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authorGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000
committerGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000
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+:mod:`mailcap` --- Mailcap file handling
+========================================
+
+.. module:: mailcap
+ :synopsis: Mailcap file handling.
+
+
+
+Mailcap files are used to configure how MIME-aware applications such as mail
+readers and Web browsers react to files with different MIME types. (The name
+"mailcap" is derived from the phrase "mail capability".) For example, a mailcap
+file might contain a line like ``video/mpeg; xmpeg %s``. Then, if the user
+encounters an email message or Web document with the MIME type
+:mimetype:`video/mpeg`, ``%s`` will be replaced by a filename (usually one
+belonging to a temporary file) and the :program:`xmpeg` program can be
+automatically started to view the file.
+
+The mailcap format is documented in :rfc:`1524`, "A User Agent Configuration
+Mechanism For Multimedia Mail Format Information," but is not an Internet
+standard. However, mailcap files are supported on most Unix systems.
+
+
+.. function:: findmatch(caps, MIMEtype[, key[, filename[, plist]]])
+
+ Return a 2-tuple; the first element is a string containing the command line to
+ be executed (which can be passed to :func:`os.system`), and the second element
+ is the mailcap entry for a given MIME type. If no matching MIME type can be
+ found, ``(None, None)`` is returned.
+
+ *key* is the name of the field desired, which represents the type of activity to
+ be performed; the default value is 'view', since in the most common case you
+ simply want to view the body of the MIME-typed data. Other possible values
+ might be 'compose' and 'edit', if you wanted to create a new body of the given
+ MIME type or alter the existing body data. See :rfc:`1524` for a complete list
+ of these fields.
+
+ *filename* is the filename to be substituted for ``%s`` in the command line; the
+ default value is ``'/dev/null'`` which is almost certainly not what you want, so
+ usually you'll override it by specifying a filename.
+
+ *plist* can be a list containing named parameters; the default value is simply
+ an empty list. Each entry in the list must be a string containing the parameter
+ name, an equals sign (``'='``), and the parameter's value. Mailcap entries can
+ contain named parameters like ``%{foo}``, which will be replaced by the value
+ of the parameter named 'foo'. For example, if the command line ``showpartial
+ %{id} %{number} %{total}`` was in a mailcap file, and *plist* was set to
+ ``['id=1', 'number=2', 'total=3']``, the resulting command line would be
+ ``'showpartial 1 2 3'``.
+
+ In a mailcap file, the "test" field can optionally be specified to test some
+ external condition (such as the machine architecture, or the window system in
+ use) to determine whether or not the mailcap line applies. :func:`findmatch`
+ will automatically check such conditions and skip the entry if the check fails.
+
+
+.. function:: getcaps()
+
+ Returns a dictionary mapping MIME types to a list of mailcap file entries. This
+ dictionary must be passed to the :func:`findmatch` function. An entry is stored
+ as a list of dictionaries, but it shouldn't be necessary to know the details of
+ this representation.
+
+ The information is derived from all of the mailcap files found on the system.
+ Settings in the user's mailcap file :file:`$HOME/.mailcap` will override
+ settings in the system mailcap files :file:`/etc/mailcap`,
+ :file:`/usr/etc/mailcap`, and :file:`/usr/local/etc/mailcap`.
+
+An example usage::
+
+ >>> import mailcap
+ >>> d=mailcap.getcaps()
+ >>> mailcap.findmatch(d, 'video/mpeg', filename='/tmp/tmp1223')
+ ('xmpeg /tmp/tmp1223', {'view': 'xmpeg %s'})
+