imap_getmailboxes

    (PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    imap_getmailboxes — Read the list of mailboxes, returning detailed information on each one

    Description

    imap_getmailboxes(IMAP\Connection $imap, string $reference, string $pattern): array|false

    Gets information on the mailboxes.

    Parameters

    imap

    An IMAP\Connection instance.

    reference

    reference should normally be just the server specification as described in imap_open()

    Warning

    Passing untrusted data to this parameter is insecure, unless imap.enable_insecure_rsh is disabled.

    pattern

    Specifies where in the mailbox hierarchy to start searching.

    There are two special characters you can pass as part of the pattern: '*' and '%'. '*' means to return all mailboxes. If you pass pattern as '*', you will get a list of the entire mailbox hierarchy. '%' means to return the current level only. '%' as the pattern parameter will return only the top level mailboxes; '~/mail/%' on UW_IMAPD will return every mailbox in the ~/mail directory, but none in subfolders of that directory.

    Return Values

    Returns an array of objects containing mailbox information. Each object has the attributes name, specifying the full name of the mailbox; delimiter, which is the hierarchy delimiter for the part of the hierarchy this mailbox is in; and attributes. Attributes is a bitmask that can be tested against:

    • LATT_NOINFERIORS - This mailbox not contains, and may not contain any "children" (there are no mailboxes below this one). Calling imap_createmailbox() will not work on this mailbox.

    • LATT_NOSELECT - This is only a container, not a mailbox - you cannot open it.

    • LATT_MARKED - This mailbox is marked. This means that it may contain new messages since the last time it was checked. Not provided by all IMAP servers.

    • LATT_UNMARKED - This mailbox is not marked, does not contain new messages. If either MARKED or UNMARKED is provided, you can assume the IMAP server supports this feature for this mailbox.

    • LATT_REFERRAL - This container has a referral to a remote mailbox.

    • LATT_HASCHILDREN - This mailbox has selectable inferiors.

    • LATT_HASNOCHILDREN - This mailbox has no selectable inferiors.

    The function returns false on failure.

    Changelog

    Version Description
    8.1.0 The imap parameter expects an IMAP\Connection instance now; previously, a valid imap resource was expected.

    Examples

    Example #1 imap_getmailboxes() example

    <?php
    $mbox     = imap_open("{imap.example.org}", "username", "password", OP_HALFOPEN)
    or die(    "can't connect: " . imap_last_error());

    $list = imap_getmailboxes($mbox, "{imap.example.org}", "*");
    if (    is_array($list)) {
    foreach (    $list as $key => $val) {
    echo     "($key) ";
    echo     imap_utf7_decode($val->name) . ",";
    echo     "'" . $val->delimiter . "',";
    echo     $val->attributes . "<br />\n";
    }
    } else {
    echo     "imap_getmailboxes failed: " . imap_last_error() . "\n";
    }

    imap_close($mbox);
    ?>

    See Also

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    User Contributed Notes 3 notes

    up
    13
    Mohamed Abbas mabbas_xyz at yahoo dot com
    18 years ago
    i am currently develop a simple IMAP client, when i call imap_getmailboxes() i receive a different values in attributes property of the mailbox object the problem is how can i manipulate these attributes to get a meaningful value,
    if you make a hard search to find a solution for this, you will
    not find any useful documents for this problem, let us take a closer look for this problem.

    when i call imap_getmailboxes() against different IMAP servers i got these attribute values

    [attributes] => 9
    [attributes] => 1
    [attributes] => 64
    [attributes] => 32
    [attributes] => 40

    the documentation tell us that we check this attributes against four constants, these contents are

    LATT_NOINFERIORS
    LATT_NOSELECT
    LATT_MARKED
    LATT_UNMARKED

    the value of these constants are

    LATT_NOINFERIORS = 1
    LATT_NOSELECT = 2
    LATT_MARKED = 4
    LATT_UNMARKED = 8

    you can got this result by echo each constant, unfortunately the documentation not explain how we can check the attributes against the constants, after a long time of searching i find the answer in source code of c-client
    (you can get the source from ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/)
    under \src\c-client you will find mail.h open it and you will find this

    /* terminal node in hierarchy */
    #define LATT_NOINFERIORS (long) 0x1
    /* name can not be selected */
    #define LATT_NOSELECT (long) 0x2
    /* changed since last accessed */
    #define LATT_MARKED (long) 0x4
    /* accessed since last changed */
    #define LATT_UNMARKED (long) 0x8
    /* name has referral to remote mailbox */
    #define LATT_REFERRAL (long) 0x10
    /* has selectable inferiors */
    #define LATT_HASCHILDREN (long) 0x20
    /* has no selectable inferiors */
    #define LATT_HASNOCHILDREN (long) 0x40

    as you notice here these are our four constants and three additional constants

    LATT_REFERRAL
    LATT_HASCHILDREN
    LATT_HASNOCHILDREN

    then what is the value of these 3 attributes
    LATT_REFERRAL 0x10 = 00010000 in binary, the bitmask value is 2^4 = 16 and so on, or simply echo this constant to get the value, then

    LATT_REFERRAL = 16
    LATT_HASCHILDREN = 32
    LATT_HASNOCHILDREN = 64

    finally the full list of constants will be
    LATT_NOINFERIORS = 1
    LATT_NOSELECT = 2
    LATT_MARKED = 4
    LATT_UNMARKED = 8
    LATT_REFERRAL = 16
    LATT_HASCHILDREN = 32
    LATT_HASNOCHILDREN = 64

    ok let's back to our attributes
    [attributes] => 9
    [attributes] => 1
    [attributes] => 64
    [attributes] => 32
    [attributes] => 40

    [attributes] => 9 this mean it's LATT_UNMARKED and LATT_NOINFERIORS 1+8 =9

    [attributes] => 1 this mean LATT_NOINFERIORS

    [attributes] => 64 this mean LATT_HASNOCHILDREN

    [attributes] => 32 this mean LATT_HASCHILDREN

    [attributes] => 40 this mean LATT_HASCHILDREN and LATT_UNMARKED 32+8=40

    this just like linux file permission 7 mean read, write, and execute 4+2+1 read=4 write=2 execute=1

    that is what i found, i hope this can help

    Mohamed Abbas
    Nileweb Egypt
    up
    5
    foom at fuhm dot NO_supercalifragilisticexpialidocious_SPAM dot net
    23 years ago
    The list of mailbox attributes in this document is very misleading. In particular the explanation of noinferiors is just wrong. It does not mean that the mailbox currently has no children, it means that it *cannot* have children ever. Also, it is untrue that marked and unmarked are only used by UW-IMAP. They are in the official IMAP specification and are used by at least Courier-imap as well.

    One thing to watch out for, however, is broken IMAP servers which do send \Noinferiors when they mean that there are currently no children.

    From the IMAP4rev1 specs (RFC 2060):
    \Noinferiors

    It is not possible for any child levels of hierarchy to exist
    under this name; no child levels exist now and none can be
    created in the future.

    \Noselect

    It is not possible to use this name as a selectable mailbox.

    \Marked

    The mailbox has been marked "interesting" by the server; the
    mailbox probably contains messages that have been added since
    the last time the mailbox was selected.

    \Unmarked

    The mailbox does not contain any additional messages since the
    last time the mailbox was selected.
    up
    1
    ad-rotator.com
    20 years ago
    In case you print_r() or var_dump() the object and see an int for attribute, these are the constant integers for the bitmask.

    1 LATT_NOINFERIORS
    2 LATT_NOSELECT
    4 LATT_MARKED
    8 LATT_UNMARKED
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