Mail::Message::Field::Addresses(3pm)

NAME
Mail::Message::Field::Addresses - Fields with e-mail addresses

INHERITANCE
 Mail::Message::Field::Addresses
   is a Mail::Message::Field::Structured
   is a Mail::Message::Field::Full
   is a Mail::Message::Field
   is a Mail::Reporter

SYNOPSIS
  my $cc = Mail::Message::Field::Full->new('Cc');
  my $me = Mail::Message::Field::Address->parse('"Test" <test@mail.box>')
  my $other = Mail::Message::Field::Address->new(phrase => 'Other',
        address => 'other@example.com');

  $cc->addAddress($me);
  $cc->addAddress($other, group => 'them');
  $cc->addAddress(phrase => 'third', address => 'more@any.museum',
    group => 'them');

  my $group = $cc->addGroup(name => 'collegues');
  $group->addAddress($me);
  $group->addAddress(phrase => "You", address => 'you@example.com');

  my $msg = Mail::Message->build(Cc => $cc);
  print $msg->string;

  my $g  = Mail::Message::Field::AddrGroup->new(...);
  $cc->addGroup($g);

DESCRIPTION
All header fields which contain e-mail addresses only. Not all address fields have the same possibilities, but they are all parsed the same: you never know how broken the applications are which produce those messages.

When you try to create constructs which are not allowed for a certain kind of field, you will be warned.

RFC5322 did allow address groups for "To" and "Cc", but not to be used in (amongst other) "From" and "Sender" fields. This restriction got lifted by RFC6854 (2013). <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6854>

Extends "DESCRIPTION" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

OVERLOADED
Extends "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

overload: "" stringification
    Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

overload: 0+ numification
    Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Message::Field

overload: <=> numeric comparison
    Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Message::Field

overload: bool boolean
    Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Message::Field

overload: cmp string comparison
    Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Message::Field

METHODS
Extends "METHODS" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

  Constructors
Extends "Constructors" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$obj->clone()
    Inherited, see "Constructors" in Mail::Message::Field

$class->from($field, %options)
    Inherited, see "Constructors" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$class->new()
    Inherited, see "METHODS" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured

     -Option    --Defined in                      --Default
      attributes  Mail::Message::Field::Structured  <ignored>
      charset     Mail::Message::Field::Full        undef
      datum       Mail::Message::Field::Structured  undef
      encoding    Mail::Message::Field::Full        'q'
      force       Mail::Message::Field::Full        false
      language    Mail::Message::Field::Full        undef

    attributes => \@attributes|\%attributes
    charset => $charset
    datum => $date
    encoding => 'q'|'Q'|'b'|'B'
    force => BOOLEAN
    language => $language

  Attributes
Extends "Attributes" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

  The field
Extends "The field" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$any->isStructured( [$name] )
    Inherited, see "The field" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->length()
    Inherited, see "The field" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->nrLines()
    Inherited, see "The field" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->print( [$fh] )
    Inherited, see "The field" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->size()
    Inherited, see "The field" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->string( [$wrap] )
    Inherited, see "The field" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->toDisclose()
    Inherited, see "The field" in Mail::Message::Field

  Access to the name
Extends "Access to the name" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$obj->Name()
    Inherited, see "Access to the name" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->name()
    Inherited, see "Access to the name" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->wellformedName( [STRING] )
    Inherited, see "Access to the name" in Mail::Message::Field

  Access to the body
Extends "Access to the body" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$obj->body()
    Inherited, see "Access to the body" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->decodedBody(%options)
    Inherited, see "Access to the body" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$obj->folded()
    Inherited, see "Access to the body" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->foldedBody( [$body] )
    Inherited, see "Access to the body" in Mail::Message::Field

$any->stripCFWS( [STRING] )
    Inherited, see "Access to the body" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->unfoldedBody( [$body, [$wrap]] )
    Inherited, see "Access to the body" in Mail::Message::Field

  Access to the content
Extends "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$obj->addAddress( [$address], %options )
    Add an $address to the field. The addresses are organized in groups. If no group is specified, the default group is taken to store the address in. If no $address is specified, the option must be sufficient to create a Mail::Message::Field::Address from. See the %options of Mail::Message::Field::Address::new().

     -Option--Default
      group   ''

    group => STRING
$obj->addAttribute(...)
    Attributes are not supported for address fields.

$obj->addGroup($group|%options)
    Add a group of addresses to this field. A $group can be specified, which is a Mail::Message::Field::AddrGroup object, or one is created for you using the %options. The group is returned.

     -Option--Default
      name    ''

    name => STRING
$obj->addresses()
    Returns a list with all addresses defined in any group of addresses: all addresses which are specified on the line. The addresses are Mail::Message::Field::Address objects. Improves base, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field

    » example:

      my @addr = $field->addresses;

$obj->attrPairs()
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured

$obj->attribute( $object|<STRING, %options>|<$name,$value,%options> )
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured

$obj->attributes()
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured

$obj->beautify()
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$obj->comment( [STRING] )
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field

$any->createComment(STRING, %options)
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$any->createPhrase(STRING, %options)
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$obj->group($name)
    Returns the group of addresses with the specified $name, or "undef" if it does not exist. If $name is "undef", then the default groep is returned.

$obj->groupNames()
    Returns a list with all group names which are defined.

$obj->groups()
    Returns all address groups which are defined in this field. Each element is a Mail::Message::Field::AddrGroup object.

$obj->study()
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field

$any->toDate( [$time] )
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->toInt()
    Inherited, see "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field

  Other methods
Extends "Other methods" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$any->dateToTimestamp(STRING)
    Inherited, see "Other methods" in Mail::Message::Field

  Internals
Extends "Internals" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$obj->consume( $line | <$name,<$body|$objects>> )
    Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Message::Field

$any->decode(STRING, %options)
    Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$obj->defaultWrapLength( [$length] )
    Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->encode(STRING, %options)
    Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$any->fold( $name, $body, [$maxchars] )
    Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->setWrapLength( [$length] )
    Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->stringifyData(STRING|ARRAY|$objects)
    Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Message::Field

$obj->unfold(STRING)
    Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Message::Field

  Parsing
Extends "Parsing" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$obj->consumeAddress(STRING, %options)
    Try to destilate address information from the "STRING". Returned are an address object and the left-over string. If no address was found, the first returned value is "undef".

$any->consumeComment(STRING)
    Inherited, see "Parsing" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$obj->consumeDomain(STRING)
    Try to get a valid domain representation from "STRING". Returned are the domain string as found (or "undef") and the rest of the string.

$obj->consumeDotAtom(STRING)
    Inherited, see "Parsing" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$any->consumePhrase(STRING)
    Inherited, see "Parsing" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$obj->datum( [$value] )
    Inherited, see "Parsing" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured

$obj->parse($string)
    Inherited, see "Parsing" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

$obj->produceBody()
    Inherited, see "Parsing" in Mail::Message::Field::Full

  Error handling
Extends "Error handling" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$obj->AUTOLOAD()
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->notImplemented()
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

  Cleanup
Extends "Cleanup" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

$obj->DESTROY()
    Inherited, see "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter

DETAILS
Extends "DETAILS" in Mail::Message::Field::Structured.

DIAGNOSTICS

Error: class $package does not implement method $method.
    Fatal error: the specific $package (or one of its superclasses) does not implement this method where it should. This message means that some other related classes do implement this method however the class at hand does not. Probably you should investigate this and probably inform the author of the package. Cast by notImplemented()

Warning: field content is not numerical: $content
    The numeric value of a field is requested (for instance the "Lines" or "Content-Length" fields should be numerical), however the data contains weird characters. Cast by toInt()

Error: field name too long (max $count), in '$name'.
    It is not specified in the RFCs how long a field name can be, but at least it should be a few characters shorter than the line wrap. Cast by fold()

Warning: ignoring addressless phrase '$phrase'.
    Cast by parse()

Warning: illegal character in charset '$name'.
    The field is created with an utf8 string which only contains data from the specified character set. However, that character set can never be a valid name because it contains characters which are not permitted. Cast by encode()

Warning: illegal character in field name $name.
    A new field is being created which does contain characters not permitted by the RFCs. Using this field in messages may break other e-mail clients or transfer agents, and therefore mutulate or extinguish your message. Cast by consume()

Warning: illegal character in language '$name'.
    The field is created with data which is specified to be in a certain language, however, the name of the language cannot be valid: it contains characters which are not permitted by the RFCs. Cast by encode()

Warning: illegal encoding '$name', using 'q'.
    The RFCs only permit base64 ("b " or "B ") or quoted-printable ("q" or "Q") encoding. Other than these four options are illegal. Cast by encode()

Warning: illegal part in address field $name: $part.
    Cast by parse()

Error: no attributes for address fields.
    Is is not possible to add attributes to address fields: it is not permitted by the RFCs. Cast by addAttribute()

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

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.