Network Working Group M. Crispin
Request for Comments: 3501 University of Washington
Obsoletes: 2060 March 2003
Category: Standards Track
INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL - VERSION 4rev1
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
The Internet Message Access Protocol, Version 4rev1 (IMAP4rev1)
allows a client to access and manipulate electronic mail messages on
a server. IMAP4rev1 permits manipulation of mailboxes (remote
message folders) in a way that is functionally equivalent to local
folders. IMAP4rev1 also provides the capability for an offline
client to resynchronize with the server.
IMAP4rev1 includes operations for creating, deleting, and renaming
mailboxes, checking for new messages, permanently removing messages,
setting and clearing flags, RFC 2822 and RFC 2045 parsing, searching,
and selective fetching of message attributes, texts, and portions
thereof. Messages in IMAP4rev1 are accessed by the use of numbers.
These numbers are either message sequence numbers or unique
identifiers.
IMAP4rev1 supports a single server. A mechanism for accessing
configuration information to support multiple IMAP4rev1 servers is
discussed in RFC 2244.
IMAP4rev1 does not specify a means of posting mail; this function is
handled by a mail transfer protocol such as RFC 2821.
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RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003
Table of Contents
IMAP4rev1 Protocol Specification ................................ 4
1. How to Read This Document ............................... 4
1.1. Organization of This Document ........................... 4
1.2. Conventions Used in This Document ....................... 4
1.3. Special Notes to Implementors ........................... 5
2. Protocol Overview ....................................... 6
2.1. Link Level .............................................. 6
2.2. Commands and Responses .................................. 6
2.2.1. Client Protocol Sender and Server Protocol Receiver ..... 6
2.2.2. Server Protocol Sender and Client Protocol Receiver ..... 7
2.3. Message Attributes ...................................... 8
2.3.1. Message Numbers ......................................... 8
2.3.1.1. Unique Identifier (UID) Message Attribute ....... 8
2.3.1.2. Message Sequence Number Message Attribute ....... 10
2.3.2. Flags Message Attribute ................................. 11
2.3.3. Internal Date Message Attribute ......................... 12
2.3.4. [RFC-2822] Size Message Attribute ....................... 12
2.3.5. Envelope Structure Message Attribute .................... 12
2.3.6. Body Structure Message Attribute ........................ 12
2.4. Message Texts ........................................... 13
3. State and Flow Diagram .................................. 13
3.1. Not Authenticated State ................................. 13
3.2. Authenticated State ..................................... 13
3.3. Selected State .......................................... 13
3.4. Logout State ............................................ 14
4. Data Formats ............................................ 16
4.1. Atom .................................................... 16
4.2. Number .................................................. 16
4.3. String .................................................. 16
4.3.1. 8-bit and Binary Strings ................................ 17
4.4. Parenthesized List ...................................... 17
4.5. NIL ..................................................... 17
5. Operational Considerations .............................. 18
5.1. Mailbox Naming .......................................... 18
5.1.1. Mailbox Hierarchy Naming ................................ 19
5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention ..................... 19
5.1.3. Mailbox International Naming Convention ................. 19
5.2. Mailbox Size and Message Status Updates ................. 21
5.3. Response when no Command in Progress .................... 21
5.4. Autologout Timer ........................................ 22
5.5. Multiple Commands in Progress ........................... 22
6. Client Commands ........................................ 23
6.1. Client Commands - Any State ............................ 24
6.1.1. CAPABILITY Command ..................................... 24
6.1.2. NOOP Command ........................................... 25
6.1.3. LOGOUT Command ......................................... 26
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6.2. Client Commands - Not Authenticated State .............. 26
6.2.1. STARTTLS Command ....................................... 27
6.2.2. AUTHENTICATE Command ................................... 28
6.2.3. LOGIN Command .......................................... 30
6.3. Client Commands - Authenticated State .................. 31
6.3.1. SELECT Command ......................................... 32
6.3.2. EXAMINE Command ........................................ 34
6.3.3. CREATE Command ......................................... 34
6.3.4. DELETE Command ......................................... 35
6.3.5. RENAME Command ......................................... 37
6.3.6. SUBSCRIBE Command ...................................... 39
6.3.7. UNSUBSCRIBE Command .................................... 39
6.3.8. LIST Command ........................................... 40
6.3.9. LSUB Command ........................................... 43
6.3.10. STATUS Command ......................................... 44
6.3.11. APPEND Command ......................................... 46
6.4. Client Commands - Selected State ....................... 47
6.4.1. CHECK Command .......................................... 47
6.4.2. CLOSE Command .......................................... 48
6.4.3. EXPUNGE Command ........................................ 49
6.4.4. SEARCH Command ......................................... 49
6.4.5. FETCH Command .......................................... 54
6.4.6. STORE Command .......................................... 58
6.4.7. COPY Command ........................................... 59
6.4.8. UID Command ............................................ 60
6.5. Client Commands - Experimental/Expansion ............... 62
6.5.1. X<atom> Command ........................................ 62
7. Server Responses ....................................... 62
7.1. Server Responses - Status Responses .................... 63
7.1.1. OK Response ............................................ 65
7.1.2. NO Response ............................................ 66
7.1.3. BAD Response ........................................... 66
7.1.4. PREAUTH Response ....................................... 67
7.1.5. BYE Response ........................................... 67
7.2. Server Responses - Server and Mailbox Status ........... 68
7.2.1. CAPABILITY Response .................................... 68
7.2.2. LIST Response .......................................... 69
7.2.3. LSUB Response .......................................... 70
7.2.4 STATUS Response ........................................ 70
7.2.5. SEARCH Response ........................................ 71
7.2.6. FLAGS Response ......................................... 71
7.3. Server Responses - Mailbox Size ........................ 71
7.3.1. EXISTS Response ........................................ 71
7.3.2. RECENT Response ........................................ 72
7.4. Server Responses - Message Status ...................... 72
7.4.1. EXPUNGE Response ....................................... 72
7.4.2. FETCH Response ......................................... 73
7.5. Server Responses - Command Continuation Request ........ 79
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8. Sample IMAP4rev1 connection ............................ 80
9. Formal Syntax .......................................... 81
10. Author's Note .......................................... 92
11. Security Considerations ................................ 92
11.1. STARTTLS Security Considerations ....................... 92
11.2. Other Security Considerations .......................... 93
12. IANA Considerations .................................... 94
Appendices ..................................................... 95
A. References ............................................. 95
B. Changes from RFC 2060 .................................. 97
C. Key Word Index ......................................... 103
Author's Address ............................................... 107
Full Copyright Statement ....................................... 108
IMAP4rev1 Protocol Specification
1. How to Read This Document
1.1. Organization of This Document
This document is written from the point of view of the implementor of
an IMAP4rev1 client or server. Beyond the protocol overview in
section 2, it is not optimized for someone trying to understand the
operation of the protocol. The material in sections 3 through 5
provides the general context and definitions with which IMAP4rev1
operates.
Sections 6, 7, and 9 describe the IMAP commands, responses, and
syntax, respectively. The relationships among these are such that it
is almost impossible to understand any of them separately. In
particular, do not attempt to deduce command syntax from the command
section alone; instead refer to the Formal Syntax section.
1.2. Conventions Used in This Document
"Conventions" are basic principles or procedures. Document
conventions are noted in this section.
In examples, "C:" and "S:" indicate lines sent by the client and
server respectively.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to
be interpreted as described in [KEYWORDS].
The word "can" (not "may") is used to refer to a possible
circumstance or situation, as opposed to an optional facility of the
protocol.
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"User" is used to refer to a human user, whereas "client" refers to
the software being run by the user.
"Connection" refers to the entire sequence of client/server
interaction from the initial establishment of the network connection
until its termination.
"Session" refers to the sequence of client/server interaction from
the time that a mailbox is selected (SELECT or EXAMINE command) until
the time that selection ends (SELECT or EXAMINE of another mailbox,
CLOSE command, or connection termination).
Characters are 7-bit US-ASCII unless otherwise specified. Other
character sets are indicated using a "CHARSET", as described in
[MIME-IMT] and defined in [CHARSET]. CHARSETs have important
additional semantics in addition to defining character set; refer to
these documents for more detail.
There are several protocol conventions in IMAP. These refer to
aspects of the specification which are not strictly part of the IMAP
protocol, but reflect generally-accepted practice. Implementations
need to be aware of these conventions, and avoid conflicts whether or
not they implement the convention. For example, "&" may not be used
as a hierarchy delimiter since it conflicts with the Mailbox
International Naming Convention, and other uses of "&" in mailbox
names are impacted as well.
1.3. Special Notes to Implementors
Implementors of the IMAP protocol are strongly encouraged to read the
IMAP implementation recommendations document [IMAP-IMPLEMENTATION] in
conjunction with this document, to help understand the intricacies of
this protocol and how best to build an interoperable product.
IMAP4rev1 is designed to be upwards compatible from the [IMAP2] and
unpublished IMAP2bis protocols. IMAP4rev1 is largely compatible with
the IMAP4 protocol described in RFC 1730; the exception being in
certain facilities added in RFC 1730 that proved problematic and were
subsequently removed. In the course of the evolution of IMAP4rev1,
some aspects in the earlier protocols have become obsolete. Obsolete
commands, responses, and data formats which an IMAP4rev1
implementation can encounter when used with an earlier implementation
are described in [IMAP-OBSOLETE].
Other compatibility issues with IMAP2bis, the most common variant of
the earlier protocol, are discussed in [IMAP-COMPAT]. A full
discussion of compatibility issues with rare (and presumed extinct)
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variants of [IMAP2] is in [IMAP-HISTORICAL]; this document is
primarily of historical interest.
IMAP was originally developed for the older [RFC-822] standard, and
as a consequence several fetch items in IMAP incorporate "RFC822" in
their name. With the exception of RFC822.SIZE, there are more modern
replacements; for example, the modern version of RFC822.HEADER is
BODY.PEEK[HEADER]. In all cases, "RFC822" should be interpreted as a
reference to the updated [RFC-2822] standard.
2. Protocol Overview
2.1. Link Level
The IMAP4rev1 protocol assumes a reliable data stream such as that
provided by TCP. When TCP is used, an IMAP4rev1 server listens on
port 143.
2.2. Commands and Responses
An IMAP4rev1 connection consists of the establishment of a
client/server network connection, an initial greeting from the
server, and client/server interactions. These client/server
interactions consist of a client command, server data, and a server
completion result response.
All interactions transmitted by client and server are in the form of
lines, that is, strings that end with a CRLF. The protocol receiver
of an IMAP4rev1 client or server is either reading a line, or is
reading a sequence of octets with a known count followed by a line.
2.2.1. Client Protocol Sender and Server Protocol Receiver
The client command begins an operation. Each client command is
prefixed with an identifier (typically a short alphanumeric string,
e.g., A0001, A0002, etc.) called a "tag". A different tag is
generated by the client for each command.
Clients MUST follow the syntax outlined in this specification
strictly. It is a syntax error to send a command with missing or
extraneous spaces or arguments.
There are two cases in which a line from the client does not
represent a complete command. In one case, a command argument is
quoted with an octet count (see the description of literal in String
under Data Formats); in the other case, the command arguments require
server feedback (see the AUTHENTICATE command). In either case, the
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server sends a command continuation request response if it is ready
for the octets (if appropriate) and the remainder of the command.
This response is prefixed with the token "+".
Note: If instead, the server detected an error in the
command, it sends a BAD completion response with a tag
matching the command (as described below) to reject the
command and prevent the client from sending any more of the
command.
It is also possible for the server to send a completion
response for some other command (if multiple commands are
in progress), or untagged data. In either case, the
command continuation request is still pending; the client
takes the appropriate action for the response, and reads
another response from the server. In all cases, the client
MUST send a complete command (including receiving all
command continuation request responses and command
continuations for the command) before initiating a new
command.
The protocol receiver of an IMAP4rev1 server reads a command line
from the client, parses the command and its arguments, and transmits
server data and a server command completion result response.
2.2.2. Server Protocol Sender and Client Protocol Receiver
Data transmitted by the server to the client and status responses
that do not indicate command completion are prefixed with the token
"*", and are called untagged responses.
Server data MAY be sent as a result of a client command, or MAY be
sent unilaterally by the server. There is no syntactic difference
between server data that resulted from a specific command and server
data that were sent unilaterally.
The server completion result response indicates the success or
failure of the operation. It is tagged with the same tag as the
client command which began the operation. Thus, if more than one
command is in progress, the tag in a server completion response
identifies the command to which the response applies. There are
three possible server completion responses: OK (indicating success),
NO (indicating failure), or BAD (indicating a protocol error such as
unrecognized command or command syntax error).
Servers SHOULD enforce the syntax outlined in this specification
strictly. Any client command with a protocol syntax error, including
(but not limited to) missing or extraneous spaces or arguments,
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SHOULD be rejected, and the client given a BAD server completion
response.
The protocol receiver of an IMAP4rev1 client reads a response line
from the server. It then takes action on the response based upon the
first token of the response, which can be a tag, a "*", or a "+".
A client MUST be prepared to accept any server response at all times.
This includes server data that was not requested. Server data SHOULD
be recorded, so that the client can reference its recorded copy
rather than sending a command to the server to request the data. In
the case of certain server data, the data MUST be recorded.
This topic is discussed in greater detail in the Server Responses
section.
2.3. Message Attributes
In addition to message text, each message has several attributes
associated with it. These attributes can be retrieved individually
or in conjunction with other attributes or message texts.
2.3.1. Message Numbers
Messages in IMAP4rev1 are accessed by one of two numbers; the unique
identifier or the message sequence number.
2.3.1.1. Unique Identifier (UID) Message Attribute
A 32-bit value assigned to each message, which when used with the
unique identifier validity value (see below) forms a 64-bit value
that MUST NOT refer to any other message in the mailbox or any
subsequent mailbox with the same name forever. Unique identifiers
are assigned in a strictly ascending fashion in the mailbox; as each
message is added to the mailbox it is assigned a higher UID than the
message(s) which were added previously. Unlike message sequence
numbers, unique identifiers are not necessarily contiguous.
The unique identifier of a message MUST NOT change during the
session, and SHOULD NOT change between sessions. Any change of
unique identifiers between sessions MUST be detectable using the
UIDVALIDITY mechanism discussed below. Persistent unique identifiers
are required for a client to resynchronize its state from a previous
session with the server (e.g., disconnected or offline access
clients); this is discussed further in [IMAP-DISC].
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Associated with every mailbox are two values which aid in unique
identifier handling: the next unique identifier value and the unique
identifier validity value.
The next unique identifier value is the predicted value that will be
assigned to a new message in the mailbox. Unless the unique
identifier validity also changes (see below), the next unique
identifier value MUST have the following two characteristics. First,
the next unique identifier value MUST NOT change unless new messages
are added to the mailbox; and second, the next unique identifier
value MUST change whenever new messages are added to the mailbox,
even if those new messages are subsequently expunged.
Note: The next unique identifier value is intended to
provide a means for a client to determine whether any
messages have been delivered to the mailbox since the
previous time it checked this value. It is not intended to
provide any guarantee that any message will have this
unique identifier. A client can only assume, at the time
that it obtains the next unique identifier value, that
messages arriving after that time will have a UID greater
than or equal to that value.
The unique identifier validity value is sent in a UIDVALIDITY
response code in an OK untagged response at mailbox selection time.
If unique identifiers from an earlier session fail to persist in this
session, the unique identifier validity value MUST be greater than
the one used in the earlier session.
Note: Ideally, unique identifiers SHOULD persist at all
times. Although this specification recognizes that failure
to persist can be unavoidable in certain server
environments, it STRONGLY ENCOURAGES message store
implementation techniques that avoid this problem. For
example:
1) Unique identifiers MUST be strictly ascending in the
mailbox at all times. If the physical message store is
re-ordered by a non-IMAP agent, this requires that the
unique identifiers in the mailbox be regenerated, since
the former unique identifiers are no longer strictly
ascending as a result of the re-ordering.
2) If the message store has no mechanism to store unique
identifiers, it must regenerate unique identifiers at
each session, and each session must have a unique
UIDVALIDITY value.
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3) If the mailbox is deleted and a new mailbox with the
same name is created at a later date, the server must
either keep track of unique identifiers from the
previous instance of the mailbox, or it must assign a
new UIDVALIDITY value to the new instance of the
mailbox. A good UIDVALIDITY value to use in this case
is a 32-bit representation of the creation date/time of
the mailbox. It is alright to use a constant such as
1, but only if it guaranteed that unique identifiers
will never be reused, even in the case of a mailbox
being deleted (or renamed) and a new mailbox by the
same name created at some future time.
4) The combination of mailbox name, UIDVALIDITY, and UID
must refer to a single immutable message on that server
forever. In particular, the internal date, [RFC-2822]
size, envelope, body structure, and message texts
(RFC822, RFC822.HEADER, RFC822.TEXT, and all BODY[...]
fetch data items) must never change. This does not
include message numbers, nor does it include attributes
that can be set by a STORE command (e.g., FLAGS).
2.3.1.2. Message Sequence Number Message Attribute
A relative position from 1 to the number of messages in the mailbox.
This position MUST be ordered by ascending unique identifier. As
each new message is added, it is assigned a message sequence number
that is 1 higher than the number of messages in the mailbox before
that new message was added.
Message sequence numbers can be reassigned during the session. For
example, when a message is permanently removed (expunged) from the
mailbox, the message sequence number for all subsequent messages is
decremented. The number of messages in the mailbox is also
decremented. Similarly, a new message can be assigned a message
sequence number that was once held by some other message prior to an
expunge.
In addition to accessing messages by relative position in the
mailbox, message sequence numbers can be used in mathematical
calculations. For example, if an untagged "11 EXISTS" is received,
and previously an untagged "8 EXISTS" was received, three new
messages have arrived with message sequence numbers of 9, 10, and 11.
Another example, if message 287 in a 523 message mailbox has UID
12345, there are exactly 286 messages which have lesser UIDs and 236
messages which have greater UIDs.
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2.3.2. Flags Message Attribute
A list of zero or more named tokens associated with the message. A
flag is set by its addition to this list, and is cleared by its
removal. There are two types of flags in IMAP4rev1. A flag of
either type can be permanent or session-only.
A system flag is a flag name that is pre-defined in this
specification. All system flags begin with "\". Certain system
flags (\Deleted and \Seen) have special semantics described
elsewhere. The currently-defined system flags are:
\Seen
Message has been read
\Answered
Message has been answered
\Flagged
Message is "flagged" for urgent/special attention
\Deleted
Message is "deleted" for removal by later EXPUNGE
\Draft
Message has not completed composition (marked as a draft).
\Recent
Message is "recently" arrived in this mailbox. This session
is the first session to have been notified about this
message; if the session is read-write, subsequent sessions
will not see \Recent set for this message. This flag can not
be altered by the client.
If it is not possible to determine whether or not this
session is the first session to be notified about a message,
then that message SHOULD be considered recent.
If multiple connections have the same mailbox selected
simultaneously, it is undefined which of these connections
will see newly-arrived messages with \Recent set and which
will see it without \Recent set.
A keyword is defined by the server implementation. Keywords do not
begin with "\". Servers MAY permit the client to define new keywords
in the mailbox (see the description of the PERMANENTFLAGS response
code for more information).
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A flag can be permanent or session-only on a per-flag basis.
Permanent flags are those which the client can add or remove from the
message flags permanently; that is, concurrent and subsequent
sessions will see any change in permanent flags. Changes to session
flags are valid only in that session.
Note: The \Recent system flag is a special case of a
session flag. \Recent can not be used as an argument in a
STORE or APPEND command, and thus can not be changed at
all.
2.3.3. Internal Date Message Attribute
The internal date and time of the message on the server. This
is not the date and time in the [RFC-2822] header, but rather a
date and time which reflects when the message was received. In
the case of messages delivered via [SMTP], this SHOULD be the
date and time of final delivery of the message as defined by
[SMTP]. In the case of messages delivered by the IMAP4rev1 COPY
command, this SHOULD be the internal date and time of the source
message. In the case of messages delivered by the IMAP4rev1
APPEND command, this SHOULD be the date and time as specified in
the APPEND command description. All other cases are
implementation defined.
2.3.4. [RFC-2822] Size Message Attribute
The number of octets in the message, as expressed in [RFC-2822]
format.
2.3.5. Envelope Structure Message Attribute
A parsed representation of the [RFC-2822] header of the message.
Note that the IMAP Envelope structure is not the same as an
[SMTP] envelope.
2.3.6. Body Structure Message Attribute
A parsed representation of the [MIME-IMB] body structure
information of the message.
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2.4. Message Texts
In addition to being able to fetch the full [RFC-2822] text of a
message, IMAP4rev1 permits the fetching of portions of the full
message text. Specifically, it is possible to fetch the
[RFC-2822] message header, [RFC-2822] message body, a [MIME-IMB]
body part, or a [MIME-IMB] header.
3. State and Flow Diagram
Once the connection between client and server is established, an
IMAP4rev1 connection is in one of four states. The initial
state is identified in the server greeting. Most commands are
only valid in certain states. It is a protocol error for the
client to attempt a command while the connection is in an
inappropriate state, and the server will respond with a BAD or
NO (depending upon server implementation) command completion
result.
3.1. Not Authenticated State
In the not authenticated state, the client MUST supply
authentication credentials before most commands will be
permitted. This state is entered when a connection starts
unless the connection has been pre-authenticated.
3.2. Authenticated State
In the authenticated state, the client is authenticated and MUST
select a mailbox to access before commands that affect messages
will be permitted. This state is entered when a
pre-authenticated connection starts, when acceptable
authentication credentials have been provided, after an error in
selecting a mailbox, or after a successful CLOSE command.
3.3. Selected State
In a selected state, a mailbox has been selected to access.
This state is entered when a mailbox has been successfully
selected.
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3.4. Logout State
In the logout state, the connection is being terminated. This
state can be entered as a result of a client request (via the
LOGOUT command) or by unilateral action on the part of either
the client or server.
If the client requests the logout state, the server MUST send an
untagged BYE response and a tagged OK response to the LOGOUT
command before the server closes the connection; and the client
MUST read the tagged OK response to the LOGOUT command before
the client closes the connection.
A server MUST NOT unilaterally close the connection without
sending an untagged BYE response that contains the reason for
having done so. A client SHOULD NOT unilaterally close the
connection, and instead SHOULD issue a LOGOUT command. If the
server detects that the client has unilaterally closed the
connection, the server MAY omit the untagged BYE response and
simply close its connection.
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RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003
+----------------------+
|connection established|
+----------------------+
||
\/
+--------------------------------------+
| server greeting |
+--------------------------------------+
|| (1) || (2) || (3)
\/ || ||
+-----------------+ || ||
|Not Authenticated| || ||
+-----------------+ || ||
|| (7) || (4) || ||
|| \/ \/ ||
|| +----------------+ ||
|| | Authenticated |<=++ ||
|| +----------------+ || ||
|| || (7) || (5) || (6) ||
|| || \/ || ||
|| || +--------+ || ||
|| || |Selected|==++ ||
|| || +--------+ ||
|| || || (7) ||
\/ \/ \/ \/
+--------------------------------------+
| Logout |
+--------------------------------------+
||
\/
+-------------------------------+
|both sides close the connection|
+-------------------------------+
(1) connection without pre-authentication (OK greeting)
(2) pre-authenticated connection (PREAUTH greeting)
(3) rejected connection (BYE greeting)
(4) successful LOGIN or AUTHENTICATE command
(5) successful SELECT or EXAMINE command
(6) CLOSE command, or failed SELECT or EXAMINE command
(7) LOGOUT command, server shutdown, or connection closed
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4. Data Formats
IMAP4rev1 uses textual commands and responses. Data in
IMAP4rev1 can be in one of several forms: atom, number, string,
parenthesized list, or NIL. Note that a particular data item
may take more than one form; for example, a data item defined as
using "astring" syntax may be either an atom or a string.
4.1. Atom
An atom consists of one or more non-special characters.
4.2. Number
A number consists of one or more digit characters, and
represents a numeric value.
4.3. String
A string is in one of two forms: either literal or quoted
string. The literal form is the general form of string. The
quoted string form is an alternative that avoids the overhead of
processing a literal at the cost of limitations of characters
which may be used.
A literal is a sequence of zero or more octets (including CR and
LF), prefix-quoted with an octet count in the form of an open
brace ("{"), the number of octets, close brace ("}"), and CRLF.
In the case of literals transmitted from server to client, the
CRLF is immediately followed by the octet data. In the case of
literals transmitted from client to server, the client MUST wait
to receive a command continuation request (described later in
this document) before sending the octet data (and the remainder
of the command).
A quoted string is a sequence of zero or more 7-bit characters,
excluding CR and LF, with double quote (<">) characters at each
end.
The empty string is represented as either "" (a quoted string
with zero characters between double quotes) or as {0} followed
by CRLF (a literal with an octet count of 0).
Note: Even if the octet count is 0, a client transmitting a
literal MUST wait to receive a command continuation request.
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4.3.1. 8-bit and Binary Strings
8-bit textual and binary mail is supported through the use of a
[MIME-IMB] content transfer encoding. IMAP4rev1 implementations MAY
transmit 8-bit or multi-octet characters in literals, but SHOULD do
so only when the [CHARSET] is identified.
Although a BINARY body encoding is defined, unencoded binary strings
are not permitted. A "binary string" is any string with NUL
characters. Implementations MUST encode binary data into a textual
form, such as BASE64, before transmitting the data. A string with an
excessive amount of CTL characters MAY also be considered to be
binary.
4.4. Parenthesized List
Data structures are represented as a "parenthesized list"; a sequence
of data items, delimited by space, and bounded at each end by
parentheses. A parenthesized list can contain other parenthesized
lists, using multiple levels of parentheses to indicate nesting.
The empty list is represented as () -- a parenthesized list with no
members.
4.5. NIL
The special form "NIL" represents the non-existence of a particular
data item that is represented as a string or parenthesized list, as
distinct from the empty string "" or the empty parenthesized list ().
Note: NIL is never used for any data item which takes the
form of an atom. For example, a mailbox name of "NIL" is a
mailbox named NIL as opposed to a non-existent mailbox
name. This is because mailbox uses "astring" syntax which
is an atom or a string. Conversely, an addr-name of NIL is
a non-existent personal name, because addr-name uses
"nstring" syntax which is NIL or a string, but never an
atom.
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5. Operational Considerations
The following rules are listed here to ensure that all IMAP4rev1
implementations interoperate properly.
5.1. Mailbox Naming
Mailbox names are 7-bit. Client implementations MUST NOT attempt to
create 8-bit mailbox names, and SHOULD interpret any 8-bit mailbox
names returned by LIST or LSUB as UTF-8. Server implementations
SHOULD prohibit the creation of 8-bit mailbox names, and SHOULD NOT
return 8-bit mailbox names in LIST or LSUB. See section 5.1.3 for
more information on how to represent non-ASCII mailbox names.
Note: 8-bit mailbox names were undefined in earlier
versions of this protocol. Some sites used a local 8-bit
character set to represent non-ASCII mailbox names. Such
usage is not interoperable, and is now formally deprecated.
The case-insensitive mailbox name INBOX is a special name reserved to
mean "the primary mailbox for this user on this server". The
interpretation of all other names is implementation-dependent.
In particular, this specification takes no position on case
sensitivity in non-INBOX mailbox names. Some server implementations
are fully case-sensitive; others preserve case of a newly-created
name but otherwise are case-insensitive; and yet others coerce names
to a particular case. Client implementations MUST interact with any
of these. If a server implementation interprets non-INBOX mailbox
names as case-insensitive, it MUST treat names using the
international naming convention specially as described in section
5.1.3.
There are certain client considerations when creating a new mailbox
name:
1) Any character which is one of the atom-specials (see the Formal
Syntax) will require that the mailbox name be represented as a
quoted string or literal.
2) CTL and other non-graphic characters are difficult to represent
in a user interface and are best avoided.
3) Although the list-wildcard characters ("%" and "*") are valid
in a mailbox name, it is difficult to use such mailbox names
with the LIST and LSUB commands due to the conflict with
wildcard interpretation.
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4) Usually, a character (determined by the server implementation)
is reserved to delimit levels of hierarchy.
5) Two characters, "#" and "&", have meanings by convention, and
should be avoided except when used in that convention.
5.1.1. Mailbox Hierarchy Naming
If it is desired to export hierarchical mailbox names, mailbox names
MUST be left-to-right hierarchical using a single character to
separate levels of hierarchy. The same hierarchy separator character
is used for all levels of hierarchy within a single name.
5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the
USENET newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes.
Thus, the comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have a mailbox
name of "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name
"comp.mail.misc" can refer to a different object (e.g., a
user's private mailbox).
5.1.3. Mailbox International Naming Convention
By convention, international mailbox names in IMAP4rev1 are specified
using a modified version of the UTF-7 encoding described in [UTF-7].
Modified UTF-7 may also be usable in servers that implement an
earlier version of this protocol.
In modified UTF-7, printable US-ASCII characters, except for "&",
represent themselves; that is, characters with octet values 0x20-0x25
and 0x27-0x7e. The character "&" (0x26) is represented by the
two-octet sequence "&-".
All other characters (octet values 0x00-0x1f and 0x7f-0xff) are
represented in modified BASE64, with a further modification from
[UTF-7] that "," is used instead of "/". Modified BASE64 MUST NOT be
used to represent any printing US-ASCII character which can represent
itself.
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"&" is used to shift to modified BASE64 and "-" to shift back to
US-ASCII. There is no implicit shift from BASE64 to US-ASCII, and
null shifts ("-&" while in BASE64; note that "&-" while in US-ASCII
means "&") are not permitted. However, all names start in US-ASCII,
and MUST end in US-ASCII; that is, a name that ends with a non-ASCII
ISO-10646 character MUST end with a "-").
The purpose of these modifications is to correct the following
problems with UTF-7:
1) UTF-7 uses the "+" character for shifting; this conflicts with
the common use of "+" in mailbox names, in particular USENET
newsgroup names.
2) UTF-7's encoding is BASE64 which uses the "/" character; this
conflicts with the use of "/" as a popular hierarchy delimiter.
3) UTF-7 prohibits the unencoded usage of "\"; this conflicts with
the use of "\" as a popular hierarchy delimiter.
4) UTF-7 prohibits the unencoded usage of "~"; this conflicts with
the use of "~" in some servers as a home directory indicator.
5) UTF-7 permits multiple alternate forms to represent the same
string; in particular, printable US-ASCII characters can be
represented in encoded form.
Although modified UTF-7 is a convention, it establishes certain
requirements on server handling of any mailbox name with an
embedded "&" character. In particular, server implementations
MUST preserve the exact form of the modified BASE64 portion of a
modified UTF-7 name and treat that text as case-sensitive, even if
names are otherwise case-insensitive or case-folded.
Server implementations SHOULD verify that any mailbox name with an
embedded "&" character, used as an argument to CREATE, is: in the
correctly modified UTF-7 syntax, has no superfluous shifts, and
has no encoding in modified BASE64 of any printing US-ASCII
character which can represent itself. However, client
implementations MUST NOT depend upon the server doing this, and
SHOULD NOT attempt to create a mailbox name with an embedded "&"
character unless it complies with the modified UTF-7 syntax.
Server implementations which export a mail store that does not
follow the modified UTF-7 convention MUST convert to modified
UTF-7 any mailbox name that contains either non-ASCII characters
or the "&" character.
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For example, here is a mailbox name which mixes English,
Chinese, and Japanese text:
~peter/mail/&U,BTFw-/&ZeVnLIqe-
For example, the string "&Jjo!" is not a valid mailbox
name because it does not contain a shift to US-ASCII
before the "!". The correct form is "&Jjo-!". The
string "&U,BTFw-&ZeVnLIqe-" is not permitted because it
contains a superfluous shift. The correct form is
"&U,BTF2XlZyyKng-".
5.2. Mailbox Size and Message Status Updates
At any time, a server can send data that the client did not request.
Sometimes, such behavior is REQUIRED. For example, agents other than
the server MAY add messages to the mailbox (e.g., new message
delivery), change the flags of the messages in the mailbox (e.g.,
simultaneous access to the same mailbox by multiple agents), or even
remove messages from the mailbox. A server MUST send mailbox size
updates automatically if a mailbox size change is observed during the
processing of a command. A server SHOULD send message flag updates
automatically, without requiring the client to request such updates
explicitly.
Special rules exist for server notification of a client about the
removal of messages to prevent synchronization errors; see the
description of the EXPUNGE response for more detail. In particular,
it is NOT permitted to send an EXISTS response that would reduce the
number of messages in the mailbox; only the EXPUNGE response can do
this.
Regardless of what implementation decisions a client makes on
remembering data from the server, a client implementation MUST record
mailbox size updates. It MUST NOT assume that any command after the
initial mailbox selection will return the size of the mailbox.
5.3. Response when no Command in Progress
Server implementations are permitted to send an untagged response
(except for EXPUNGE) while there is no command in progress. Server
implementations that send such responses MUST deal with flow control
considerations. Specifically, they MUST either (1) verify that the
size of the data does not exceed the underlying transport's available
window size, or (2) use non-blocking writes.
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5.4. Autologout Timer
If a server has an inactivity autologout timer, the duration of that
timer MUST be at least 30 minutes. The receipt of ANY command from
the client during that interval SHOULD suffice to reset the
autologout timer.
5.5. Multiple Commands in Progress
The client MAY send another command without waiting for the
completion result response of a command, subject to ambiguity rules
(see below) and flow control constraints on the underlying data
stream. Similarly, a server MAY begin processing another command
before processing the current command to completion, subject to
ambiguity rules. However, any command continuation request responses
and command continuations MUST be negotiated before any subsequent
command is initiated.
The exception is if an ambiguity would result because of a command
that would affect the results of other commands. Clients MUST NOT
send multiple commands without waiting if an ambiguity would result.
If the server detects a possible ambiguity, it MUST execute commands
to completion in the order given by the client.
The most obvious example of ambiguity is when a command would affect
the results of another command, e.g., a FETCH of a message's flags
and a STORE of that same message's flags.
A non-obvious ambiguity occurs with commands that permit an untagged
EXPUNGE response (commands other than FETCH, STORE, and SEARCH),
since an untagged EXPUNGE response can invalidate sequence numbers in
a subsequent command. This is not a problem for FETCH, STORE, or
SEARCH commands because servers are prohibited from sending EXPUNGE
responses while any of those commands are in progress. Therefore, if
the client sends any command other than FETCH, STORE, or SEARCH, it
MUST wait for the completion result response before sending a command
with message sequence numbers.
Note: UID FETCH, UID STORE, and UID SEARCH are different
commands from FETCH, STORE, and SEARCH. If the client
sends a UID command, it must wait for a completion result
response before sending a command with message sequence
numbers.
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For example, the following non-waiting command sequences are invalid:
FETCH + NOOP + STORE
STORE + COPY + FETCH
COPY + COPY
CHECK + FETCH
The following are examples of valid non-waiting command sequences:
FETCH + STORE + SEARCH + CHECK
STORE + COPY + EXPUNGE
UID SEARCH + UID SEARCH may be valid or invalid as a non-waiting
command sequence, depending upon whether or not the second UID
SEARCH contains message sequence numbers.
6. Client Commands
IMAP4rev1 commands are described in this section. Commands are
organized by the state in which the command is permitted. Commands
which are permitted in multiple states are listed in the minimum
permitted state (for example, commands valid in authenticated and
selected state are listed in the authenticated state commands).
Command arguments, identified by "Arguments:" in the command
descriptions below, are described by function, not by syntax. The
precise syntax of command arguments is described in the Formal Syntax
section.
Some commands cause specific server responses to be returned; these
are identified by "Responses:" in the command descriptions below.
See the response descriptions in the Responses section for
information on these responses, and the Formal Syntax section for the
precise syntax of these responses. It is possible for server data to
be transmitted as a result of any command. Thus, commands that do
not specifically require server data specify "no specific responses
for this command" instead of "none".
The "Result:" in the command description refers to the possible
tagged status responses to a command, and any special interpretation
of these status responses.
The state of a connection is only changed by successful commands
which are documented as changing state. A rejected command (BAD
response) never changes the state of the connection or of the
selected mailbox. A failed command (NO response) generally does not
change the state of the connection or of the selected mailbox; the
exception being the SELECT and EXAMINE commands.
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6.1. Client Commands - Any State
The following commands are valid in any state: CAPABILITY, NOOP, and
LOGOUT.
6.1.1. CAPABILITY Command
Arguments: none
Responses: REQUIRED untagged response: CAPABILITY
Result: OK - capability completed
BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid
The CAPABILITY command requests a listing of capabilities that the
server supports. The server MUST send a single untagged
CAPABILITY response with "IMAP4rev1" as one of the listed
capabilities before the (tagged) OK response.
A capability name which begins with "AUTH=" indicates that the
server supports that particular authentication mechanism. All
such names are, by definition, part of this specification. For
example, the authorization capability for an experimental
"blurdybloop" authenticator would be "AUTH=XBLURDYBLOOP" and not
"XAUTH=BLURDYBLOOP" or "XAUTH=XBLURDYBLOOP".
Other capability names refer to extensions, revisions, or
amendments to this specification. See the documentation of the
CAPABILITY response for additional information. No capabilities,
beyond the base IMAP4rev1 set defined in this specification, are
enabled without explicit client action to invoke the capability.
Client and server implementations MUST implement the STARTTLS,
LOGINDISABLED, and AUTH=PLAIN (described in [IMAP-TLS])
capabilities. See the Security Considerations section for
important information.
See the section entitled "Client Commands -
Experimental/Expansion" for information about the form of site or
implementation-specific capabilities.
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Example: C: abcd CAPABILITY
S: * CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 STARTTLS AUTH=GSSAPI
LOGINDISABLED
S: abcd OK CAPABILITY completed
C: efgh STARTTLS
S: efgh OK STARTLS completed
<TLS negotiation, further commands are under [TLS] layer>
C: ijkl CAPABILITY
S: * CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 AUTH=GSSAPI AUTH=PLAIN
S: ijkl OK CAPABILITY completed
6.1.2. NOOP Command
Arguments: none
Responses: no specific responses for this command (but see below)
Result: OK - noop completed
BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid
The NOOP command always succeeds. It does nothing.
Since any command can return a status update as untagged data, the
NOOP command can be used as a periodic poll for new messages or
message status updates during a period of inactivity (this is the
preferred method to do this). The NOOP command can also be used
to reset any inactivity autologout timer on the server.
Example: C: a002 NOOP
S: a002 OK NOOP completed
. . .
C: a047 NOOP
S: * 22 EXPUNGE
S: * 23 EXISTS
S: * 3 RECENT
S: * 14 FETCH (FLAGS (\Seen \Deleted))
S: a047 OK NOOP completed
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6.1.3. LOGOUT Command
Arguments: none
Responses: REQUIRED untagged response: BYE
Result: OK - logout completed
BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid
The LOGOUT command informs the server that the client is done with
the connection. The server MUST send a BYE untagged response
before the (tagged) OK response, and then close the network
connection.
Example: C: A023 LOGOUT
S: * BYE IMAP4rev1 Server logging out
S: A023 OK LOGOUT completed
(Server and client then close the connection)
6.2. Client Commands - Not Authenticated State
In the not authenticated state, the AUTHENTICATE or LOGIN command
establishes authentication and enters the authenticated state. The
AUTHENTICATE command provides a general mechanism for a variety of
authentication techniques, privacy protection, and integrity
checking; whereas the LOGIN command uses a traditional user name and
plaintext password pair and has no means of establishing privacy
protection or integrity checking.
The STARTTLS command is an alternate form of establishing session
privacy protection and integrity checking, but does not establish
authentication or enter the authenticated state.
Server implementations MAY allow access to certain mailboxes without
establishing authentication. This can be done by means of the
ANONYMOUS [SASL] authenticator described in [ANONYMOUS]. An older
convention is a LOGIN command using the userid "anonymous"; in this
case, a password is required although the server may choose to accept
any password. The restrictions placed on anonymous users are
implementation-dependent.
Once authenticated (including as anonymous), it is not possible to
re-enter not authenticated state.
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In addition to the universal commands (CAPABILITY, NOOP, and LOGOUT),
the following commands are valid in the not authenticated state:
STARTTLS, AUTHENTICATE and LOGIN. See the Security Considerations
section for important information about these commands.
6.2.1. STARTTLS Command
Arguments: none
Responses: no specific response for this command
Result: OK - starttls completed, begin TLS negotiation
BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid
A [TLS] negotiation begins immediately after the CRLF at the end
of the tagged OK response from the server. Once a client issues a
STARTTLS command, it MUST NOT issue further commands until a
server response is seen and the [TLS] negotiation is complete.