PHP Manual
Prev |  | Next

# imap_open

(PHP 3, PHP 4, PHP 5)

imap_open -- Open an IMAP stream to a mailbox

## Description

resource imap_open ( string mailbox, string username, string password [, int options] )

Returns an IMAP stream on success and `FALSE` on error. This function can also be used to open streams to POP3 and NNTP servers, but some functions and features are only available on IMAP servers.

A mailbox name consists of a server part and a mailbox path on this server. The special name INBOX stands for the current users personal mailbox. The server part, which is enclosed in '{' and '}', consists of the servers name or ip address, an optional port (prefixed by ':'), and an optional protocol specification (prefixed by '/'). The server part is mandatory in all mailbox parameters. Mailbox names that contain international characters besides those in the printable ASCII space have to be encoded with imap_utf7_encode().

All names which start with { are remote names, and are in the form "{" remote_system_name [":" port] [flags] "}" [mailbox_name] where:

- remote_system_name - Internet domain name or bracketed IP address of server.

- port - optional TCP port number, default is the default port for that service

- flags - optional flags, see following table.

- mailbox_name - remote mailbox name, default is INBOX

Table 1. Optional flags for names

Flag | Description
--- | ---
/service=service | mailbox access service, default is "imap"
/user=user | remote user name for login on the server
/authuser=user | remote authentication user; if specified this is the user name whose password is used (e.g. administrator)
/anonymous | remote access as anonymous user
/debug | record protocol telemetry in application's debug log
/secure | do not transmit a plaintext password over the network
/imap, /imap2, /imap2bis, /imap4, /imap4rev1 | equivalent to /service=imap
/pop3 | equivalent to /service=pop3
/nntp | equivalent to /service=nntp
/norsh | do not use rsh or ssh to establish a preauthenticated IMAP session
/ssl | use the Secure Socket Layer to encrypt the session
/validate-cert | validate certificates from TLS/SSL server (this is the default behavior)
/novalidate-cert | do not validate certificates from TLS/SSL server, needed if server uses self-signed certificates
/tls | force use of start-TLS to encrypt the session, and reject connection to servers that do not support it
/notls | do not do start-TLS to encrypt the session, even with servers that support it
/readonly | request read-only mailbox open (IMAP only; ignored on NNTP, and an error with SMTP and POP3)

The options are a bit mask with one or more of the following:

- `OP_READONLY` - Open mailbox read-only

- `OP_ANONYMOUS` - Don't use or update a `.newsrc` for news (NNTP only)

- `OP_HALFOPEN` - For IMAP and NNTP names, open a connection but don't open a mailbox.

- `CL_EXPUNGE` - Expunge mailbox automatically upon mailbox close (see also imap_delete() and imap_expunge())

- `OP_DEBUG` - Debug protocol negotiations

- `OP_SHORTCACHE` - Short (elt-only) caching

- `OP_SILENT` - Don't pass up events (internal use)

- `OP_PROTOTYPE` - Return driver prototype

- `OP_EXPUNGE` - Silently expunge recycle stream

- `OP_SECURE` - Don't do non-secure authentication

Example 1. Different use of imap_open()
`<?php // To connect to an IMAP server running on port 143 on the local machine, // do the following: $mbox = imap_open("{localhost:143}INBOX", "user_id", "password"); // To connect to a POP3 server on port 110 on the local server, use: $mbox = imap_open ("{localhost:110/pop3}INBOX", "user_id", "password"); // To connect to an SSL IMAP or POP3 server, add /ssl after the protocol // specification: $mbox = imap_open ("{localhost:993/imap/ssl}INBOX", "user_id", "password"); // To connect to an SSL IMAP or POP3 server with a self-signed certificate, // add /ssl/novalidate-cert after the protocol specification: $mbox = imap_open ("{localhost:995/pop3/ssl/novalidate-cert}", "user_id", "password"); // To connect to an NNTP server on port 119 on the local server, use: $nntp = imap_open ("{localhost:119/nntp}comp.test", "", ""); // To connect to a remote server replace "localhost" with the name or the // IP address of the server you want to connect to. ?>`

Example 2. imap_open() example
`<?php $mbox = imap_open("{imap.example.org:143}", "username", "password"); echo "<h1>Mailboxes</h1>\n"; $folders = imap_listmailbox($mbox, "{imap.example.org:143}", "*"); if ($folders == false) { echo "Call failed<br />\n"; } else { foreach ($folders as $val) { echo $val . "<br />\n"; } } echo "<h1>Headers in INBOX</h1>\n"; $headers = imap_headers($mbox); if ($headers == false) { echo "Call failed<br />\n"; } else { foreach ($headers as $val) { echo $val . "<br />\n"; } } imap_close($mbox); ?>`

Prev | Home | Next
imap_num_recent | Up | imap_ping