PHP 7.0.6 Released

    imap_list

    (PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

    imap_list — Read the list of mailboxes

    Description

    array imap_list ( resource $imap_stream , string $ref , string $pattern )

    Read the list of mailboxes.

    Parameters

    imap_stream

    An IMAP stream returned by imap_open().

    ref

    ref should normally be just the server specification as described in imap_open().

    pattern

    Specifies where in the mailbox hierarchy to start searching.

    There are two special characters you can pass as part of the pattern: '*' and '%'. '*' means to return all mailboxes. If you pass pattern as '*', you will get a list of the entire mailbox hierarchy. '%' means to return the current level only. '%' as the pattern parameter will return only the top level mailboxes; '~/mail/%' on UW_IMAPD will return every mailbox in the ~/mail directory, but none in subfolders of that directory.

    Return Values

    Returns an array containing the names of the mailboxes.

    Examples

    Example #1 imap_list() example

    <?php
    $mbox     = imap_open("{imap.example.org}", "username", "password", OP_HALFOPEN)
          or die(    "can't connect: " . imap_last_error());

    $list = imap_list($mbox, "{imap.example.org}", "*");
    if (    is_array($list)) {
        foreach (    $list as $val) {
            echo     imap_utf7_decode($val) . "\n";
        }
    } else {
        echo     "imap_list failed: " . imap_last_error() . "\n";
    }

    imap_close($mbox);
    ?>

    See Also

    User Contributed Notes

    kevin at metalaxe dot com
    8 years ago
    if there is an error imap_list returns FALSE not an empty array (as expected by docs)
    c6h1206free at gmail dot com
    7 years ago
    imap_list returns a simple array of strings that look just like the $ref parameter one needs to specify:

    <?php

      $srv     = '{imap.example.com}';

          $conn = imap_open($srv, 'me', 'mypass');

          $boxes = imap_list($conn, $srv, '*');

          print_r($boxes);
          imap_close($conn);
    ?>

    Output:

    <pre>
    Array
    (
        [0] => {imap.example.com}Calendar
        [1] => {imap.example.com}Contacts
        [2] => {imap.example.com}Deleted Items
        [3] => {imap.example.com}Drafts
        [4] => {imap.example.com}Journal
        [5] => {imap.example.com}Junk E-mail
        [6] => {imap.example.com}Notes
        [7] => {imap.example.com}Outbox
        [8] => {imap.example.com}RSS Feeds
        [9] => {imap.example.com}Sent Items 
        [10] => {imap.example.com}Tasks
    )
    </pre>

    These directly fill in the $ref argument for every function that takes one.
    jemore at free dot fr
    2 years ago
    With the values returned from the imap_list function, you can search a message in the folder, but you have to use the imap_reopen function before . Continuing the previous example (from c6h1206free at gmail dot com )

    <?php
      $srv     = '{imap.example.com}';
          $conn = imap_open($srv, 'me', 'mypass');
          $boxes = imap_list($conn, $srv, '*');
      foreach(    $boxes as $box)
      {
            imap_reopen($srv, $box);
            var_dump(imap_search($srv, "ALL"));
      }
          imap_close($conn);
    ?>
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