Mail::Message::Field::Date(3)

NAME
Mail::Message::Field::Date - message header field with uris

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

SYNOPSIS
  my $f = Mail::Message::Field->new(Date => time);
  my $f = Mail::Message::Field::Date->new(Date => time);
  my $date = $f->date;    # cleaned-up and validated
  my $time = $date->time; # converted to POSIX time

DESCRIPTION
Dates are a little more tricky than it should be: the formatting permits a few constructs more than other RFCs use for timestamps. For instance, a small subset of timezone abbreviations are permitted.

The studied date field will reformat the content into a standard form.

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: '""' 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::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

$class->new($data)
    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

    » example:

      my $mmfd = 'Mail::Message::Field::Date';
      my $f = $mmfd->new(Date => time);

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

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

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

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

$obj->addAttribute(...)
    Attributes are not supported for date fields.

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

$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->date()
    The validated and standardized date representation for this field. When the body of this field is not recognized, then this will return "undef".

$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

$obj->time()
    Convert date into a timestamp, as produced with POSIX::time().

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

$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

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

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

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

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

$obj->setWrapLength( [$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::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: 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()"

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

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.