---
name: "Email::FolderType"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "libemail-foldertype-perl"
version: "0.814-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Email::FolderType"
---

# Email::FolderType(3pm)

Email::FolderType - determine the type of a mail folder

## NAME

Email::FolderType - Email::FolderType - determine the type of a mail folder

## VERSION

version 0.814

## SYNOPSIS

```
  use Email::FolderType qw(folder_type);
  print folder_type "~/mymbox";     # prints 'Mbox'
  print folder_type "~/a_maildir/"; # prints 'Maildir'
  print folder_type "some_mh/.";    # prints 'MH'
  print folder_type "an_archive//"; # prints 'Ezmlm'
```

## DESCRIPTION

Provides a utility subroutine for detecting the type of a given mail folder.

## SUBROUTINES

### folder\_type \<path\>

Automatically detects what type of mail folder the path refers to and returns the name of that type.

It primarily bases the type on the suffix of the path given.

```
  Suffix | Type
 --------+---------
  /      | Maildir
  /.     | MH
  //     | Ezmlm
```

In case of no known suffix it checks for a known file structure.  If that doesn't work out it defaults to `"Mbox"` although, if the `"Mbox"` matcher has been overridden or the default changed (see **DEFAULT MATCHER** below) then it will return undef.

### matchers

Returns a list of all the matchers available to the system.

## DEFAULT MATCHER

Currently the default matcher is `"Mbox"` and therefore it is always checked last and always returns `1`.

If you really want to change this then you should override `"Email::FolderType::Mbox::match"` and/or change the variable `$Email::FolderType::DEFAULT` to be something other than `'Mbox'`.

```
        use Email::FolderType;
        use Email::FolderType::Mbox;
        $Email::FolderType::DEFAULT = 'NewDefault';
    package Email::FolderType::Mbox;
    sub match { return (defined $_[0] && -f $_[0]) }
        package Email::FolderType::NewDefault;
        sub match { return (defined $_[0] && $_[0] =~ m!some crazy pattern!) }
        1;
```

## REGISTERING NEW TYPES

`"Email::FolderType"` briefly flirted with a rather clunky `"register_type"` method for registering new matchers but, in retrospect that wasn't a great idea.

Instead, in this version we've reverted to a `"Module::Pluggable"` based system - any classes in the `"Email::FolderType::"` namespace will be interrogated to see if they have a c\<match\> method.

If they do then it will be passed the folder name. If the folder matches then the match function should return `1`. For example ...

```
    package Email::FolderType::GzippedMbox;
    sub match {
        my $folder = shift;
        return (-f $folder && $folder =~ /.gz$/);
    }
    1;
```

These can even be defined inline ...

```
    #!perl -w
    use strict;
    use Email::Folder;
    use Email::LocalDelivery;
    # copy all mail from an IMAP folder
    my $folder = Email::Folder->new('imap://example.com'); # read INBOX
    for ($folder->messages) {
        Email::LocalDelivery->deliver($_->as_string, 'local_mbox');
    }
    package Email::FolderType::IMAP;
    sub match {
        my $folder = shift;
        return $folder =~ m!^imap://!;
    }
    1;
```

If there is demand for a compatability shim for the old `"register_type"` method then we can implement one. Really though, this is much better in the long run.

## AUTHOR

Simon Wistow \<simon@thegestalt.org\>

## COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2005 by Simon Wistow.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.