PHP 8.3.4 Released!

imap_fetchheader

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

imap_fetchheaderReturns header for a message

Description

imap_fetchheader(IMAP\Connection $imap, int $message_num, int $flags = 0): string|false

This function causes a fetch of the complete, unfiltered » RFC2822 format header of the specified message.

Parameters

imap

An IMAP\Connection instance.

message_num

The message number

flags

The possible flags are:

  • FT_UID - The message_num argument is a UID
  • FT_INTERNAL - The return string is in "internal" format, without any attempt to canonicalize to CRLF newlines
  • FT_PREFETCHTEXT - The RFC822.TEXT should be pre-fetched at the same time. This avoids an extra RTT on an IMAP connection if a full message text is desired (e.g. in a "save to local file" operation)

Return Values

Returns the header of the specified message as a text string, or 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.

See Also

add a note

User Contributed Notes 6 notes

up
7
rgagnon24 dot nospam at gmail dot com
13 years ago
Interesting that imap_headerinfo() does not allow a UID for the $msg_number field like all other fetching functions seem to allow.

If you want to use a UID to fetch the headers, use this two-step process:

<?php
/*
* assumes $mbox is your stream, and $uid is set
* properly. Proper error checking is up to you.
*/
$hText = imap_fetchbody($mbox, $uid, '0', FT_UID);
$headers = imap_rfc822_parse_headers($hText);
?>

The result is the same as the output of imap_headerinfo(), but you get to use the UID.
up
3
Jille at nomorecrap dot quis dot cx
15 years ago
<?PHP
$headers
=imap_fetchheader($imap, $msgid);
preg_match_all('/([^: ]+): (.+?(?:\r\n\s(?:.+?))*)\r\n/m', $headers, $matches);
?>

Works quite well for splitting headers,
$matches will contain 3 arrays:
$matches[0] are the full-lines (To: Jille@devnull.quis.cx\r\n)
$matches[1] will be the header (To)
$matches[2] will be the value (Jille@devnull.quis.cx)

In multi-line values the 'multilining is not stripped!'
this could be achieved with something like:
<?PHP
preg_replace
('/\r\n\s+/m', '', $matches[2]);
?>
up
3
onofabio at gmail dot com
16 years ago
This function ignore that some header value have multiple lines...

<?php
// connecting to imap mailserver
$connection = @imap_open("{localhost:143/imap}INBOX", "your_username", "your_password");

// get imap_fetch header and put single lines into array
$header = explode("\n", imap_fetchheader($connection, 1));

// browse array for additional headers
if (is_array($header) && count($header)) {
$head = array();
foreach(
$header as $line) {
// is line with additional header?
if (eregi("^X-", $line)) {
// separate name and value
eregi("^([^:]*): (.*)", $line, $arg);
$head[$arg[1]] = $arg[2];
}
}
}

// now are all contained additional headers in array $head
?>

I write this simple function....

$mbox = imap_open("{localhost:143/imap}INBOX", "your_username", "your_password");
$mid=1 // Message id

// Get headers
$header = imap_fetchheader($mbox, $mid);

// Split on \n
$h_array=split("\n",$header);

foreach ( $h_array as $h ) {

// Check if row start with a char
if ( preg_match("/^[A-Z]/i", $h )) {

$tmp = split(":",$h);
$header_name = $tmp[0];
$header_value = $tmp[1];

$headers[$header_name] = $header_value;

} else {
// Append row to previous field
$headers[$header_name] = $header_value . $h;
}

}
up
0
dj_doktor at upskirt dot cz
18 years ago
I spend lot of time find out how I can detect messages with
different priorities. When I read users notes I remember
function imap_fetchheader which show header of message
and additional headers too. Because I'm so lazy to work with
regular expressions I required my frend for writing code
- thanx Znouza.
And there is... :)

<?php
// connecting to imap mailserver
$connection = @imap_open("{localhost:143/imap}INBOX", "your_username", "your_password");

// get imap_fetch header and put single lines into array
$header = explode("\n", imap_fetchheader($connection, 1));

// browse array for additional headers
if (is_array($header) && count($header)) {
$head = array();
foreach(
$header as $line) {
// is line with additional header?
if (eregi("^X-", $line)) {
// separate name and value
eregi("^([^:]*): (.*)", $line, $arg);
$head[$arg[1]] = $arg[2];
}
}
}

// now are all contained additional headers in array $head
?>
up
-5
Max Geiger
17 years ago
If you call the function with the bitmask-parameter FT_PREFETCHTEXT the /Seen flag of the message will be set.
up
-4
george dot who at gmail dot com
8 years ago
Here is a simple function to get an array with all headers.

<?php
function mail_header_parse($mbox,$msg){
$header=imap_fetchheader($mbox,$msg);
preg_match_all("/^([^\r\n:]+)\s*[:]\s*([^\r\n:]+(?:[\r]?[\n][ \t][^\r\n]+)*)/m",$header,$matches,PREG_SET_ORDER);
foreach(
$matches as $match){
$match[2]=iconv_mime_decode($match[2],ICONV_MIME_DECODE_CONTINUE_ON_ERROR,'utf-8');
if(
is_array($headers[$match[1]])){
$headers[$match[1]][]=$match[2];
}elseif(isset(
$headers[$match[1]])){
$headers[$match[1]]=array($headers[$match[1]],$match[2]);
}else{
$headers[$match[1]]=$match[2];
}
}
return
$headers;
}
?>
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