Mail::Message::Field::Fast(3)

NAME
Mail::Message::Field::Fast - one line of a message header

INHERITANCE
 Mail::Message::Field::Fast
   is a Mail::Message::Field
   is a Mail::Reporter

SYNOPSIS
  See Mail::Message::Field

DESCRIPTION
This is the faster, but less flexible implementation of a header field. The data is stored in an array, and some hacks are made to speeds things up. Be gentle with me, and consider that each message contains many of these lines, so speed is very important here.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

$class->new(($line | $name, $body, [$attributes]), %options)
    The constructor of this object does not follow the usual practise within the Mail::Box suite: it does not use the constructor Mail::Reporter::new().

    The method can be used in one of the following ways:

    •   new($line, %options)

        Pass a $line as it could be found in a file: a (possibly folded) line which is terminated by a new-line.

    •   new($name, $body, [$attributes], %options)

        A set of values which shape the line.

    Create a new header field object. Specify the whole $line (encoded octets) at once, and it will be split-up for you. I case you already have the parts of the header line, you may specify them separately as $name and field $body.

    In case you specify a single $body object, or an ARRAY of objects, these are processed to become suitable to fill a field, usually by simple strification. When you specify one or more Mail::Address objects, these are transformed into a string using their "format" method. You may also add one Mail::Message::Field, whose body is taken. In case of an array, the elements are joined into one string with a comma.

    The $attributes can be exactly one string which may contain multiple attributes at once, quoted and formatted as required in RFC2822. As alternative, list of key-value pairs can be used. In this case, the values will get quoted if needed and everything formatted as the protocol demands. Improves base, see "Constructors" in Mail::Message::Field

    » example:

      my $mime = Mail::Message::Field->new(
        'Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII');

      my $mime = Mail::Message::Field->new(
        'Content-Type' => 'text/plain; charset=US-ASCII');

      my $mime = Mail::Message::Field->new(
        'Content-Type' => 'text/plain', 'charset=US-ASCII');

      my $mime = Mail::Message::Field->new(
        'Content-Type' => 'text/plain', charset => 'Latin1');

      my $mime = Mail::Message::Field->new(
        To => Mail::Address->new('My', 'me@example.com');

      my $mime = Mail::Message::Field->new( Cc => [
        Mail::Address->new('You', 'you@example.com'),
        Mail::Address->new('His', 'he@example.com')
      ]);

    But in practice, you can simply call

      my $head = Mail::Message::Head->new;
      $head->add( 'Content-Type' => 'text/plain', charset => 'utf8');

    which implicitly calls this constructor (when needed). You can specify the same things for Mail::Message::Head::Complete::add() as this "new" accepts.

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

$obj->Name()
    Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Message::Field

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

$obj->folded()
    Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Message::Field

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

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

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

$obj->wellformedName( [STRING] )
    Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Message::Field

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

$any->isStructured( [$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 content
Extends "Access to the content" in Mail::Message::Field.

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

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

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

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

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

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

$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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

$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.

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

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

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: 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()"

SEE ALSO
This module is part of Mail-Message version 4.05, built on April 10, 2026. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/

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.