imap_mail_move

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

imap_mail_move — Move specified messages to a mailbox

Description

imap_mail_move(
    IMAP\Connection $imap,
    string $message_nums,
    string $mailbox,
    int $flags = 0
): bool

Moves mail messages specified by message_nums to the specified mailbox. Note that the mail messages are actually copied to the mailbox, and the original messages are flagged for deletion. That implies that the messages in mailbox are assigned new UIDs.

Parameters

imap

An IMAP\Connection instance.

message_nums

message_nums is a range not just message numbers (as described in » RFC2060).

mailbox

The mailbox name, see imap_open() for more information

Warning

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

flags

flags is a bitmask and may contain the single option:

CP_UID - the sequence numbers contain UIDS

Return Values

Returns true on success 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.

Notes

Note:
imap_mail_move() will flag the original mail with a delete flag, to successfully delete it a call to the imap_expunge() function must be made.

User Contributed Notes 13 notes

down

FredN ¶

4 years ago


to get right the folders names for imap_mail_move/imap_mail_copy, do not guess, instead use imap_list

down

juuuugroid at yahoo dot com ¶

22 years ago


I had the most trouble with figureing out what the message list was supposed to be.  There was one comment by jan@showstar.com but i was still terribly confused.  So I searched and searched and searched.  I read rfc2060 over 10 times.  Then BAM!  My brother found it here:

http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc2060.html#sec-6.4.7

Here is the importand stuff. 

Another important field is the SEQUENCE, which identifies a set of messages by consecutive numbers from 1 to n where n is the number of messages in the mailbox.  A sequence may consist of a single number, a pair of numbers delimited by colon (equivalent to all numbers between those two numbers), or a list of single numbers or number pairs.  For example, the sequence 2,4:7,9,12:15 is equivalent to
   2,4,5,6,7,9,12,13,14,15 and identifies all those messages.

There is what I know about it.  BAM!

down

ThEDocTor ¶

13 years ago


To copy/move a mail in Gmail to a particular Folder like Starred/Spam/Drafts/Trash



use the following statement and don't forget to call CL_EXPUNGE or imap_expunge($mbox) after it.



<?php

imap_mail_copy($mbox,'16','[Gmail]/Starred'); // 16 is the message number, which can also be a range.(ex: '1:15')



imap_close($mbox,CL_EXPUNGE);

?>



Incase u want to send it to a personally created Label/folder(ex: Test) use..



<?php 

imap_mail_copy($mbox,'16','Test');

imap_expunge($mbox);

imap_close($mbox);

?>

down

alex at bestgames dot ro ¶

19 years ago


After using imap_mail_move, imap_mail_copy or imap_delete it is necesary to call imap_expunge() function.

down

laurent dot penou at gadz dot org ¶

23 years ago


to complete the previous example, if the mbox/folders names are

{imap.free.fr}INBOX

{imap.free.fr}INBOX/draft

{imap.free.fr}INBOX/test



and you want to copy/move from INBOX to INBOX/test this is the syntax:



$mbox = imap_open("{imap.free.fr}INBOX",$mailuser,$mailpass)

      or die("can't connect: ".imap_last_error());

...

imap_mail_move($mbox,$messageset,"INBOX/test"); 



Hope this could help !

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portico dot nospam at neverwas dot net ¶

24 years ago


This function works, just not like everything else IMAP in PHP3... rather than feeding the server {server.ext/type:port}folder just feed it the folder's name.

down

php at guardn dot de ¶

21 years ago


To move mails via IMAP on an Exchange Server into "Gel?schte Objekte" use:

imap_mail_move($mbox, $delmsg, "Gel&APY-schte Objekte");

It took me some tcpdumping to get this out, since both
imap_utf7_encode and
imap_utf8

did not translate it right.

Guardn

down

phpmanual at NOSPAMPLEASE dot headbank dot co dot uk ¶

4 years ago


Be aware that this function returning TRUE doesn't necessarily mean anything actually happened.

It counts as "success" if all messages matching the range you supply were moved; however that includes if there were _no_ matching messages to move.

So suppose you supply a sequence-number or UID that's invalid, e.g. because  it's no longer present in the source folder:

<?php
$res = imap_mail_move($stream, '99999', 'DestFolder', CP_UID);

var_dump($res); // bool(true)
?>

It's up to you to validate the desired message(s) before moving, and/or afterwards.

down

jim dot bodine at comcast dot net ¶

17 years ago


I offer the following example because it took me HOURS to figure this out

<?php
$this->mailInBox = imap_open($this->mailConnectString."INBOX", $this->accountLogin, $this->accountPassword);

            $this->messageCount = imap_num_msg($this->mailInBox);
            echo "Processing " . $this->messageCount . " messages:<Br>";
            for ($i = 1; $i <= $this->messageCount; ++$i) {
                $header = imap_header($this->mailInBox, $i);
                                
                $prettydate = date("jS F Y", $header->udate);
                $fromHost = $header->from[0]->host;
                
                if (isset($header->from[0]->personal)) {
                    $personal = $header->from[0]->personal;
                } else {
                    $personal = $header->from[0]->mailbox;
                }
                
                $body = imap_fetchbody($this->mailInBox, $i, "1.1");
                if ($body == "") {
                   $body = imap_fetchbody($this->mailInBox, $i, "1");
                }

                    $move = "INBOX.processed" . date("Ymd");
                    echo "trying to move:" . $i . "<br>";
                    @imap_mail_move($this->mailInBox, $i, $move); 
                                        
                }

?>

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vlad (php.net) ¶

22 years ago


This keeps biting me time after time. A lot of IMAP servers with quotas don't implement 'move' right - they do a 'copy&delete' instead and don't recognize that this conflicts with their quota implementetions. So, if you try to move a large message, you'll exceed your quota even though moving it does not increase the total size of your mailbox. This is not PHP-specific, but I bet it'll bite someone else besides me, so here you go.

down

ian at showstar dot com ¶

24 years ago


The syntax for the message list is defined in RFC2060

It is a string, containing a list of message numbers and ranges, separated by commas (no spaces anywhere.) For example, "1,2,5,11:15,19" would be accepted by imap_mail_copy or imap_mail_move.

A range of messages is defined as two message numbers separated by a colon (Ex. "1:10".) Also, a "*" may be used to refer to the last message in a mailbox. (Ex. "1:*" refers to all messages)

Be careful not to use the same mailbox for source and destination, especially if you expunge the mailbox immediately afterwards; the message will be copied (back over itself), flagged as deleted (by the imap_mail_move function), and then expunged.



The following code will move the messages in the $msg_no[] array from the folder in $mbox_name to the folder in $newmbox_name: ($mbox is an already-opened imap stream)



<?php

if ($mbox_name != $newmbox_name) {

  reset($msg_no);

  $messageset = implode (",",$msg_no);

  imap_mail_move($mbox,$messageset,$newmbox_name);

  imap_expunge($mbox);

}

?>

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matt at bonneau dot net ¶

25 years ago


This function copies the mail and then marks the source as deleted.  In order to see the changes, you must imap_expunge the source box.

down

-2

dinter at gmx dot de ¶

21 years ago


I've used a dot in
imap_mail_move($mbox,$movmsgid,'INBOX.send');
instead of
INBOX/test
and it work's fine.

add a note

imap_mail_move

Description

Parameters

Return Values

Changelog

Notes

See Also

User Contributed Notes 13 notes