I am extracting emails from Gmail using the following:
def getMsgs():
try:
conn = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL("imap.gmail.com", 993)
except:
print 'Failed to connect'
print 'Is your internet connection working?'
sys.exit()
try:
conn.login(username, password)
except:
print 'Failed to login'
print 'Is the username and password correct?'
sys.exit()
conn.select('Inbox')
# typ, data = conn.search(None, '(UNSEEN SUBJECT "%s")' % subject)
typ, data = conn.search(None, '(SUBJECT "%s")' % subject)
for num in data[0].split():
typ, data = conn.fetch(num, '(RFC822)')
msg = email.message_from_string(data[0][1])
yield walkMsg(msg)
def walkMsg(msg):
for part in msg.walk():
if part.get_content_type() != "text/plain":
continue
return part.get_payload()
However, some emails I get are nigh impossible for me to extract dates (using regex) from as encoding-related chars such as '=', randomly land in the middle of various text fields. Here's an example where it occurs in a date range I want to extract:
Name: KIRSTI Email: [email protected] Phone #: + 999 99995192 Total in party: 4 total, 0 children Arrival/Departure: Oct 9= , 2010 - Oct 13, 2010 - Oct 13, 2010
Is there a way to remove these encoding characters?
You could/should use the email.parser module to decode mail messages, for example (quick and dirty example!):
from email.parser import FeedParser
f = FeedParser()
f.feed("<insert mail message here, including all headers>")
rootMessage = f.close()
# Now you can access the message and its submessages (if it's multipart)
print rootMessage.is_multipart()
# Or check for errors
print rootMessage.defects
# If it's a multipart message, you can get the first submessage and then its payload
# (i.e. content) like so:
rootMessage.get_payload(0).get_payload(decode=True)
Using the "decode" parameter of Message.get_payload, the module automatically decodes the content, depending on its encoding (e.g. quoted printables as in your question).