Network Working Group                                        P. Guenther
Internet-Draft                                            Sendmail, Inc.
Expires: September 2006                                     T. Showalter
Obsoletes: 3028 (if approved)                                    Editors
                                                              March 2006


                   Sieve: An Email Filtering Language
                    draft-ietf-sieve-3028bis-06.txt

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   be sent to ietf-mta-filters@imc.org.  Distribution of this memo is
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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

Abstract

   This document describes a language for filtering email messages at
   time of final delivery.  It is designed to be implementable on either
   a mail client or mail server.  It is meant to be extensible, simple,



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   and independent of access protocol, mail architecture, and operating
   system.  It is suitable for running on a mail server where users may
   not be allowed to execute arbitrary programs, such as on black box
   Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) servers, as it has no
   variables, loops, or ability to shell out to external programs.

Table of Contents

   1.      Introduction ...........................................   3
   1.1.     Conventions Used in This Document .....................   4
   1.2.     Example mail messages .................................   5
   2.      Design .................................................   5
   2.1.     Form of the Language ..................................   6
   2.2.     Whitespace ............................................   6
   2.3.     Comments ..............................................   6
   2.4.     Literal Data ..........................................   6
   2.4.1.   Numbers ...............................................   6
   2.4.2.   Strings ...............................................   7
   2.4.2.1. String Lists ..........................................   8
   2.4.2.2. Headers ...............................................   8
   2.4.2.3. Addresses .............................................   8
   2.5.     Tests .................................................   9
   2.5.1.   Test Lists ............................................   9
   2.6.     Arguments .............................................   9
   2.6.1.   Positional Arguments ..................................   9
   2.6.2.   Tagged Arguments ......................................  10
   2.6.3.   Optional Arguments ....................................  10
   2.6.4.   Types of Arguments ....................................  10
   2.7.     String Comparison .....................................  11
   2.7.1.   Match Type ............................................  11
   2.7.2.   Comparisons Across Character Sets .....................  12
   2.7.3.   Comparators ...........................................  12
   2.7.4.   Comparisons Against Addresses .........................  14
   2.8.     Blocks ................................................  14
   2.9.     Commands ..............................................  14
   2.10.    Evaluation ............................................  15
   2.10.1.  Action Interaction ....................................  15
   2.10.2.  Implicit Keep .........................................  15
   2.10.3.  Message Uniqueness in a Mailbox .......................  16
   2.10.4.  Limits on Numbers of Actions ..........................  16
   2.10.5.  Extensions and Optional Features ......................  16
   2.10.6.  Errors ................................................  17
   2.10.7.  Limits on Execution ...................................  17
   3.      Control Commands .......................................  17
   3.1.     Control If ............................................  18
   3.2.     Control Require .......................................  19
   3.3.     Control Stop ..........................................  19
   4.      Action Commands ........................................  19



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   4.1.     Action fileinto .......................................  20
   4.2.     Action redirect .......................................  20
   4.3.     Action keep ...........................................  20
   4.4.     Action discard ........................................  21
   5.      Test Commands ..........................................  21
   5.1.     Test address ..........................................  22
   5.2.     Test allof ............................................  22
   5.3.     Test anyof ............................................  23
   5.4.     Test envelope .........................................  23
   5.5.     Test exists ...........................................  24
   5.6.     Test false ............................................  24
   5.7.     Test header ...........................................  24
   5.8.     Test not ..............................................  25
   5.9.     Test size .............................................  25
   5.10.    Test true .............................................  25
   6.      Extensibility ..........................................  25
   6.1.     Capability String .....................................  26
   6.2.     IANA Considerations ...................................  26
   6.2.1.   Template for Capability Registrations .................  27
   6.2.2.   Initial Capability Registrations ......................  27
   6.3.     Capability Transport ..................................  28
   7.      Transmission ...........................................  28
   8.      Parsing ................................................  29
   8.1.     Lexical Tokens ........................................  29
   8.2.     Grammar ...............................................  31
   9.      Extended Example .......................................  31
   10.     Security Considerations ................................  32
   11.     Acknowledgments ........................................  33
   12.     Editor's Address .......................................  33
   13.     Normative References ...................................  33
   14.     Informative References .................................  34
   14.     Full Copyright Statement ...............................  34

1.      Introduction

   This memo documents a language that can be used to create filters for
   electronic mail.  It is not tied to any particular operating system
   or mail architecture.  It requires the use of [IMAIL]-compliant
   messages, but should otherwise generalize to many systems.

   The language is powerful enough to be useful but limited in order to
   allow for a safe server-side filtering system.  The intention is to
   make it impossible for users to do anything more complex (and
   dangerous) than write simple mail filters, along with facilitating
   the use of GUIs for filter creation and manipulation.  The language
   is not Turing-complete: it provides no way to write a loop or a
   function and variables are not provided.




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   Scripts written in Sieve are executed during final delivery, when the
   message is moved to the user-accessible mailbox.  In systems where
   the MTA does final delivery, such as traditional Unix mail, it is
   reasonable to sort when the MTA deposits mail into the user's
   mailbox.

   There are a number of reasons to use a filtering system.  Mail
   traffic for most users has been increasing due to increased usage of
   email, the emergence of unsolicited email as a form of advertising,
   and increased usage of mailing lists.

   Experience at Carnegie Mellon has shown that if a filtering system is
   made available to users, many will make use of it in order to file
   messages from specific users or mailing lists.  However, many others
   did not make use of the Andrew system's FLAMES filtering language
   [FLAMES] due to difficulty in setting it up.

   Because of the expectation that users will make use of filtering if
   it is offered and easy to use, this language has been made simple
   enough to allow many users to make use of it, but rich enough that it
   can be used productively.  However, it is expected that GUI-based
   editors will be the preferred way of editing filters for a large
   number of users.

1.1.     Conventions Used in This Document

   In the sections of this document that discuss the requirements of
   various keywords and operators, the following conventions have been
   adopted.

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", and "MAY"
   in this document are to be interpreted as defined in [KEYWORDS].

   Each section on a command (test, action, or control) has a line
   labeled "Usage:".  This line describes the usage of the command,
   including its name and its arguments.  Required arguments are listed
   inside angle brackets ("<" and ">").  Optional arguments are listed
   inside square brackets ("[" and "]").  Each argument is followed by
   its type, so "<key: string>" represents an argument called "key" that
   is a string.  Literal strings are represented with double-quoted
   strings.  Alternatives are separated with slashes, and parenthesis
   are used for grouping, similar to [ABNF].

   In the "Usage:" line, there are three special pieces of syntax that
   are frequently repeated, MATCH-TYPE, COMPARATOR, and ADDRESS-PART.
   These are discussed in sections 2.7.1, 2.7.3, and 2.7.4,
   respectively.




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   The formal grammar for these commands in section 10 and is the
   authoritative reference on how to construct commands, but the formal
   grammar does not specify the order, semantics, number or types of
   arguments to commands, nor the legal command names.  The intent is to
   allow for extension without changing the grammar.

1.2.     Example mail messages

   The following mail messages will be used throughout this document in
   examples.

   Message A
   -----------------------------------------------------------
   Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997 09:06:31 -0800 (PST)
   From: coyote@desert.example.org
   To: roadrunner@acme.example.com
   Subject: I have a present for you

   Look, I'm sorry about the whole anvil thing, and I really
   didn't mean to try and drop it on you from the top of the
   cliff.  I want to try to make it up to you.  I've got some
   great birdseed over here at my place--top of the line
   stuff--and if you come by, I'll have it all wrapped up
   for you.  I'm really sorry for all the problems I've caused
   for you over the years, but I know we can work this out.
   --
   Wile E. Coyote   "Super Genius"   coyote@desert.example.org
   -----------------------------------------------------------

   Message B
   -----------------------------------------------------------
   From: youcouldberich!@reply-by-postal-mail.invalid
   Sender: b1ff@de.res.example.com
   To: rube@landru.example.edu
   Date:  Mon, 31 Mar 1997 18:26:10 -0800
   Subject: $$$ YOU, TOO, CAN BE A MILLIONAIRE! $$$

   YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY WON TEN MILLION DOLLARS, BUT I DOUBT
   IT!  SO JUST POST THIS TO SIX HUNDRED NEWSGROUPS!  IT WILL
   GUARANTEE THAT YOU GET AT LEAST FIVE RESPONSES WITH MONEY!
   MONEY! MONEY! COLD HARD CASH!  YOU WILL RECEIVE OVER
   $20,000 IN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS!  AND IT'S LEGAL!!!!!!!!!
   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111!!!!!!!11111111111!!1  JUST
   SEND $5 IN SMALL, UNMARKED BILLS TO THE ADDRESSES BELOW!
   -----------------------------------------------------------

2.      Design




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2.1.     Form of the Language

   The language consists of a set of commands.  Each command consists of
   a set of tokens delimited by whitespace.  The command identifier is
   the first token and it is followed by zero or more argument tokens.
   Arguments may be literal data, tags, blocks of commands, or test
   commands.

   The language is represented in UTF-8, as specified in [UTF-8].

   Tokens in the US-ASCII range are considered case-insensitive.

2.2.     Whitespace

   Whitespace is used to separate tokens.  Whitespace is made up of
   tabs, newlines (CRLF, never just CR or LF), and the space character.
   The amount of whitespace used is not significant.

2.3.     Comments

   Two types of comments are offered.  Comments are semantically
   equivalent to whitespace and can be used anyplace that whitespace is
   (with one exception in multi-line strings, as described in the
   grammar).

   Hash comments begin with a "#" character that is not contained within
   a string and continue until the next CRLF.

   Example:  if size :over 100K { # this is a comment
                discard;
             }

   Bracketed comments begin with the token "/*" and end with "*/"
   outside of a string.  Bracketed comments may span multiple lines.
   Bracketed comments do not nest.

   Example:  if size :over 100K { /* this is a comment
                this is still a comment */ discard /* this is a comment
                */ ;
             }

2.4.     Literal Data

   Literal data means data that is not executed, merely evaluated "as
   is", to be used as arguments to commands.  Literal data is limited to
   numbers and strings.

2.4.1.   Numbers



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   Numbers are given as ordinary decimal numbers.  However, those
   numbers that have a tendency to be fairly large, such as message
   sizes, MAY have a "K", "M", or "G" appended to indicate a multiple of
   a power of two.  To be comparable with the power-of-two-based
   versions of SI units that computers frequently use, K specifies
   kibi-, or 1,024 (2^10) times the value of the number; M specifies
   mebi-, or 1,048,576 (2^20) times the value of the number; and G
   specifies gibi-, or 1,073,741,824 (2^30) times the value of the
   number [BINARY-SI].

   Implementations MUST provide 31 bits of magnitude in numbers, but MAY
   provide more.

   Only positive integers are permitted by this specification.

2.4.2.   Strings

   Scripts involve large numbers of strings as they are used for pattern
   matching, addresses, textual bodies, etc.  Typically, short quoted
   strings suffice for most uses, but a more convenient form is provided
   for longer strings such as bodies of messages.

   A quoted string starts and ends with a single double quote (the <">
   character, US-ASCII 34).  A backslash ("\", ASCII 92) inside of a
   quoted string is followed by either another backslash or a double
   quote.  This two-character sequence represents a single backslash or
   double- quote within the string, respectively.

   Scripts SHOULD NOT escape other characters with a backslash.

   An undefined escape sequence (such as "\a" in a context where "a" has
   no special meaning) is interpreted as if there were no backslash (in
   this case, "\a" is just "a").

   Non-printing characters such as tabs, CR and LF, and control
   characters are permitted in quoted strings.  Quoted strings MAY span
   multiple lines.  NUL (US-ASCII 0) is not allowed in strings.

   For entering larger amounts of text, such as an email message, a
   multi-line form is allowed.  It starts with the keyword "text:",
   followed by a CRLF, and ends with the sequence of a CRLF, a single
   period, and another CRLF.  In order to allow the message to contain
   lines with a single-dot, lines are dot-stuffed.  That is, when
   composing a message body, an extra `.' is added before each line
   which begins with a `.'.  When the server interprets the script,
   these extra dots are removed.  Note that a line that begins with a
   dot followed by a non-dot character is not interpreted dot-stuffed;
   that is, ".foo" is interpreted as ".foo".  However, because this is



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   potentially ambiguous, scripts SHOULD be properly dot-stuffed so such
   lines do not appear.

   Note that a hashed comment or whitespace may occur in between the
   "text:" and the CRLF, but not within the string itself.  Bracketed
   comments are not allowed here.

2.4.2.1. String Lists

   When matching patterns, it is frequently convenient to match against
   groups of strings instead of single strings.  For this reason, a list
   of strings is allowed in many tests, implying that if the test is
   true using any one of the strings, then the test is true.
   Implementations are encouraged to use short-circuit evaluation in
   these cases.

   For instance, the test `header :contains ["To", "Cc"]
   ["me@example.com", "me00@landru.example.edu"]' is true if either a To
   header or Cc header of the input message contains either of the email
   addresses "me@example.com" or "me00@landru.example.edu".

   Conversely, in any case where a list of strings is appropriate, a
   single string is allowed without being a member of a list: it is
   equivalent to a list with a single member.  This means that the test
   `exists "To"' is equivalent to the test `exists ["To"]'.

2.4.2.2. Headers

   Headers are a subset of strings.  In the Internet Message
   Specification [IMAIL], each header line is allowed to have whitespace
   nearly anywhere in the line, including after the field name and
   before the subsequent colon.  Extra spaces between the header name
   and the ":" in a header field are ignored.

   A header name never contains a colon.  The "From" header refers to a
   line beginning "From:" (or "From   :", etc.).  No header will match
   the string "From:" due to the trailing colon.

   Similarly, synactically invalid header names cause the same result as
   syntactically valid header names that are not present in the message.
   In particular, an implementation MUST NOT cause an error for
   synactically invalid header names in tests.

   Header lines are unfolded as described in [IMAIL] section 2.2.3.
   Interpretation of header data SHOULD be done according to [MIME3]
   section 6.2 (see 2.7.2 below for details).

2.4.2.3. Addresses



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   A number of commands call for email addresses, which are also a
   subset of strings.  When these addresses are used in outbound
   contexts, addresses must be compliant with [IMAIL], but are further
   constrained.  Using the symbols defined in [IMAIL], section 3, the
   syntax of an address is:

   sieve-address = addr-spec                ; simple address
                 / phrase "<" addr-spec ">" ; name & addr-spec

   That is, routes and group syntax are not permitted.  If multiple
   addresses are required, use a string list.  Named groups are not used
   here.

   Implementations MUST ensure that the addresses are syntactically
   valid, but need not ensure that they actually identify an email
   recipient.

2.5.     Tests

   Tests are given as arguments to commands in order to control their
   actions.  In this document, tests are given to if/elsif/else to
   decide which block of code is run.

2.5.1.   Test Lists

   Some tests ("allof" and "anyof", which implement logical "and" and
   logical "or", respectively) may require more than a single test as an
   argument.  The test-list syntax element provides a way of grouping
   tests.

   Example:  if anyof (not exists ["From", "Date"],
                   header :contains "from" "fool@example.edu") {
                discard;
             }

2.6.     Arguments

   In order to specify what to do, most commands take arguments.  There
   are three types of arguments: positional, tagged, and optional.

2.6.1.   Positional Arguments

   Positional arguments are given to a command which discerns their
   meaning based on their order.  When a command takes positional
   arguments, all positional arguments must be supplied and must be in
   the order prescribed.

2.6.2.   Tagged Arguments



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   This document provides for tagged arguments in the style of
   CommonLISP.  These are also similar to flags given to commands in
   most command-line systems.

   A tagged argument is an argument for a command that begins with ":"
   followed by a tag naming the argument, such as ":contains".  This
   argument means that zero or more of the next tokens have some
   particular meaning depending on the argument.  These next tokens may
   be numbers or strings but they are never blocks.

   Tagged arguments are similar to positional arguments, except that
   instead of the meaning being derived from the command, it is derived
   from the tag.

   Tagged arguments must appear before positional arguments, but they
   may appear in any order with other tagged arguments.  For simplicity
   of the specification, this is not expressed in the syntax definitions
   with commands, but they still may be reordered arbitrarily provided
   they appear before positional arguments.  Tagged arguments may be
   mixed with optional arguments.

   To simplify this specification, tagged arguments SHOULD NOT take
   tagged arguments as arguments.

2.6.3.   Optional Arguments

   Optional arguments are exactly like tagged arguments except that they
   may be left out, in which case a default value is implied.  Because
   optional arguments tend to result in shorter scripts, they have been
   used far more than tagged arguments.

   One particularly noteworthy case is the ":comparator" argument, which
   allows the user to specify which comparator [COLLATION] will be used
   to compare two strings, since different languages may impose
   different orderings on UTF-8 [UTF-8] characters.

2.6.4.   Types of Arguments

   Abstractly, arguments may be literal data, tests, or blocks of
   commands.  In this way, an "if" control structure is merely a command
   that happens to take a test and a block as arguments and may execute
   the block of code.

   However, this abstraction is ambiguous from a parsing standpoint.
   The grammar in section 9.2 presents a parsable version of this:
   Arguments are string-lists, numbers, and tags, which may be followed
   by a test or a test-list, which may be followed by a block of
   commands.  No more than one test or test list, nor more than one



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   block of commands, may be used, and commands that end with a block of
   commands do not end with semicolons.

2.7.     String Comparison

   When matching one string against another, there are a number of ways
   of performing the match operation.  These are accomplished with three
   types of matches: an exact match, a substring match, and a wildcard
   glob-style match.  These are described below.

   In order to provide for matches between character sets and case
   insensitivity, Sieve uses the comparators defined in the Internet
   Application Protocol Collation Registry [COLLATION].

   However, when a string represents the name of a header, the
   comparator is never user-specified.  Header comparisons are always
   done with the "en;ascii-casemap" operator, i.e., case-insensitive
   comparisons, because this is the way things are defined in the
   message specification [IMAIL].

2.7.1.   Match Type

   There are three match types describing the matching used in this
   specification: ":is", ":contains", and ":matches".  Match type
   arguments are supplied to those commands which allow them to specify
   what kind of match is to be performed.

   These are used as tagged arguments to tests that perform string
   comparison.

   The ":contains" match type describes a substring match.  If the value
   argument contains the key argument as a substring, the match is true.
   For instance, the string "frobnitzm" contains "frob" and "nit", but
   not "fbm".  The empty key ("") is contained in all values.

   The ":is" match type describes an absolute match; if the contents of
   the first string are absolutely the same as the contents of the
   second string, they match.  Only the string "frobnitzm" is the string
   "frobnitzm".  The empty key ":is" and only ":is" the empty value.

   The ":matches" match type specifies a wildcard match using the
   characters "*" and "?"; the entire value must be matched.  "*"
   matches zero or more characters, and "?"  matches a single character,
   using the definition of character appropriate for the comparator in
   use.  That is, "?" will match exactly one octet when the "i;octet" or
   "en;ascii-casemap" comparators are used, but will match the one or
   more octets that compose a character in UTF-8 when the
   "i;basic;uca=3.1.1;uv=3.2" comparator is used.  "?" and "*" may be



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   escaped as "\\?" and "\\*" in strings to match against themselves.
   The first backslash escapes the second backslash; together, they
   escape the "*".  This is awkward, but it is commonplace in several
   programming languages that use globs and regular expressions.

   In order to specify what type of match is supposed to happen,
   commands that support matching take optional tagged arguments
   ":matches", ":is", and ":contains".  Commands default to using ":is"
   matching if no match type argument is supplied.  Note that these
   modifiers interact with comparators; in particular, only comparators
   that supoprt the "substring match" operation are suitable for
   matching with ":contains" or ":matches".  It is an error to use a
   comparator with ":contains" or ":matches" that is not compatible with
   it.

   It is an error to give more than one of these arguments to a given
   command.

   For convenience, the "MATCH-TYPE" syntax element is defined here as
   follows:

   Syntax:   ":is" / ":contains" / ":matches"

2.7.2.   Comparisons Across Character Sets

   All Sieve scripts are represented in UTF-8, but messages may involve
   a number of character sets.  In order for comparisons to work across
   character sets, implementations SHOULD implement the following
   behavior:

      Comparisons are performed on octets.  Implementations convert text
      from header fields in all charsets [MIME3] to Unicode, encoded as
      UTF-8, as input to the comparator (see 2.7.3).  Implementations
      MUST be capable of converting US-ASCII, ISO-8859-1, the US-ASCII
      subset of ISO-8859-* character sets, and UTF-8.  Text that the
      implementation cannot convert to Unicode for any reason MAY be
      treated as plain US-ASCII (including any [MIME3] syntax) or
      processed according to local conventions.  An encoded NUL octet
      (character zero) SHOULD NOT cause early termination of the header
      content being compared against.

   If implementations fail to support the above behavior, they MUST
   conform to the following:

      No two strings can be considered equal if one contains octets
      greater than 127.

2.7.3.   Comparators



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   In order to allow for language-independent, case-independent matches,
   the match type may be coupled with a comparator name.  The Internet
   Application Protocol Collation Registry [COLLATION] provides the
   framework for describing and naming comparators as used by this
   specification.

   All implementations MUST support the "i;octet" comparator (simply
   compares octets), the "en;ascii-casemap" comparator (which treats
   uppercase and lowercase characters in the US-ASCII subset of UTF-8 as
   the same), as well as the "i;ascii-casemap" comparator, which is a
   deprecated synonym for "en;ascii-casemap".  If left unspecified, the
   default is "en;ascii-casemap".

   Some comparators may not be usable with substring matches; that is,
   they may only work with ":is".  It is an error to try and use a
   comparator with ":matches" or ":contains" that is not compatible with
   it.

   A comparator is specified by the ":comparator" option with commands
   that support matching.  This option is followed by a string providing
   the name of the comparator to be used.  For convenience, the syntax
   of a comparator is abbreviated to "COMPARATOR", and (repeated in
   several tests) is as follows:

   Syntax:   ":comparator" <comparator-name: string>

   So in this example,

   Example:  if header :contains :comparator "i;octet" "Subject"
                "MAKE MONEY FAST" {
                   discard;
             }

   would discard any message with subjects like "You can MAKE MONEY
   FAST", but not "You can Make Money Fast", since the comparator used
   is case-sensitive.

   Comparators other than "i;octet", "en;ascii-casemap", and "i;ascii-
   casemap" must be declared with require, as they are extensions.  If a
   comparator declared with require is not known, it is an error, and
   execution fails.  If the comparator is not declared with require, it
   is also an error, even if the comparator is supported.  (See 2.10.5.)

   Both ":matches" and ":contains" match types are compatible with the
   "i;octet" and "en;ascii-casemap" comparators and may be used with
   them.

   It is an error to give more than one of these arguments to a given



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   command.

2.7.4.   Comparisons Against Addresses

   Addresses are one of the most frequent things represented as strings.
   These are structured, and being able to compare against the local-
   part or the domain of an address is useful, so some tests that act
   exclusively on addresses take an additional optional argument that
   specifies what the test acts on.

   These optional arguments are ":localpart", ":domain", and ":all",
   which act on the local-part (left-side), the domain part (right-
   side), and the whole address.

   The kind of comparison done, such as whether or not the test done is
   case-insensitive, is specified as a comparator argument to the test.

   If an optional address-part is omitted, the default is ":all".

   It is an error to give more than one of these arguments to a given
   command.

   For convenience, the "ADDRESS-PART" syntax element is defined here as
   follows:

   Syntax:   ":localpart" / ":domain" / ":all"

2.8.     Blocks

   Blocks are sets of commands enclosed within curly braces and supplied
   as the final argument to a command.  Such a command is a control
   structure: when executed it has control over the number of times the
   commands in the block are executed.  and how

   With the commands supplied in this memo, there are no loops.  The
   control structures supplied--if, elsif, and else--run a block either
   once or not at all.

2.9.     Commands

   Sieve scripts are sequences of commands.  Commands can take any of
   the tokens above as arguments, and arguments may be either tagged or
   positional arguments.  Not all commands take all arguments.

   There are three kinds of commands: test commands, action commands,
   and control commands.

   The simplest is an action command.  An action command is an



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   identifier followed by zero or more arguments, terminated by a
   semicolon.  Action commands do not take tests or blocks as arguments.

   A control command is a command that affects the parsing or the flow
   of execution of the Sieve script in some way.  A control structure is
   a control command which ends with a block instead of a semicolon.

   A test command is used as part of a control command.  It is used to
   specify whether or not the block of code given to the control command
   is executed.

2.10.    Evaluation

2.10.1.  Action Interaction

   Some actions cannot be used with other actions because the result
   would be absurd.  These restrictions are noted throughout this memo.

   Extension actions MUST state how they interact with actions defined
   in this specification.

2.10.2.  Implicit Keep

   Previous experience with filtering systems suggests that cases tend
   to be missed in scripts.  To prevent errors, Sieve has an "implicit
   keep".

   An implicit keep is a keep action (see 4.4) performed in absence of
   any action that cancels the implicit keep.

   An implicit keep is performed if a message is not written to a
   mailbox, redirected to a new address, or explicitly thrown out.  That
   is, if a fileinto, a keep, a redirect, or a discard is performed, an
   implicit keep is not.

   Some actions may be defined to not cancel the implicit keep.  These
   actions may not directly affect the delivery of a message, and are
   used for their side effects.  None of the actions specified in this
   document meet that criteria, but extension actions will.

   For instance, with any of the short messages offered above, the
   following script produces no actions.

   Example:  if size :over 500K { discard; }

   As a result, the implicit keep is taken.

2.10.3.  Message Uniqueness in a Mailbox



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   Implementations SHOULD NOT deliver a message to the same folder more
   than once, even if a script explicitly asks for a message to be
   written to a mailbox twice.

   The test for equality of two messages is implementation-defined.

   If a script asks for a message to be written to a mailbox twice, it
   MUST NOT be treated as an error.

2.10.4.  Limits on Numbers of Actions

   Site policy MAY limit numbers of actions taken and MAY impose
   restrictions on which actions can be used together.  In the event
   that a script hits a policy limit on the number of actions taken for
   a particular message, an error occurs.

   Implementations MUST allow at least one keep or one fileinto.  If
   fileinto is not implemented, implementations MUST allow at least one
   keep.

2.10.5.  Extensions and Optional Features

   Because of the differing capabilities of many mail systems, several
   features of this specification are optional.  Before any of these
   extensions can be executed, they must be declared with the "require"
   action.

   If an extension is not enabled with "require", implementations MUST
   treat it as if they did not support it at all.

   If a script does not understand an extension declared with require,
   the script must not be used at all.  Implementations MUST NOT execute
   scripts which require unknown capability names.

   Note: The reason for this restriction is that prior experiences with
         languages such as LISP and Tcl suggest that this is a workable
         way of noting that a given script uses an extension.

         Experience with PostScript suggests that mechanisms that allow
         a script to work around missing extensions are not used in
         practice.

   Extensions which define actions MUST state how they interact with
   actions discussed in the base specification.

2.10.6.  Errors

   In any programming language, there are compile-time and run-time



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   errors.

   Compile-time errors are ones in syntax that are detectable if a
   syntax check is done.

   Run-time errors are not detectable until the script is run.  This
   includes transient failures like disk full conditions, but also
   includes issues like invalid combinations of actions.

   When an error occurs in a Sieve script, all processing stops.

   Implementations MAY choose to do a full parse, then evaluate the
   script, then do all actions.  Implementations might even go so far as
   to ensure that execution is atomic (either all actions are executed
   or none are executed).

   Other implementations may choose to parse and run at the same time.
   Such implementations are simpler, but have issues with partial
   failure (some actions happen, others don't).

   Implementations might even go so far as to ensure that scripts can
   never execute an invalid set of actions before execution, although
   this could involve solving the Halting Problem.

   This specification allows any of these approaches.  Solving the
   Halting Problem is considered extra credit.

   Implementations MUST perform syntactic, semantic, and run-time checks
   on code that is actually executed.  Implementations MAY perform those
   checks or any part of them on code that is not reached during
   execution.

   When an error happens, implementations MUST notify the user that an
   error occurred, which actions (if any) were taken, and do an implicit
   keep.

2.10.7.  Limits on Execution

   Implementations may limit certain constructs.  However, this
   specification places a lower bound on some of these limits.

   Implementations MUST support fifteen levels of nested blocks.

   Implementations MUST support fifteen levels of nested test lists.

3.      Control Commands

   Control structures are needed to allow for multiple and conditional



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   actions.

3.1.     Control If

   There are three pieces to if: "if", "elsif", and "else".  Each is
   actually a separate command in terms of the grammar.  However, an
   elsif or else MUST only follow an if or elsif.  An error occurs if
   these conditions are not met.

   Usage:   if <test1: test> <block1: block>

   Usage:   elsif <test2: test> <block2: block>

   Usage:   else <block3: block>

   The semantics are similar to those of any of the many other
   programming languages these control structures appear in.  When the
   interpreter sees an "if", it evaluates the test associated with it.
   If the test is true, it executes the block associated with it.

   If the test of the "if" is false, it evaluates the test of the first
   "elsif" (if any).  If the test of "elsif" is true, it runs the
   elsif's block.  An elsif may be followed by an elsif, in which case,
   the interpreter repeats this process until it runs out of elsifs.

   When the interpreter runs out of elsifs, there may be an "else" case.
   If there is, and none of the if or elsif tests were true, the
   interpreter runs the else case.

   This provides a way of performing exactly one of the blocks in the
   chain.

   In the following example, both Message A and B are dropped.

   Example:  require "fileinto";
             if header :contains "from" "coyote" {
                discard;
             } elsif header :contains ["subject"] ["$$$"] {
                discard;
             } else {
                fileinto "INBOX";
             }


   When the script below is run over message A, it redirects the message
   to acm@example.edu; message B, to postmaster@example.edu; any other
   message is redirected to field@example.edu.




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   Example:  if header :contains ["From"] ["coyote"] {
                redirect "acm@example.edu";
             } elsif header :contains "Subject" "$$$" {
                redirect "postmaster@example.edu";
             } else {
                redirect "field@example.edu";
             }

   Note that this definition prohibits the "... else if ..." sequence
   used by C.  This is intentional, because this construct produces a
   shift-reduce conflict.

3.2.     Control Require

   Usage:   require <capabilities: string-list>

   The require action notes that a script makes use of a certain
   extension.  Such a declaration is required to use the extension, as
   discussed in section 2.10.5.  Multiple capabilities can be declared
   with a single require.

   The require command, if present, MUST be used before anything other
   than a require can be used.  An error occurs if a require appears
   after a command other than require.

   Example:  require ["fileinto", "reject"];

   Example:  require "fileinto";
             require "vacation";

3.3.     Control Stop

   Usage:   stop

   The "stop" action ends all processing.  If no actions have been
   executed, then the keep action is taken.

4.      Action Commands

   This document supplies four actions that may be taken on a message:
   keep, fileinto, redirect, and discard.

   Implementations MUST support the "keep", "discard", and "redirect"
   actions.

   Implementations SHOULD support "fileinto".

   Implementations MAY limit the number of certain actions taken (see



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   section 2.10.4).

4.1.     Action fileinto

   Usage:   fileinto <folder: string>

   The "fileinto" action delivers the message into the specified folder.
   Implementations SHOULD support fileinto, but in some environments
   this may be impossible.  Implementations MAY place restrictions on
   folder names; use of an invalid folder name MAY be treated as an
   error or result in delivery to an implementation-defined folder.

   The capability string for use with the require command is "fileinto".

   In the following script, message A is filed into folder
   "INBOX.harassment".

   Example:  require "fileinto";
             if header :contains ["from"] "coyote" {
                fileinto "INBOX.harassment";
             }

4.2.     Action redirect

   Usage:   redirect <address: string>

   The "redirect" action is used to send the message to another user at
   a supplied address, as a mail forwarding feature does.  The
   "redirect" action makes no changes to the message body or existing
   headers, but it may add new headers.  The "redirect" modifies the
   envelope recipient.

   The redirect command performs an MTA-style "forward"--that is, what
   you get from a .forward file using sendmail under UNIX.  The address
   on the [SMTP] envelope is replaced with the one on the redirect
   command and the message is sent back out.  (This is not an MUA-style
   forward, which creates a new message with a different sender and
   message ID, wrapping the old message in a new one.)

   A simple script can be used for redirecting all mail:

   Example:  redirect "bart@example.edu";

   Implementations SHOULD take measures to implement loop control,
   possibly including adding headers to the message or counting received
   headers.  If an implementation detects a loop, it causes an error.

4.3.     Action keep



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   Usage:   keep

   The "keep" action is whatever action is taken in lieu of all other
   actions, if no filtering happens at all; generally, this simply means
   to file the message into the user's main mailbox.  This command
   provides a way to execute this action without needing to know the
   name of the user's main mailbox, providing a way to call it without
   needing to understand the user's setup, or the underlying mail
   system.

   For instance, in an implementation where the Internet Message Access
   Protocol (IMAP) server is running scripts on behalf of the user at
   time of delivery, a keep command is equivalent to a fileinto "INBOX".

   Example:  if size :under 1M { keep; } else { discard; }

   Note that the above script is identical to the one below.

   Example:  if not size :under 1M { discard; }

4.4.     Action discard

   Usage:   discard

   Discard is used to silently throw away the message.  It does so by
   simply canceling the implicit keep.  If discard is used with other
   actions, the other actions still happen.  Discard is compatible with
   all other actions.  (For instance fileinto+discard is equivalent to
   fileinto.)

   Discard MUST be silent; that is, it MUST NOT return a non-delivery
   notification of any kind ([DSN], [MDN], or otherwise).

   In the following script, any mail from "idiot@example.edu" is thrown
   out.

   Example:  if header :contains ["from"] ["idiot@example.edu"] {
                discard;
             }

   While an important part of this language, "discard" has the potential
   to create serious problems for users: Students who leave themselves
   logged in to an unattended machine in a public computer lab may find
   their script changed to just "discard".  In order to protect users in
   this situation (along with similar situations), implementations MAY
   keep messages destroyed by a script for an indefinite period, and MAY
   disallow scripts that throw out all mail.




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5.      Test Commands

   Tests are used in conditionals to decide which part(s) of the
   conditional to execute.

   Implementations MUST support these tests: "address", "allof",
   "anyof", "exists", "false", "header", "not", "size", and "true".

   Implementations SHOULD support the "envelope" test.

5.1.     Test address

   Usage:   address [COMPARATOR] [ADDRESS-PART] [MATCH-TYPE]
            <header-list: string-list> <key-list: string-list>

   The address test matches Internet addresses in structured headers
   that contain addresses.  It returns true if any header contains any
   key in the specified part of the address, as modified by the
   comparator and the match keyword.  Whether there are other addresses
   present in the header doesn't affect this test; this test does not
   provide any way to determine whether an address is the only address
   in a header.

   Like envelope and header, this test returns true if any combination
   of the header-list and key-list arguments match and false otherwise.

   Internet email addresses [IMAIL] have the somewhat awkward
   characteristic that the local-part to the left of the at-sign is
   considered case sensitive, and the domain-part to the right of the
   at-sign is case insensitive.  The "address" command does not deal
   with this itself, but provides the ADDRESS-PART argument for allowing
   users to deal with it.

   The address primitive never acts on the phrase part of an email
   address, nor on comments within that address.  It also never acts on
   group names, although it does act on the addresses within the group
   construct.

   Implementations MUST restrict the address test to headers that
   contain addresses, but MUST include at least From, To, Cc, Bcc,
   Sender, Resent-From, Resent-To, and SHOULD include any other header
   that utilizes an "address-list" structured header body.

   Example:  if address :is :all "from" "tim@example.com" {
                discard;
             }

5.2.     Test allof



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   Usage:   allof <tests: test-list>

   The allof test performs a logical AND on the tests supplied to it.

   Example:  allof (false, false)  =>   false
             allof (false, true)   =>   false
             allof (true,  true)   =>   true

   The allof test takes as its argument a test-list.

5.3.     Test anyof

   Usage:   anyof <tests: test-list>

   The anyof test performs a logical OR on the tests supplied to it.

   Example:  anyof (false, false)  =>   false
             anyof (false, true)   =>   true
             anyof (true,  true)   =>   true

5.4.     Test envelope

   Usage:   envelope [COMPARATOR] [ADDRESS-PART] [MATCH-TYPE]
            <envelope-part: string-list> <key-list: string-list>

   The "envelope" test is true if the specified part of the SMTP (or
   equivalent) envelope matches the specified key.  This specification
   defines the interpretation of the (case insensitive) "from" and "to"
   envelope-parts.  Additional envelope-parts may be defined by other
   extensions; implementations SHOULD consider unknown envelope parts an
   error.

   If one of the envelope-part strings is (case insensitive) "from",
   then matching occurs against the FROM address used in the SMTP MAIL
   command.

   If one of the envelope-part strings is (case insensitive) "to", then
   matching occurs against the TO address used in the SMTP RCPT command
   that resulted in this message getting delivered to this user.  Note
   that only the most recent TO is available, and only the one relevant
   to this user.

   The envelope-part is a string list and may contain more than one
   parameter, in which case all of the strings specified in the key-list
   are matched against all parts given in the envelope-part list.

   Like address and header, this test returns true if any combination of
   the envelope-part list and key-list arguments match and false



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   otherwise.

   All tests against envelopes MUST drop source routes.

   If the SMTP transaction involved several RCPT commands, only the data
   from the RCPT command that caused delivery to this user is available
   in the "to" part of the envelope.

   If a protocol other than SMTP is used for message transport,
   implementations are expected to adapt this command appropriately.

   The envelope command is optional.  Implementations SHOULD support it,
   but the necessary information may not be available in all cases.

   Example:  require "envelope";
             if envelope :all :is "from" "tim@example.com" {
                discard;
             }

5.5.     Test exists

   Usage:   exists <header-names: string-list>

   The "exists" test is true if the headers listed in the header-names
   argument exist within the message.  All of the headers must exist or
   the test is false.

   The following example throws out mail that doesn't have a From header
   and a Date header.

   Example:  if not exists ["From","Date"] {
                discard;
             }

5.6.     Test false

   Usage:   false

   The "false" test always evaluates to false.

5.7.     Test header

   Usage:   header [COMPARATOR] [MATCH-TYPE]
            <header-names: string-list> <key-list: string-list>

   The "header" test evaluates to true if the value of any of the named
   headers, ignoring leading and trailing whitespace, matches any key.
   The type of match is specified by the optional match argument, which



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   defaults to ":is" if not specified, as specified in section 2.6.

   Like address and envelope, this test returns true if any combination
   of the header-names list and key-list arguments match and false
   otherwise.

   If a header listed in the header-names argument exists, it contains
   the empty key ("").  However, if the named header is not present, it
   does not match any key, including the empty key.  So if a message
   contained the header

           X-Caffeine: C8H10N4O2

   these tests on that header evaluate as follows:

           header :is ["X-Caffeine"] [""]         => false
           header :contains ["X-Caffeine"] [""]   => true

   Testing whether a given header is either absent or doesn't contain
   any non-whitespace characters can be done using a negated "header"
   test:

           not header :matches "Cc" "?*"

5.8.     Test not

   Usage:   not <test1: test>

   The "not" test takes some other test as an argument, and yields the
   opposite result.  "not false" evaluates to "true" and "not true"
   evaluates to "false".

5.9.     Test size

   Usage:   size <":over" / ":under"> <limit: number>

   The "size" test deals with the size of a message.  It takes either a
   tagged argument of ":over" or ":under", followed by a number
   representing the size of the message.

   If the argument is ":over", and the size of the message is greater
   than the number provided, the test is true; otherwise, it is false.

   If the argument is ":under", and the size of the message is less than
   the number provided, the test is true; otherwise, it is false.

   Exactly one of ":over" or ":under" must be specified, and anything
   else is an error.



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   The size of a message is defined to be the number of octets from the
   initial header until the last character in the message body.

   Note that for a message that is exactly 4,000 octets, the message is
   neither ":over" 4000 octets or ":under" 4000 octets.

5.10.    Test true

   Usage:   true

   The "true" test always evaluates to true.

6.      Extensibility

   New control commands, actions, and tests can be added to the
   language.  Sites must make these features known to their users; this
   document does not define a way to discover the list of extensions
   supported by the server.

   Any extensions to this language MUST define a capability string that
   uniquely identifies that extension.  Capability string are case-
   sensitive; for example, "foo" and "FOO" are different capabilities.
   If a new version of an extension changes the functionality of a
   previously defined extension, it MUST use a different name.

   In a situation where there is a submission protocol and an extension
   advertisement mechanism aware of the details of this language,
   scripts submitted can be checked against the mail server to prevent
   use of an extension that the server does not support.

   Extensions MUST state how they interact with constraints defined in
   section 2.10, e.g., whether they cancel the implicit keep, and which
   actions they are compatible and incompatible with.

6.1.     Capability String

   Capability strings are typically short strings describing what
   capabilities are supported by the server.

   Capability strings beginning with "vnd." represent vendor-defined
   extensions.  Such extensions are not defined by Internet standards or
   RFCs, but are still registered with IANA in order to prevent
   conflicts.  Extensions starting with "vnd." SHOULD be followed by the
   name of the vendor and product, such as "vnd.acme.rocket-sled".

   The following capability strings are defined by this document:

   envelope    The string "envelope" indicates that the implementation



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               supports the "envelope" command.

   fileinto    The string "fileinto" indicates that the implementation
               supports the "fileinto" command.

   comparator- The string "comparator-elbonia" is provided if the
               implementation supports the "elbonia" comparator.
               Therefore, all implementations have at least the
               "comparator-i;octet", "comparator-en;ascii-casemap",
               and "comparator-i;ascii-casemap" capabilities.  However,
               these comparators may be used without being declared
               with require.

6.2.     IANA Considerations

   In order to provide a standard set of extensions, a registry is
   provided by IANA.  Capability names may be registered on a first-
   come, first-served basis.  Extensions designed for interoperable use
   SHOULD be defined as standards track or IESG approved experimental
   RFCs.

6.2.1.     Template for Capability Registrations

   The following template is to be used for registering new Sieve
   extensions with IANA.

   To: iana@iana.org
   Subject: Registration of new Sieve extension

   Capability name:
   Capability keyword:
   Capability arguments:
   Standards Track/IESG-approved experimental RFC number:
   Person and email address to contact for further information:

6.2.2.     Initial Capability Registrations

   This RFC updates the the following entries in the IANA registry for
   Sieve extensions.

   Capability name:        fileinto
   Capability keyword:     fileinto
   Capability arguments:   fileinto <folder: string>
   Standards Track/IESG-approved experimental RFC number:
           This RFC (Sieve base spec)
   Person and email address to contact for further information:
           The Sieve discussion list <ietf-mta-filters@imc.org>




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   Capability name:        envelope
   Capability keyword:     envelope
   Capability arguments:
           envelope [COMPARATOR] [ADDRESS-PART] [MATCH-TYPE]
           <envelope-part: string-list> <key-list: string-list>
   Standards Track/IESG-approved experimental RFC number:
           This RFC (Sieve base spec)
   Person and email address to contact for further information:
           The Sieve discussion list <ietf-mta-filters@imc.org>

   Capability name:        comparator-*
   Capability keyword:
           comparator-* (anything starting with "comparator-")
   Capability arguments:   (none)
   Standards Track/IESG-approved experimental RFC number:
           This RFC, Sieve, by reference to [COLLATION]
   Person and email address to contact for further information:
           The Sieve discussion list <ietf-mta-filters@imc.org>

6.3.     Capability Transport

   As the range of mail systems that this document is intended to apply
   to is quite varied, a method of advertising which capabilities an
   implementation supports is difficult due to the wide range of
   possible implementations.  Such a mechanism, however, should have the
   property that the implementation can advertise the complete set of
   extensions that it supports.

7.      Transmission

   The MIME type for a Sieve script is "application/sieve".

   The registration of this type for RFC 2048 requirements is updated as
   follows:

    Subject: Registration of MIME media type application/sieve

    MIME media type name: application
    MIME subtype name: sieve
    Required parameters: none
    Optional parameters: none
    Encoding considerations: Most sieve scripts will be textual,
       written in UTF-8.  When non-7bit characters are used,
       quoted-printable is appropriate for transport systems
       that require 7bit encoding.

    Security considerations: Discussed in section 10 of this RFC.
    Interoperability considerations: Discussed in section 2.10.5



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       of this RFC.
    Published specification: this RFC.
    Applications which use this media type: sieve-enabled mail servers
    Additional information:
      Magic number(s):
      File extension(s): .siv
      Macintosh File Type Code(s):
    Person & email address to contact for further information:
       See the discussion list at ietf-mta-filters@imc.org.
    Intended usage:
       COMMON
    Author/Change controller:
       See Editor information in this RFC.

8.      Parsing

   The Sieve grammar is separated into tokens and a separate grammar as
   most programming languages are.

8.1.     Lexical Tokens

   Sieve scripts are encoded in UTF-8.  The following assumes a valid
   UTF-8 encoding; special characters in Sieve scripts are all US-ASCII.

   The following are tokens in Sieve:

           - identifiers
           - tags
           - numbers
           - quoted strings
           - multi-line strings
           - other separators

   Blanks, horizontal tabs, CRLFs, and comments ("white space") are
   ignored except as they separate tokens.  Some white space is required
   to separate otherwise adjacent tokens and in specific places in the
   multi-line strings.  CR and LF can only appear in CRLF pairs.

   The other separators are single individual characters, and are
   mentioned explicitly in the grammar.

   The lexical structure of sieve is defined in the following grammar
   (as described in [ABNF]):

   bracket-comment    = "/*" *not-star 1*STAR
                        *(not-star-slash *not-star 1*STAR) "/"
                          ; No */ allowed inside a comment.
                          ; (No * is allowed unless it is the last



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                          ; character, or unless it is followed by a
                          ; character that isn't a slash.)

   STAR               = "*"

   not-star           = CRLF / %x01-09 / %x0b-0c / %x0e-29 / %x2b-7f /
                        UTF8-2 / UTF8-3 / UTF8-4
                          ; either a CRLF pair, OR a single UTF-8
                          ; character other than NUL, CR, LF, or star

   not-star-or-slash  = CRLF / %x01-09 / %x0b-0c / %x0e-29 / %x2b-2e /
                        %x30-7f / UTF8-2 / UTF8-3 / UTF8-4
                          ; either a CRLF pair, OR a single UTF-8
                          ; character other than NUL, CR, LF, star,
                          ; or slash

   UTF8-NOT-CRLF      = %x01-09 / %x0b-0c / %x0e-7f /
                        UTF8-2 / UTF8-3 / UTF8-4
                          ; a single UTF-8 character other than NUL,
                          ; CR, or LF

   UTF8-NOT-PERIOD    = %x01-09 / %x0b-0c / %x0e-2d / %x2f-7f /
                        UTF8-2 / UTF8-3 / UTF8-4
                          ; a single UTF-8 character other than NUL,
                          ; CR, LF, or period

   UTF8-NOT-NUL       = %x01-7f / UTF8-2 / UTF8-3 / UTF8-4
                          ; a single UTF-8 character other than NUL

   UTF8-NOT-QSPECIAL  = %x01-09 / %x0b-0c / %x0e-21 / %x23-5b /
                        %x5d-7f / UTF8-2 / UTF8-3 / UTF8-4
                          ; a single UTF-8 character other than NUL,
                          ; CR, LF, double-quote, or backslash

   comment            = bracket-comment / hash-comment

   hash-comment       = "#" *UTF8-NOT-CRLF CRLF

   identifier         = (ALPHA / "_") *(ALPHA / DIGIT / "_")

   tag                = ":" identifier

   number             = 1*DIGIT [QUANTIFIER]

   QUANTIFIER         = "K" / "M" / "G"

   quoted-safe        = CRLF / UTF8-NOT-QSPECIAL
                          ; either a CRLF pair, OR a single UTF-8



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                          ; character other than NUL, CR, LF,
                          ; double-quote, or backslash

   quoted-special     = "\" ( DQUOTE / "\" )
                          ; represents just a double-quote or backslash

   quoted-other       = "\" UTF8-NOT-QSPECIAL
                          ; represents just the UTF8-NOT-QSPECIAL
                          ; character.  SHOULD NOT be used

   quoted-text        = *(quoted-safe / quoted-special / quoted-other)

   quoted-string      = DQUOTE quoted-text DQUOTE

   multi-line         = "text:" *(SP / HTAB) (hash-comment / CRLF)
                        *(multiline-literal / multiline-dotstuff)
                        "." CRLF

   multiline-literal  = [UTF8-NOT-PERIOD *UTF8-NOT-CRLF] CRLF

   multiline-dotstuff = "." 1*UTF8-NOT-CRLF CRLF
                          ; A line containing only "." ends the
                          ; multi-line.  Remove a leading '.' if
                          ; followed by another '.'.

   white-space        = 1*(SP / CRLF / HTAB) / comment

8.2.     Grammar

   The following is the grammar of Sieve after it has been lexically
   interpreted.  No white space or comments appear below.  The start
   symbol is "start".  Non-terminals for MATCH-TYPE, COMPARATOR, and
   ADDRESS-PART are provided for use by extensions.

   argument    = string-list / number / tag

   arguments   = *argument [test / test-list]

   block       = "{" commands "}"

   command     = identifier arguments ( ";" / block )

   commands    = *command

   start       = commands

   string      = quoted-string / multi-line




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   string-list = "[" string *("," string) "]" / string
                   ; if there is only a single string, the brackets
                   ; are optional

   test        = identifier arguments

   test-list   = "(" test *("," test) ")"

   ADDRESS-PART = ":localpart" / ":domain" / ":all"

   COMPARATOR = ":comparator" string

   MATCH-TYPE = ":is" / ":contains" / ":matches"

9.      Extended Example

   The following is an extended example of a Sieve script.  Note that it
   does not make use of the implicit keep.

    #
    # Example Sieve Filter
    # Declare any optional features or extension used by the script
    #
    require ["fileinto"];

    #
    # Handle messages from known mailing lists
    # Move messages from IETF filter discussion list to filter folder
    #
    if header :is "Sender" "owner-ietf-mta-filters@imc.org"
            {
            fileinto "filter";  # move to "filter" folder
            }
    #
    # Keep all messages to or from people in my company
    #
    elsif address :domain :is ["From", "To"] "example.com"
            {
            keep;               # keep in "In" folder
            }

    #
    # Try and catch unsolicited email.  If a message is not to me,
    # or it contains a subject known to be spam, file it away.
    #
    elsif anyof (not address :all :contains
                   ["To", "Cc", "Bcc"] "me@example.com",
                 header :matches "subject"



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                   ["*make*money*fast*", "*university*dipl*mas*"])
            {
            # If message header does not contain my address,
            # it's from a list.
            fileinto "spam";   # move to "spam" folder
            }
    else
            {
            # Move all other (non-company) mail to "personal"
            # folder.
            fileinto "personal";
            }

10.     Security Considerations

   Users must get their mail.  It is imperative that whatever method
   implementations use to store the user-defined filtering scripts be
   secure.

   It is equally important that implementations sanity-check the user's
   scripts, and not allow users to create on-demand mailbombs.  For
   instance, an implementation that allows a user to redirect a message
   multiple times might also allow a user to create a mailbomb triggered
   by mail from a specific user.  Site- or implementation-defined limits
   on actions are useful for this.

   Several commands, such as "discard", "redirect", and "fileinto" allow
   for actions to be taken that are potentially very dangerous.

   Implementations SHOULD take measures to prevent languages from
   looping.

   As with any filter on a message stream, if the sieve implementation
   and the mail agents 'behind' sieve in the message stream differ in
   their interpretation of the messages, it may be possible for an
   attacker to subvert the filter.  Of particular note are differences
   in the interpretation of malformed messages (e.g., missing or extra
   syntax characters) or those that exhibit corner cases (e.g., NUL
   octects encoded via [MIME3]).

11.     Acknowledgments

   This document has been revised in part based on comments and
   discussions that took place on and off the SIEVE mailing list.
   Thanks to Cyrus Daboo, Ned Freed, Michael Haardt, Kjetil Torgrim
   Homme, Barry Leiba, Mark E. Mallett, Alexey Melnikov, Rob Siemborski,
   and Nigel Swinson for reviews and suggestions.




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12.     Editors' Addresses

   Philip Guenther
   Sendmail, Inc.
   6425 Christie St. Ste 400
   Emeryville, CA 94608
   Email: guenther@sendmail.com


   Tim Showalter
   Email: tjs@psaux.com

13.  Normative References

   [ABNF]      D. Crocker, Ed., P. Overell "Augmented BNF for Syntax
                    Specifications: ABNF", RFC 4234, October 2005.

   [COLLATION] Newman, C., Duerst, M., and A. Gulbrandsen "Internet
                    Application Protocol Collation Registry" draft-
                    newman-i18n-comparator-07.txt (work in progress),
                    March 2006.

   [IMAIL]     P. Resnick, Ed., "Internet Message Format", RFC 2822,
                    April 2001.

   [KEYWORDS]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
                    Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [MIME]      Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
                    Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet
                    Message Bodies", RFC 2045, November 1996.

   [MIME3]     Moore, K., "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
                    Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII
                    Text", RFC 2047, November 1996

   [MDN]       T. Hansen, Ed., G. Vaudreuil, Ed., "Message Disposition
                    Notification", RFC 3798, May 2004.

   [SMTP]      J. Klensin, Ed., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", RFC
                    2821, April 2001.

   [UTF-8]     Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
                    10646", RFC 3629, November 2003.

14.  Informative References

   [BINARY-SI] "Standard IEC 60027-2: Letter symbols to be used in



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               electrical technology - Part 2: Telecommunications and
               electronics", January 1999.

   [DSN]       Moore, K. and G. Vaudreuil, "An Extensible Message Format
               for Delivery Status Notifications", RFC 1894, January
               1996.

   [FLAMES]    Borenstein, N, and C. Thyberg, "Power, Ease of Use, and
               Cooperative Work in a Practical Multimedia Message
               System", Int. J.  of Man-Machine Studies, April, 1991.
               Reprinted in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and
               Groupware, Saul Greenberg, editor, Harcourt Brace
               Jovanovich, 1991.  Reprinted in Readings in Groupware and
               Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, Ronald Baecker,
               editor, Morgan Kaufmann, 1993.

   [IMAP]      Crispin, M., "Internet Message Access Protocol - version
               4rev1", RFC 3501, March 2003.

14. Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
   contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
   retain all their rights.

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
   INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Intellectual Property

   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
   made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information
   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
   found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an



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   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-
   ipr@ietf.org.

Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.

Append A. Change History

   This section will be replaced with a summary of the changes since RFC
   3028 when this document leaves the Internet-Draft stage.

   Open Issues:
    1. Merge reject back in with textual changes to permit MDNs and
       protocol level rejection
    2. Should this recommend/require that fileinto map UTF-8 to mUTF-7
       when working with an IMAP store?

   Changes from draft-ietf-sieve-3028bis-05.txt
    1. The specifics of what names are acceptable for fileinto and
       the handling of invalid names are both implementation-defined.
    2. Update to draft-newman-i18n-comparator-07.txt
    3. Adjust the example in 5.7 again

   Changes from draft-ietf-sieve-3028bis-04.txt
    1. Change "Syntax:" to "Usage:"
    2. Update ABNF reference to RFC 4234
    3. Add non-terminals for MATCH-TYPE, COMPARATOR, and ADDRESS-PART
    4. Strip leading and trailing whitespace in the value being matched
       by header
    5. Collations operate on octets, not characters, and for character
       data that is the UTF-8 encoding of the Unicode characters
    6. :matches uses character definition of comparator

   Changes from draft-ietf-sieve-3028bis-03.txt
    1. Remove section 2.4.2.4., MIME Parts, as unreferenced
    2. Update to draft-newman-i18n-comparator-04.txt
    3. Various tweaks to examples and syntax lines
    4. Define "control structure" as a control command with a block



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       argument, then use it consistently.  Reword description of
       blocks to match
    5. Clarify that "header" can never match an absent header and give
       the preferred way to test for absent or empty
    6. Invalid header name syntax is not an error _in tests_ (but could
       be elsewhere)
    7. Implementation SHOULD consider unknown envelope parts an error
    8. Remove explicit "omitted" option from 2.7.2p2

   Changes from draft-ietf-sieve-3028bis-02.txt
    1. Change "ASCII" to "US-ASCII" throughout
    2. Tweak section 2.7.2 to not require use of UTF-8 internally and
       to explicitly leave implementation-defined the handling of text
       that can't be converted to Unicode
    3. Add reference to RFC 2047
    4. Clarify that capability strings are case-sensitive
    5. Clarify that address, envelope, and header return false if no
       combination of arguments match
    6. Directly state that code that isn't reached may still be checked
       for errors
    7. Invalid header name syntax is not an error
    8. Remove description of header unfolding that conflicts with
       [IMAIL]
    9. Warn that filters may be subvertable if agents interpret messages
       differently
    10. Encoded NUL octets SHOULD NOT cause truncation

   Changes from draft-ietf-sieve-3028bis-01.txt
    1. Remove ban on side effects
    2. Remove definition of the 'reject' action, as it is being moved
       to the doc that also defines the 'refuse' action
    3. Update capability registrations to reference the mailing list
    4. Add Tim back as an editor
    5. Refer to the zero-length string ("") as "empty" instead of
       "null"

   Changes from draft-ietf-sieve-3028bis-00.txt
    1. More grammar corrections:
       - permit /***/,
       - remove ambiguity in finding end of bracket comment,
       - require valid UTF-8,
       - express quoting in the grammar
       - ban bare CR and LF in all locations
    2. Correct a bunch of whitespace and linewrapping nits
    3. Update IMAIL and SMTP references to RFC 2822 and RFC 2821
    4. Require support for en;ascii-casemap comparator as well as the
       old i;ascii-casemap.  As with the old one, you do not need to
       use 'require' to use the new comparator



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    5. Update IANA considerations to update the existing registrations
       to point at this doc instead of 3028
    6. Scripts SHOULD NOT contain superfluous backslashes
    7. Update Acknowledgments

   Changes from RFC 3028
    1. Split references into normative and informative
    2. Update references to current versions of DSN, IMAP, MDN, and
       UTF-8 RFCs
    3. Replace "e-mail" with "email"
    4. Incorporate RFC 3028 errata
    5. The "reject" action cancels the implicit keep
    6. Replace references to ACAP with references to the i18n-comparator
       draft.  Further work is needed to completely sync with that
       draft
    7. Start to update grammar to only permit legal UTF-8 (incomplete)
       and correct various other errors and typos
    8. Update IPR broilerplate to RFC 3978/3979

































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