Lua

Search an IMAP Mailbox

Demonstrates the Chilkat Imap.QueryMbx method, which searches the selected mailbox using IMAP search criteria and stores the matching message identifiers in a MessageSet. If bUid is true, the identifiers are UIDs; otherwise they are sequence numbers. This example finds unseen messages and lists their UIDs.

Background: IMAP search runs on the server, so you can find matching messages without downloading them. The criteria string is standard IMAP search syntax — for example UNSEEN, FROM "alice@example.com", SUBJECT "invoice", or SINCE 1-Jan-2026 — and terms can be combined. The result is a MessageSet of identifiers you then fetch, flag, copy, or move. Requesting UIDs (bUid = true) is preferred because UIDs remain valid across sessions.

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Lua

local chilkat = require("chilkat")

-- Demonstrates the Imap.QueryMbx method, which searches the selected mailbox using IMAP
-- search criteria and stores the matching message identifiers in a MessageSet.  If bUid is
-- true, the identifiers are UIDs; otherwise they are sequence numbers.

local imap = chilkat.Imap.new()

imap.ssl = true
imap.port = 993

local success = imap:connect("imap.example.com")
if not success then
    print(imap.last_error_text)
    return
end

success = imap:login("user@example.com", "myPassword")
if not success then
    print(imap.last_error_text)
    return
end

success = imap:select_mailbox("Inbox")
if not success then
    print(imap.last_error_text)
    return
end

-- Search for unseen (unread) messages, returning their UIDs.
local msgSet = chilkat.MessageSet.new()
success = imap:query_mbx("UNSEEN", true, msgSet)
if not success then
    print(imap.last_error_text)
    return
end

-- Iterate the matching message identifiers.
local n = msgSet.count
print("Matching messages: " .. n)
for i = 0, n - 1 do
    print("UID: " .. msgSet:get_id(i))
end

success = imap:disconnect()
if not success then
    print(imap.last_error_text)
    return
end