Notes how to perform IMAP test with curl:
$curl imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX?NEW
Scheme
scheme://host:port/path
Schemes for the e-mail protocols (supported by curl) are :
imap://user:password;options@in.example.com
pop3://user:password;options@in.example.com
smtp://user:password;options@in.example.com
More information :
https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-earhart-url-smtp-00 (SMTP URL scheme – IETF draft)
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5092 (IMAP URL scheme )
https://github.com/curl/
Starting notes
curl -v imap://user:password@in.server.com/
curl imap://user:password@ in.example.com
For an e-mail address such as <user>@gmail.com the server to use is not gmail.com but is imap.gmail.com (IMAP server).
In case you need to use “special” chars like @ you have to escape in according to RFC 3986
Example (password: p@ssword) @ is escaped using %40
curl “imap://username:p%40ssword@in.example.com”
IMAP implicit SSL with:
curl “imaps://user:password@in.example.com”
Send direct command:
curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com” -X ‘<COMMAND>’
-X, –request
The specified request method will be used instead of the method otherwise used (which defaults to GET). Read the HTTP 1.1 specification for details and explanations. Common additional HTTP requests include PUT and DELETE, but related technologies like WebDAV offers PROPFIND, COPY, MOVE and more. … https://curl.haxx.se/docs/manpage.html
Example :
$ curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com” -X ‘LIST “” “*”‘
$ curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com” -X ‘CAPABILITY‘
$ curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com” -X ‘EXAMINE INBOX‘
A easy way in order to specify commands
CIP=”<COMMAND>”;curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com/” -X “$CIP”
Example :
CIP=”LIST \”\” \”*\””;curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com/” -X “$CIP”
CIP=”CAPABILITY“;curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com/” -X “$CIP”
if you get curl: (1) Protocol imap not supported or disabled in libcurl
curl -V
curl 7.51.0 (x86_64-apple-darwin16.0) libcurl/7.51.0 SecureTransport zlib/1.2.8
Protocols: dict file ftp ftps gopher http https imap imaps ldap ldaps pop3 pop3s rtsp smb smbs smtp smtps telnet tftp
Test IMAP with curl
Authentication
curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com”
…or…
curl “imap://in.example.com/INBOX” –user “username:password”
Capability
curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com” -X ‘CAPABILITY’
curl imap://username:password@in.example.com -X 'CAPABILITY' * CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 IDLE LOGIN-REFERRALS NAMESPACE QUOTA CHILDREN MOVE AUTH=CRAM-MD5 AUTH=DIGEST-MD5 AUTH=PLAIN
Top level list of folders
curl “imap://user:password@in.example.com”
curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com" * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Draft * LIST (\HasChildren) "/" "Deleted Messages" * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Drafts * LIST (\HasChildren) "/" INBOX * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" INBOX/test * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" INBOX/test2 * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Trash
Check new email INBOX
curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX?NEW”
$curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX?NEW" * SEARCH 213
Fetch the new email (or fetch email specifying UID)
Warning to fetch big email…
curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com/<FOLDER>;UID=<UID_NUMBER>”
curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX;UID=213" Return-Path: <testme@sender.me> Received: from smtpXY.example.com (192.168.1.2) by ... ... From: Jhon <testme@sender.me> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 10.2 \(3259\)) Subject: Test New Message-Id: <000000-000000A8C524021DD4@example.com> Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2017 11:50:19 +0100 To: username@example.com X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3259) Test body
Fetch BODY (without header)
Warning to fetch big email…
curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com/<FOLDER>;UID=<UID_NUMBER>/;SECTION=TEXT”
curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX;UID=213/;SECTION=TEXT" Test body
Fetch partially
curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com/<FOLDER>;UID=<UID_NUMBER>/;PARTIAL=<FROM>.<TO>”
curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX;UID=214/;PARTIAL=0.255" Return-Path: <from@example.com> Received: from smtpXYZ.xyz.it (1.1.1.1) by smtp.xyz id 58BASF2035193 for testme@xyz.it; Thu, 2 Mar 2017 12:23:38 +0100 ... to 255 chars ...or... curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX;UID=214/;SECTION=TEXT/;PARTIAL=0.255" --Apple-Mail=_A46E4CA4-B32B-4936-A24D-9795751A92B2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 BODY PART ... to 255 chars curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX;UID=213/;SECTION=1" is the command IMAP : . FETCH 213 BODY[1] $curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX;UID=213/;SECTION=2.3" is the command IMAP : . FETCH 213 BODY[2.3]
SEARCH
curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX?SUBJECT%20test" * SEARCH 1 2 4 5 6 83 184 186 210 211 213 214 curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX?SINCE 18-apr-2016" * SEARCH 1 2 4 5 6 12 23 210 211 213 214 curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX?BEFORE%2018-apr-2016" * SEARCH 1 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 53 194 195 curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX?BEFORE%2012-apr-2016%20SINCE%2015-apr-2015" * SEARCH 148 149 150 151 151 192 193 194 195
Append
curl “imap://username:password@in.example.com/<FOLDER>” -T <FILE>
Create <FILE>
Content file doesn’t matter.vi /tmp/email2append.txt Return-Path: <giovanni@busylog.net> From: Giovanni <giovanni@busylog.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 10.2 \(3259\)) Subject: Test me APPEND Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2017 11:50:19 +0100 Cc: Giovanni <giovanni@busylog.net> To: You <you@example.com> Test
Append <FILE>
curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/INBOX" -T /tmp/email2append.txt % Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed 100 327 0 0 100 327 0 288 0:00:01 0:00:01 --:--:-- 288 ...or (folder/subfolder)... curl "imap://username:password@in.example.com/test/test2" -T /tmp/email2append.txt
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