
``smtplib`` --- SMTP protocol client
************************************

**Source code:** Lib/smtplib.py

======================================================================

The ``smtplib`` module defines an SMTP client session object that can
be used to send mail to any Internet machine with an SMTP or ESMTP
listener daemon.  For details of SMTP and ESMTP operation, consult
**RFC 821** (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and **RFC 1869** (SMTP
Service Extensions).

class class smtplib.SMTP([host[, port[, local_hostname[, timeout]]]])

   A ``SMTP`` instance encapsulates an SMTP connection.  It has
   methods that support a full repertoire of SMTP and ESMTP
   operations. If the optional host and port parameters are given, the
   SMTP ``connect()`` method is called with those parameters during
   initialization.  If the ``connect()`` call returns anything other
   than a success code, an ``SMTPConnectError`` is raised. The
   optional *timeout* parameter specifies a timeout in seconds for
   blocking operations like the connection attempt (if not specified,
   the global default timeout setting will be used).

   For normal use, you should only require the initialization/connect,
   ``sendmail()``, and ``quit()`` methods. An example is included
   below.

   Changed in version 2.6: *timeout* was added.

class class smtplib.SMTP_SSL([host[, port[, local_hostname[, keyfile[, certfile[, timeout]]]]]])

   A ``SMTP_SSL`` instance behaves exactly the same as instances of
   ``SMTP``. ``SMTP_SSL`` should be used for situations where SSL is
   required from the beginning of the connection and using
   ``starttls()`` is not appropriate. If *host* is not specified, the
   local host is used. If *port* is omitted, the standard SMTP-over-
   SSL port (465) is used. *keyfile* and *certfile* are also optional,
   and can contain a PEM formatted private key and certificate chain
   file for the SSL connection. The optional *timeout* parameter
   specifies a timeout in seconds for blocking operations like the
   connection attempt (if not specified, the global default timeout
   setting will be used).

   New in version 2.6.

class class smtplib.LMTP([host[, port[, local_hostname]]])

   The LMTP protocol, which is very similar to ESMTP, is heavily based
   on the standard SMTP client. It's common to use Unix sockets for
   LMTP, so our ``connect()`` method must support that as well as a
   regular host:port server. To specify a Unix socket, you must use an
   absolute path for *host*, starting with a '/'.

   Authentication is supported, using the regular SMTP mechanism. When
   using a Unix socket, LMTP generally don't support or require any
   authentication, but your mileage might vary.

   New in version 2.6.

A nice selection of exceptions is defined as well:

exception exception smtplib.SMTPException

   The base exception class for all the other excpetions provided by
   this module.

exception exception smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected

   This exception is raised when the server unexpectedly disconnects,
   or when an attempt is made to use the ``SMTP`` instance before
   connecting it to a server.

exception exception smtplib.SMTPResponseException

   Base class for all exceptions that include an SMTP error code.
   These exceptions are generated in some instances when the SMTP
   server returns an error code.  The error code is stored in the
   ``smtp_code`` attribute of the error, and the ``smtp_error``
   attribute is set to the error message.

exception exception smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused

   Sender address refused.  In addition to the attributes set by on
   all ``SMTPResponseException`` exceptions, this sets 'sender' to the
   string that the SMTP server refused.

exception exception smtplib.SMTPRecipientsRefused

   All recipient addresses refused.  The errors for each recipient are
   accessible through the attribute ``recipients``, which is a
   dictionary of exactly the same sort as ``SMTP.sendmail()`` returns.

exception exception smtplib.SMTPDataError

   The SMTP server refused to accept the message data.

exception exception smtplib.SMTPConnectError

   Error occurred during establishment of a connection  with the
   server.

exception exception smtplib.SMTPHeloError

   The server refused our ``HELO`` message.

exception exception smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError

   SMTP authentication went wrong.  Most probably the server didn't
   accept the username/password combination provided.

See also:

   **RFC 821** - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
      Protocol definition for SMTP.  This document covers the model,
      operating procedure, and protocol details for SMTP.

   **RFC 1869** - SMTP Service Extensions
      Definition of the ESMTP extensions for SMTP.  This describes a
      framework for extending SMTP with new commands, supporting
      dynamic discovery of the commands provided by the server, and
      defines a few additional commands.


SMTP Objects
============

An ``SMTP`` instance has the following methods:

SMTP.set_debuglevel(level)

   Set the debug output level.  A true value for *level* results in
   debug messages for connection and for all messages sent to and
   received from the server.

SMTP.docmd(cmd[, argstring])

   Send a command *cmd* to the server.  The optional argument
   *argstring* is simply concatenated to the command, separated by a
   space.

   This returns a 2-tuple composed of a numeric response code and the
   actual response line (multiline responses are joined into one long
   line.)

   In normal operation it should not be necessary to call this method
   explicitly. It is used to implement other methods and may be useful
   for testing private extensions.

   If the connection to the server is lost while waiting for the
   reply, ``SMTPServerDisconnected`` will be raised.

SMTP.connect([host[, port]])

   Connect to a host on a given port.  The defaults are to connect to
   the local host at the standard SMTP port (25). If the hostname ends
   with a colon (``':'``) followed by a number, that suffix will be
   stripped off and the number interpreted as the port number to use.
   This method is automatically invoked by the constructor if a host
   is specified during instantiation.  Returns a 2-tuple of the
   response code and message sent by the server in its connection
   response.

SMTP.helo([hostname])

   Identify yourself to the SMTP server using ``HELO``.  The hostname
   argument defaults to the fully qualified domain name of the local
   host. The message returned by the server is stored as the
   ``helo_resp`` attribute of the object.

   In normal operation it should not be necessary to call this method
   explicitly. It will be implicitly called by the ``sendmail()`` when
   necessary.

SMTP.ehlo([hostname])

   Identify yourself to an ESMTP server using ``EHLO``.  The hostname
   argument defaults to the fully qualified domain name of the local
   host.  Examine the response for ESMTP option and store them for use
   by ``has_extn()``. Also sets several informational attributes: the
   message returned by the server is stored as the ``ehlo_resp``
   attribute, ``does_esmtp`` is set to true or false depending on
   whether the server supports ESMTP, and ``esmtp_features`` will be a
   dictionary containing the names of the SMTP service extensions this
   server supports, and their parameters (if any).

   Unless you wish to use ``has_extn()`` before sending mail, it
   should not be necessary to call this method explicitly.  It will be
   implicitly called by ``sendmail()`` when necessary.

SMTP.ehlo_or_helo_if_needed()

   This method call ``ehlo()`` and or ``helo()`` if there has been no
   previous ``EHLO`` or ``HELO`` command this session.  It tries ESMTP
   ``EHLO`` first.

   ``SMTPHeloError``
      The server didn't reply properly to the ``HELO`` greeting.

   New in version 2.6.

SMTP.has_extn(name)

   Return ``True`` if *name* is in the set of SMTP service extensions
   returned by the server, ``False`` otherwise. Case is ignored.

SMTP.verify(address)

   Check the validity of an address on this server using SMTP
   ``VRFY``. Returns a tuple consisting of code 250 and a full **RFC
   822** address (including human name) if the user address is valid.
   Otherwise returns an SMTP error code of 400 or greater and an error
   string.

   Note: Many sites disable SMTP ``VRFY`` in order to foil spammers.

SMTP.login(user, password)

   Log in on an SMTP server that requires authentication. The
   arguments are the username and the password to authenticate with.
   If there has been no previous ``EHLO`` or ``HELO`` command this
   session, this method tries ESMTP ``EHLO`` first. This method will
   return normally if the authentication was successful, or may raise
   the following exceptions:

   ``SMTPHeloError``
      The server didn't reply properly to the ``HELO`` greeting.

   ``SMTPAuthenticationError``
      The server didn't accept the username/password combination.

   ``SMTPException``
      No suitable authentication method was found.

SMTP.starttls([keyfile[, certfile]])

   Put the SMTP connection in TLS (Transport Layer Security) mode.
   All SMTP commands that follow will be encrypted.  You should then
   call ``ehlo()`` again.

   If *keyfile* and *certfile* are provided, these are passed to the
   ``socket`` module's ``ssl()`` function.

   If there has been no previous ``EHLO`` or ``HELO`` command this
   session, this method tries ESMTP ``EHLO`` first.

   Changed in version 2.6.

   ``SMTPHeloError``
      The server didn't reply properly to the ``HELO`` greeting.

   ``SMTPException``
      The server does not support the STARTTLS extension.

   Changed in version 2.6.

   ``RuntimeError``
      SSL/TLS support is not available to your Python interpreter.

SMTP.sendmail(from_addr, to_addrs, msg[, mail_options, rcpt_options])

   Send mail.  The required arguments are an **RFC 822** from-address
   string, a list of **RFC 822** to-address strings (a bare string
   will be treated as a list with 1 address), and a message string.
   The caller may pass a list of ESMTP options (such as ``8bitmime``)
   to be used in ``MAIL FROM`` commands as *mail_options*. ESMTP
   options (such as ``DSN`` commands) that should be used with all
   ``RCPT`` commands can be passed as *rcpt_options*.  (If you need to
   use different ESMTP options to different recipients you have to use
   the low-level methods such as ``mail()``, ``rcpt()`` and ``data()``
   to send the message.)

   Note: The *from_addr* and *to_addrs* parameters are used to construct
     the message envelope used by the transport agents. The ``SMTP``
     does not modify the message headers in any way.

   If there has been no previous ``EHLO`` or ``HELO`` command this
   session, this method tries ESMTP ``EHLO`` first. If the server does
   ESMTP, message size and each of the specified options will be
   passed to it (if the option is in the feature set the server
   advertises).  If ``EHLO`` fails, ``HELO`` will be tried and ESMTP
   options suppressed.

   This method will return normally if the mail is accepted for at
   least one recipient. Otherwise it will raise an exception.  That
   is, if this method does not raise an exception, then someone should
   get your mail. If this method does not raise an exception, it
   returns a dictionary, with one entry for each recipient that was
   refused.  Each entry contains a tuple of the SMTP error code and
   the accompanying error message sent by the server.

   This method may raise the following exceptions:

   ``SMTPRecipientsRefused``
      All recipients were refused.  Nobody got the mail.  The
      ``recipients`` attribute of the exception object is a dictionary
      with information about the refused recipients (like the one
      returned when at least one recipient was accepted).

   ``SMTPHeloError``
      The server didn't reply properly to the ``HELO`` greeting.

   ``SMTPSenderRefused``
      The server didn't accept the *from_addr*.

   ``SMTPDataError``
      The server replied with an unexpected error code (other than a
      refusal of a recipient).

   Unless otherwise noted, the connection will be open even after an
   exception is raised.

SMTP.quit()

   Terminate the SMTP session and close the connection.  Return the
   result of the SMTP ``QUIT`` command.

   Changed in version 2.6: Return a value.

Low-level methods corresponding to the standard SMTP/ESMTP commands
``HELP``, ``RSET``, ``NOOP``, ``MAIL``, ``RCPT``, and ``DATA`` are
also supported. Normally these do not need to be called directly, so
they are not documented here.  For details, consult the module code.


SMTP Example
============

This example prompts the user for addresses needed in the message
envelope ('To' and 'From' addresses), and the message to be delivered.
Note that the headers to be included with the message must be included
in the message as entered; this example doesn't do any processing of
the **RFC 822** headers.  In particular, the 'To' and 'From' addresses
must be included in the message headers explicitly.

   import smtplib

   def prompt(prompt):
       return raw_input(prompt).strip()

   fromaddr = prompt("From: ")
   toaddrs  = prompt("To: ").split()
   print "Enter message, end with ^D (Unix) or ^Z (Windows):"

   # Add the From: and To: headers at the start!
   msg = ("From: %s\r\nTo: %s\r\n\r\n"
          % (fromaddr, ", ".join(toaddrs)))
   while 1:
       try:
           line = raw_input()
       except EOFError:
           break
       if not line:
           break
       msg = msg + line

   print "Message length is " + repr(len(msg))

   server = smtplib.SMTP('localhost')
   server.set_debuglevel(1)
   server.sendmail(fromaddr, toaddrs, msg)
   server.quit()

Note: In general, you will want to use the ``email`` package's features to
  construct an email message, which you can then convert to a string
  and send via ``sendmail()``; see *email: Examples*.
