IMAP- Parsing original headers from a bounced mail

Question

I am sending hundreds of emails with an unique id through email header. I have to track the bounced mails for the particular unique id.

I can see the bounced emails with an attached EML file in my mailbox. Unfortunately the unique ID which I am looking for is placed in the attached EML file's header instead of bounced email's header.

I am using PHP's IMAP function to read the headers and body sections. But unable to read EML attachment.

Could any one explain how to read or parse the EML attachment using IMAP function.

Thanks.

Answer 1

The .eml is most properly described as a message/rfc822 bodypart; it comprises one part of a multipart/report.

In IMAP each bodypart has its own part number, and you can access headers and individual fields by supplying the number. In many bounces, the number of the message/rfc822 is 3, and you can access e.g. the subject using f uid fetch 123456 body.peek[3.1.header.fields (subject)]. The server will do the parsing you want and give you back the subject field.

The usual way to get the part number is to use bodystructure.

Expressing this using PHP is left as an exercise for the reader. Good luck.