12 Net::SMTP(3pm)