Python Library Reference

Next: 11.9.1 SMTP Objects Up: 11. Internet Protocols and Previous: 11.8.1 NNTP Objects

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11.9 smtplib -- SMTP protocol client

The smtplib module defines an SMTP client session object that can be used to send mail to any Internet machine with an SMTP or ESMTP listener daemon. For details of SMTP and ESMTP operation, consult RFC 821 (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and RFC 1869 (SMTP Service Extensions).

SMTP ([host[, port]])

A SMTP instance encapsulates an SMTP connection. It has methods that support a full repertoire of SMTP and ESMTP operations. If the optional host and port parameters are given, the SMTP connect() method is called with those parameters during initialization. An SMTPConnectError is raised if the specified host doesn't respond correctly.

For normal use, you should only require the initialization/connect, sendmail(), and quit() methods. An example is included below.

A nice selection of exceptions is defined as well:

SMTPException

Base exception class for all exceptions raised by this module.

SMTPServerDisconnected

This exception is raised when the server unexpectedly disconnects, or when an attempt is made to use the SMTP instance before connecting it to a server.

SMTPResponseException

Base class for all exceptions that include an SMTP error code. These exceptions are generated in some instances when the SMTP server returns an error code. The error code is stored in the smtp_code attribute of the error, and the smtp_error attribute is set to the error message.

SMTPSenderRefused

Sender address refused. In addition to the attributes set by on all SMTPResponseException exceptions, this sets `sender' to the string that the SMTP server refused.

SMTPRecipientsRefused

All recipient addresses refused. The errors for each recipient are accessable through the attribute recipients, which is a dictionary of exactly the same sort as SMTP.sendmail() returns.

SMTPDataError

The SMTP server refused to accept the message data.

SMTPConnectError

Error occurred during establishment of a connection with the server.

SMTPHeloError

The server refused our "HELO" message.

• 11.9.1 SMTP Objects
• 11.9.2 SMTP Example

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Python Library Reference

Next: 11.9.1 SMTP Objects Up: 11. Internet Protocols and Previous: 11.8.1 NNTP Objects