2.4. POP3¶

2.4.1. Connection¶

If port is not specified, the standard POP3 port (110)
If port is not specified, 995, the standard POP3-over-SSL port is used

2.4.2. `poplib` API¶

Table 2.12. `poplib` API¶
Method	Arguments	Description
`poplib.POP3()`	`host`, `port=POP3_PORT`, `timeout=None`	This class implements the actual POP3 protocol
`poplib.POP3_SSL()`	`host`, `port=POP3_SSL_PORT`, `keyfile=None`, `certfile=None`, `timeout=None`, `context=None`	This is a subclass of POP3 that connects to the server over an SSL encrypted socket
`POP3.user()`	`username`	Send user command, response should indicate that a password is required
`POP3.pass_()`	`password`	Send password, response includes message count and mailbox size
`POP3.apop()`	`user`, `secret`	Use the more secure APOP authentication to log into the POP3 server
`POP3.stat()`		Get mailbox status. The result is a tuple of 2 integers: (message count, mailbox size)
`POP3.list()`	`which=None`	Request message list, result is in the form `(response, ['mesg_num octets', ...], octets)`
`POP3.retr()`	`which`	Retrieve whole message number which, and set its seen flag. Result is in form `(response, ['line', ...], octets)`
`POP3.dele()`	`which`	Flag message number which for deletion
`POP3.rset()`		Remove any deletion marks for the mailbox
`POP3.quit()`		Signoff: commit changes, unlock mailbox, drop connection
`POP3.top()`	`which`, `howmuch`	Retrieves the message header plus howmuch lines of the message after the header of message number which
`POP3.utf8()`		Try to switch to UTF-8 mode. Returns the server response if successful, raises error_proto if not
`POP3.stls()`	`context=None`	Start a TLS session on the active connection as specified in RFC 2595. This is only allowed before user authentication

2.4.3. Retrieve Messages with POP3¶

Code 2.60. Secured connection to the SMTP server¶

import poplib


POP3_HOST = 'localhost'
POP3_PORT = 995
POP3_USER = 'myusername'
POP3_PASS = 'mypassword'


server = poplib.POP3_SSL(host=POP3_HOST, port=POP3_PORT, timeout=30)
server.user(POP3_USER)
server.pass_(POP3_PASS)

status, messages, length = server.list()

for message in messages:
    msgid, length = message.split()
    status, content, length = server.retr(int(msgid))
    mail = '\r\n'.join(line.decode() for line in content)

    print(mail)
    print('-' * 30)

"""
Return-Path: <root@ip-172-31-5-83.eu-central-1.compute.internal>
X-Original-To: upload@localhost
Delivered-To: upload@localhost
Received: by ip-172-31-5-83.eu-central-1.compute.internal (Postfix, from userid 0)
	id 2481544BD5; Thu, 23 May 2019 07:36:17 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: test
To: <upload@localhost>
X-Mailer: mail (GNU Mailutils 3.4)
Message-Id: <20190523073617.2481544BD5@ip-172-31-5-83.eu-central-1.compute.internal>
Date: Thu, 23 May 2019 07:36:17 +0000 (UTC)
From: root <root@ip-172-31-5-83.eu-central-1.compute.internal>

hello
------------------------------
"""