DaniWeb IT Discussion Community - Bounced emails in mailing list?

well... it depends on your mailbox format... on my server, an "inbox" is stored in a single file (every new message is appended to the end of that file). and each of my "official" inboxes has its own file... to make head and/or tail of that, i'd have to read the file, split out each individual message, and parse the headers... if your mailbox is different, the format of stored messages may be different.

if your mailbox is "offshore", i.e. not on the server where you want to perform the check, you'll need to make a POP3 or similar connection to ge hold of the mail.. I know Perl offers handy modules for that purpose, for PHP... the same probably applies.

here's an insightful snippet from my "root" inbox file (/home/fusion/mail/inbox)

From MAILER-DAEMON Fri Dec  1 15:37:46 2006

Date: 01 Dec 2006 15:37:46 +0000

From: Mail System Internal Data <MAILER-DAEMON@{hidden}>

Subject: DON'T DELETE THIS MESSAGE -- FOLDER INTERNAL DATA

Message-ID: <1164987489@{hidden}>

X-IMAP: 1156397484 0000000411

Status: RO



This text is part of the internal format of your mail folder, and is not

a real message.  It is created automatically by the mail system software.

If deleted, important folder data will be lost, and it will be re-created

with the data reset to initial values.



From {hidden} Mon Dec 04 23:26:52 2006

Return-path: <{hidden}>

Envelope-to: {hidden}

Delivery-date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 23:26:52 +0000

Received: from [201.78.244.18] (helo=gabriel)

        by {hidden} with esmtp (Exim 4.52)

        id 1GrNDN-0000hq-0m

        for {hidden}; Mon, 04 Dec 2006 23:26:52 +0000

Received: from 216.200.145.38 (HELO ismtp.{hidden})

     by {hidden} with esmtp (P27LR+)+6*.> ,.DM.)

     id EG@B)K-7UK.L:-5/

     for{hidden}; Mon, 4 Dec 2006 23:27:30 +0180

Message-ID: <01c717fb$c4a471d0$6c822{hidden}>

From: "Gina Reagan" <{hidden}>

To: <{hidden}>

Subject: We accepted your loan request

Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 23:27:30 +0180

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

        boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0007_01C717EB.011BA1D0"

X-Priority: 3

X-MSMail-Priority: Normal

X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1437

X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1437



This is a multi-part message in MIME format.



------=_NextPart_000_0007_01C717EB.011BA1D0

Content-Type: text/plain;

        charset="Windows-1252"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable



Thank you for your loan request, which we recieved yesterday, your refinanc=

e application has been acceptedBad credit OK, We are ready to give you a $3=

13,000 loan, after further review, our lenders have established the lowest =

monthly payments.Approval process will take only 1 minute.Please visit the =

confirmation link below and fill-out our short 30 second Secure Web-Form ww=

w.searchesstart.com

{there was a load more here, but the "next part" bits are most important... they separate each message (and each part of a multipart message}

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01C717BD.070DEF40--

have a poke around your server and look at the mail format...