to get right the folders names for imap_mail_move/imap_mail_copy, do not guess, instead use imap_list
(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
imap_mail_move — Move specified messages to a mailbox
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.
imapAn IMAP\Connection instance.
message_nums
message_nums is a range not just message numbers
(as described in » RFC2060).
mailboxThe mailbox name, see imap_open() for more information
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
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 8.1.0 |
The imap parameter expects an IMAP\Connection
instance now; previously, a valid imap resource was expected.
|
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.
to get right the folders names for imap_mail_move/imap_mail_copy, do not guess, instead use imap_listAfter using imap_mail_move, imap_mail_copy or imap_delete it is necesary to call imap_expunge() function.The imap_mail_move() function's second parameter (message_nums parameter) accept two valid values:
Individual message number:
47
or
Array:
47,58,112
Remember four key things in combination!
1. This move function does not move anything, internally it creates a copy and then deletes the original!
2. You should be tracking the Message-Id header (that should be set!) internally to confirm the unique IMAP id.
3. Because when a message is pseudo-"moved" the original message and unique IMAP id are lost! That means after the internal copy (or to us, having been moved) is created you will then have to create a new connection to the second mailbox folder, list or search and verify by internal message identifiers to keep your mail shell synchronized with the external server. Which then in turn means...
4. You will have to track the copied message after it is destroyed in the first mailbox folder. That gives you two logical approaches to use:
4.1 Individually move the message then simply get an index of the destination folder (e.g. moving from inbox to trash), "move" the message using this command, getting the index of the trash mailbox folder and comparing the arrays to determine the oddball out.
4.2 But in reality we're moving multiple messages in a single go so you can scan the mailbox folder for each message however this presumes that the header (e.g. Message-Id) exists.
Example search:
$result = imap_search($mail_connection_folder_trash, "TEXT \"<24322757.12578452.2416351620568@domain.tld>\"", SE_UID);
In my limited experience of a few thousand emails only spammers or devastatingly underpaid developers have not set the Message-Id. You can not presume however that the missing header implies spam as my original system never set it. Hence why it may be necessary to search by a secondary or tertiary means in more non-common scenarios with oddball messages. This may occur in one-in-several thousand instances.
Hopefully this logic will spare a few people the time spent on conceptual work.