Search IMAP Mailbox for Email Matching Criteria

Searching an IMAP mailbox for messages that match search criteria.

Download Chilkat Perl Module

use chilkat;

$imap = new chilkat::CkImap();

# Anything unlocks the component and begins a fully-functional 30-day trial.
$success = $imap->UnlockComponent("Anything for 30-day trial");
if ($success != 1) {
    print $imap->lastErrorText() . "\n";
    exit;
}

# Connect to an IMAP server.
$success = $imap->Connect("mail.chilkatsoft.com");
if ($success != 1) {
    print $imap->lastErrorText() . "\n";
    exit;
}

# Login
$success = $imap->Login('admin@chilkatsoft.com',"*myPassword5*");
if ($success != 1) {
    print $imap->lastErrorText() . "\n";
    exit;
}

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

# Fetch the email headers into a bundle object:

$bundle = $imap->FetchHeaders($messageSet);
if ($bundle == null ) {

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

# Display the Subject and From of each email.

for ($i = 0; $i <= $bundle->get_MessageCount() - 1; $i++) {

    $email = $bundle->GetEmail($i);

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

}

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