python3 download mail via pop3 and process it

Question

i have printer status reports sent on my email. i would like to download them and process one by one, and all information to put in some database for further processing. i would like to use python3 as i start to learn it. i have this code:

import getpass
import poplib

server = poplib.POP3('pop3.mailserver.com' )

server.user('report@mailserver.com')
server.pass_('pswd')

numMessages = 1 #len(server.list()[1])
emails, total_bytes = server.stat()

print("{0} emails in the inbox, {1} bytes total".format(emails, total_bytes))

for i in range(numMessages):  
    for msg in server.retr(i+1)[1]:
        print(msg)

and what i get is whole email message (with headers and body) in this format:

b'Return-Path: <"tever">'
b'Delivered-To: reportc@mailserver.com'
b'Received: (qmail 13193 invoked by uid 89); 23 May 2012 08:44:51 -0000'
b'Received: by simscan 1.2.0 ppid: 13156, pid: 13164, t: 0.1620s'
b'         scanners: clamav: 0.97-exp/m:53 spam: 3.3.1'
b'X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on mxavas16.ad.aruba.it'
b'X-Spam-Level: *'
b'X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.4 required=5.0 tests=FH_FROMEML_NOTLD,INVALID_MSGID,'
b'\tT_FILL_THIS_FORM_SHORT autolearn=disabled version=3.3.1'
b'Received: from unknown (HELO smtplq02.aruba.it) (62.149.158.35)'
b'  by mxavas16.ad.aruba.it with SMTP; 23 May 2012 08:44:51 -0000'
b'Received: (qmail 30750 invoked by uid 89); 23 May 2012 08:44:51 -0000'
b'Received: from unknown (HELO smtp8.aruba.it) (62.149.158.228)'
b'  by smtplq02.aruba.it with SMTP; 23 May 2012 08:44:51 -0000'
b'Received: (qmail 30979 invoked by uid 89); 23 May 2012 08:44:51 -0000'
b'Received: from unknown (HELO NM7ACD31) (email@server.it@83.xxx.xxx.xxx)'
b'  by smtp8.ad.aruba.it with SMTP; 23 May 2012 08:44:51 -0000'
b'Date: Wed, 23 May 2012 10:46:34 +0200'
b'From: tever'
b'Subject: QEQ1313212'
b'To: report@mailserver.com'
b'Message-Id: <201205231046340001d806.TEVER>'
b'Mime-Version: 1.0'
b'Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"'
b'Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64'
b''
b'RXF1aXBtZW50IElEOiAgICAgICAgICAgICANCk1vZGVsIE5hbWU6ICAgICAgICAg'
b'ICAgICAgQ0RDIDE3MjVfRENDIDI3MjUNClNlcmlhbCBOdW1iZXI6ICAgICAgICAg'
b'ICAgUUVRMTMxMzIxMg0KTWV0ZXJEYXRlOiAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICBXZWQgMjMg'
b'TWF5IDIwMTIgMTA6NDY6MzQNCkNvdW50ZXJzIGJ5IEZ1bmN0aW9uDQogUHJpbnRl'
b'ZCBQYWdlcw0KICBDb3BpZXI6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAyMjE1ICAgIA0KICBQ'
b'cmludGVyOiAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAxMTEyMDQgIA0KICBGQVg6ICAgICAgICAg'
b'ICAgICAgICAgICA5MzIgICAgIA0KICBUb3RhbDogICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAx'
b'MTQzNTEgIA0KIFNjYW5uZWQgUGFnZXMNCiAgQ29waWVyOiAgICAgICAgICAgICAg'
b'ICAgMTkxOSAgICANCiAgRkFYOiAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMjIwNyAgICAN'
b'CiAgT3RoZXI6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMTgyMiAgICANCiAgVG90YWw6ICAg'
b'ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgNTk0OCAgICANCkNvdW50ZXJzIGJ5IFBhcGVyIFNpemUN'
b'Ck1vbm9jaHJvbWUNCiAgQTM6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgNDU0ICAgICAN'
b'CiAgQjQ6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMCAgICAgICANCiAgQTQ6ICAgICAg'
b'ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMTA4MDQ4ICANCiAgQjU6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAg'
b'ICAgNDI3ICAgICANCiAgQTU6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMCAgICAgICAN'
b'CiAgRm9saW86ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMSAgICAgICANCiAgTGVkZ2VyOiAg'
b'ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMCAgICAgICANCiAgTGVnYWw6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAg'
b'ICAgMCAgICAgICANCiAgTGV0dGVyOiAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMCAgICAgICAN'
b'CiAgU3RhdGVtZW50OiAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMCAgICAgICANCiAgT3RoZXIxOiAg'
b'ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMCAgICAgICANCiAgT3RoZXIyOiAgICAgICAgICAgICAg'
b'ICAgMiAgICAgICANCk1vbm8gQ29sb3INCiAgQTM6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAg'
b'ICAgMCAgICAgICANCiAgQjQ6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMCAgICAgICAN'
b'CiAgQTQ6ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgMCAgICAgICANCiAgQjU6ICAgICAg'
b'IE90aGVyIEVycm9ycw0KDQo8V2VkIDIzIE1heSAyMDEyIDEwOjQxOjU0Pg0KICBb'
b'IF0gQWxsIE90aGVyIEVycm9ycw0KDQo8V2VkIDIzIE1heSAyMDEyIDEwOjQ1OjIx'
b'Pg0KICBbKl0gQWRkIFBhcGVyDQoNCi0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0NCkNEQyAx'
b'NzI1X0RDQyAyNzI1DQpbMDA6YzA6ZWU6N2E6Y2Q6MzFdDQotLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0t'
b'LS0tLS0t'
b'DQo='
b''

what i need is to process body content line by line and if it matches i need to delete it from the server.

and tips how to do it?

many thanks gerard

Answer 1

maybe if you start by parsing the message it would be a good start:

# ... get your message ...
# msg = [b'Return-Path: <"tever">'
#        b'Delivered-To: reportc@mailserver.com', ... ]

import email

# decode simple non-multipart message
message = email.message_from_bytes(b'\n'.join(msg))
payload = message.get_payload(decode=True)
payload = payload.decode(message.get_content_charset())
print(payload)

then you can do with the payload whatever you need...