Sending an attachment in mail using a variable as data container python

Question

I'd like to know if it was possible to send a variable (say a string) as an attachment in a mail using python. The goal is to avoid the making of temporary files in the process.

As an example, I'd like to send a string which is formatted as a csv as an attachment to a mail and possibly this attachment could later be downloaded as a file on the other end of the tunnel.

Thanks for all of your possible help.

EDIT: It now works with StringIO, thank you for your help. Answer below

Answer 1

So here's the working method that I am now using:

#!/usr/bin/python2.7.x
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-  
#Imports
from email.MIMEMultipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.MIMEText import MIMEText
from email.MIMEBase import MIMEBase
from email import encoders
from email.Utils import COMMASPACE, formatdate
import sys
try:
    from StringIO import StringIO
except:
    print("Could not import critical library StringIO")
    sys.exit(0)
import smtplib
import datetime

def run_mail(self):

    date = datetime.datetime.now()
    dateAAAAMMDD = str(date.year) + "_" + str( date.month) + "_" +str( date.day)


    pj1 = StringIO(self.pj1_data)
    pj1_name = "my_att_name_" + str(dateAAAAMMDD) + ".csv"

    pj2 = StringIO(self.pj2_data)
    pj2_name = "my_att_name2_" + str(dateAAAAMMDD) + ".txt"

    pj3 = StringIO(self.pj3_data)
    pj3_name = "my_att_name3_" + str(dateAAAAMMDD) + ".txt"

    pj =[(pj1,pj1_name), (pj2,pj2_name), (pj3,pj3_name)]

    fromaddr = 'address@something.com'
    toaddr = 'toanotheraddress@something.com'
    msg = MIMEMultipart()
    subject = 'subject dated ' + dateAAAAMMDD
    msg['From'] = fromaddr
    msg['To'] = toaddr
    msg['Subject'] = subject 

    msg.attach(MIMEText("Auto-generated script", 'plain'))

    for data, att_name in pj :
        part = MIMEBase('application', 'octet-stream')
        part.set_payload(data.read())
        encoders.encode_base64(part)
        part.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename= "%s"' % att_name)
        msg.attach(part)
    server_port = 25
    server = smtplib.SMTP('myserver.com',server_port)
    server.starttls()
    #If login required, not very secure, use either input or localhost without
    #login required
    server.login(fromaddr, 'MyPasswordGoesHere') 

    content = msg.as_string()
    server.sendmail(fromaddr,toaddr,content)


    server.quit()