imap_utf7_encode

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

imap_utf7_encode — Converts ISO-8859-1 string to modified UTF-7 text

Description

string imap_utf7_encode ( string $data )

Converts data to modified UTF-7 text.

This is needed to encode mailbox names that contain certain characters which are not in range of printable ASCII characters.

Parameters

data: An ISO-8859-1 string.

Return Values

Returns data encoded with the modified UTF-7 encoding as defined in » RFC 2060, section 5.1.3 (original UTF-7 was defined in » RFC1642).

User Contributed Notes

marcelo at maccoy dot com dot br

11 years ago


<?php
/**
* @return encoded string
* @param string $str        
* @desc Convert str to UTF-7 imap default mailbox names
    (the imap_utf7_encode don t built the same result)
*/
function getEncodedUtf7($str){
    if(!$str){
       echo "error: you need to give a string parameter.";
       return false;                        
    }
# change spaces by entropy because mb_convert fail with spaces
    $str=ereg_replace(" ","xyxy",$str);                
# if mb_convert work
    if($str=mb_convert_encoding($str,"UTF-7")){
        # change characters
            $str=preg_replace("/\+A/","&A",$str);
        # change to spaces again
            $str=preg_replace("/xyxy/"," ",$str);                        
        # return encoded string
            return $str;
 # else
    }else{
        # print error and return false
            echo "error: is not possible to encode this string '$str'.[".
            imap_last_error().
            "]";
            return false;                      
    }                 
}
?>

Anonymous

10 years ago


Note that php4 (4.4.0) will encode IMAP folders in a way that no other program will be able to decode them back.
$ php4 <<EOF
> <?php
> echo "ENCODED: " . imap_utf7_encode("�") . "\\n";
> ?>
> EOF
ENCODED: &w5w-

Now try to decode the result string ("&w5w-") using e.g. javamail or python's imaplib, or if you don't like these languages - create an IMAP folder using PHP and try to display it in an IMAP client (mutt, thunderbird, outlook, whatever...)

dn at dnunes dot com

8 years ago


Maccoy function's isn't reliable 'cause it doesn't follow the RFC 2060. It will work fine for most latin chars (which, in base64, will turn into "+A..."), but for other language it can make a big mess. If you're using an internationalizated system, try using the other presented options.