=encoding utf8

=head1 NAME

Mail::Message::Construct::Reply - reply to a Mail::Message

=head1 SYNOPSIS

  my Mail::Message $reply = $message->reply;
  my $quoted  = $message->replyPrelude($head->get('From'));

=head1 DESCRIPTION

Complex functionality on L<Mail::Message|Mail::Message> objects is implemented in
different files which are autoloaded.  This file implements the
functionality related to creating message replies.

=head1 METHODS

=head2 Constructing a message

=over 4

=item $obj-E<gt>B<reply>(%options)

Start a reply to this message. Some of the header-lines of the original
message will be taken. A message-id will be assigned. Some header lines
will be updated to facilitate message-thread detection
(see L<Mail::Box::Thread::Manager|Mail::Box::Thread::Manager>).

You may reply to a whole message or a message part.  You may wish to
overrule some of the default header settings for the reply immediately,
or you may do that later with C<set> on the header.

Addresses may be specified as string, or a L<Mail::Address|Mail::Address> object, or as
array of L<Mail::Address|Mail::Address> objects.

All C<%options> which are not listed below AND start with a capital, will
be added as additional headers to the reply message.

 -Option         --Default
  Bcc              undef
  Cc               <'cc' in current>
  From             <'to' in current>
  Message-ID       <uniquely generated>
  Subject          replySubject()
  To               <sender in current>
  body             undef
  group_reply      true
  include          'INLINE'
  max_signature    10
  message_type     Mail::Message
  postlude         undef
  prelude          undef
  quote            '> '
  signature        undef
  strip_signature  qr/^--\s/

=over 2

=item Bcc => $body|$address|\@addresses

Receivers of blind carbon copies: their names will not be published to
other message receivers.

=item Cc => $body|$address|\@addresses

The carbon-copy receivers, by default a copy of the C<Cc> field of
the source message.

=item From => $body|$address|\@addresses

Your identification, by default taken from the C<To> field of the
source message.

=item Message-ID => STRING

Supply a STRING as specific message-id for the reply.  By default, one is
generated for you.  If there are no angles around your id, they will be
added.

=item Subject => STRING|CODE

Force the subject line to the specific STRING, or the result of the
subroutine specified by CODE.  The subroutine will be called passing
the subject of the original message as only argument.  By default,
L<Mail::Message::replySubject()|Mail::Message::Construct::Reply/"Constructing a message"> is used.

=item To => $body|$address|\@addresses

The destination of your message.  By default taken from the C<Reply-To>
field in the source message.  If that field is not present as well, the
C<From> line is scanned.  If they all fail, C<undef> is returned by this
method: no reply message produced.

=item body => $body

Usually, the reply method can create a nice, sufficient message from the
source message's body.  In case you like more complicated reformatting,
you may also create a body yourself first, and pass this on to this
C<reply> method. Some of the other options to this method will be ignored
in this case.

=item group_reply => BOOLEAN

Will the people listed in the C<Cc> headers (those who received the
message where you reply to now) also receive this message as carbon
copy?

=item include => 'NO'|'INLINE'|'ATTACH'

Must the message where this is a reply to be included in the message?
If C<NO> then not.  With C<INLINE> a reply body is composed. C<ATTACH>
will create a multi-part body, where the original message is added
after the specified body.  It is only possible to inline textual
messages, therefore binary or multipart messages will always be
enclosed as attachment.

=item max_signature => INTEGER

Passed to C<stripSignature> on the body as parameter C<max_lines>.  Only
effective for single-part messages.

=item message_type => CLASS

Create a message with the requested type.  By default, it will be a
L<Mail::Message|Mail::Message>.  This is correct, because it will be coerced into
the correct folder message type when it is added to that folder.

=item postlude => $body|\@lines

The C<@lines> which to be added after the quoted reply lines.  Create a
body for it first.  This should not include the signature, which has its
own option.  The signature will be added after the postlude when the
reply is INLINEd.

=item prelude => $body|\@lines

The C<@lines> which will be added before the quoted reply lines.  If nothing
is specified, the result of the L<replyPrelude()|Mail::Message::Construct::Reply/"Constructing a message"> method
is taken.  When C<undef> is specified, no prelude will be added.

=item quote => CODE|STRING

Mangle the lines of an C<INLINE>d reply with CODE, or by prepending a
STRING to each line.  The routine specified by CODE is called when the
line is in C<$_>.

By default, C<'E<gt> '> is added before each line.  Specify C<undef> to
disable quoting.  This option is processed after the body has been decoded.

=item signature => $body|$message

The signature to be added in case of a multi-part reply.  The mime-type
of the signature body should indicate this is a used as such.  However,
in INLINE mode, the body will be taken, a line containing C<'-- '> added
before it, and added behind the epilogue.

=item strip_signature => REGEXP|STRING|CODE

Remove the signature of the sender.  The value of this parameter is
passed to L<Mail::Message::Body::stripSignature(pattern)|Mail::Message::Body::Construct/"Constructing a body"> unless the
source text is not included.  The signature is stripped from the message
before quoting.

When a multipart body is encountered, and the message is included to
ATTACH, the parts which look like signatures will be removed.  If only
one message remains, it will be the added as single attachment, otherwise
a nested multipart will be the result.  The value of this option does not
matter, as long as it is present.  See L<Mail::Message::Body::Multipart|Mail::Message::Body::Multipart>.

=back

» example: 

  my $reply = $msg->reply(
    prelude         => "No spam, please!\n\n",
    postlude        => "\nGreetings\n",
    strip_signature => 1,
    signature       => $my_pgp_key,
    group_reply     => 1,
    'X-Extra'       => 'additional header',
  );

=item $obj-E<gt>B<replyPrelude>( [STRING|$field|$address|\@addrs|\@fields] )

Produces a LIST of lines (usually only one), which will preceed the
quoted body of the message.  C<STRING> must comply to the RFC822 email
address specification, and is usually the content of a C<To> or C<From>
header line.  If a C<$field> is given, the field's body must be
compliant.  Without argument --or when the argument is C<undef>-- a
slightly different line is produced.

In case an ARRAY of C<@addrs> or C<@fields> is passed, the first one is taken.
This simplified situations where multiple addresses are a allowed.

» example: characteristic example of the output

  On Thu Oct 13 04:54:34 1995, him@example.com wrote:

=item $any-E<gt>B<replySubject>(STRING)

Create a subject for a message which is a reply for this one.  This routine
tries to count the level of reply in subject field, and transform it into
a standard form.  Please contribute improvements.

» example: 

  subject                 --> Re: subject
  Re: subject             --> Re[2]: subject
  Re[X]: subject          --> Re[X+1]: subject
  subject (Re)            --> Re[2]: subject
  subject (Forw)          --> Re[2]: subject
  <blank>                 --> Re: your mail

=back

=head1 DIAGNOSTICS

=over 4

=item Error: cannot include reply source as $kind.

Unknown alternative for the C<include> option of L<reply()|Mail::Message::Construct::Reply/"Constructing a message">.  Valid
choices are C<NO>, C<INLINE>, and C<ATTACH>.
Cast by C<reply()>

=back

=head1 SEE ALSO

This module is part of Mail-Message version 4.03,
built on January 26, 2026. Website: F<http://perl.overmeer.net/CPAN/>

=head1 LICENSE

For contributors see file ChangeLog.

This software is copyright (c) 2001-2026 by Mark Overmeer.

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

