Internet Message Format
RFC 2822
Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(April 2001; Errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 5322
Obsoletes RFC 822
|
|
---|---|---|---|
Author | Pete Resnick | ||
Last updated | 2020-01-21 | ||
Stream | IETF | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized with errata bibtex | ||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 2822 (Proposed Standard) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group P. Resnick, Editor Request for Comments: 2822 QUALCOMM Incorporated Obsoletes: 822 April 2001 Category: Standards Track Internet Message Format Status of this Memo This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved. Abstract This standard specifies a syntax for text messages that are sent between computer users, within the framework of "electronic mail" messages. This standard supersedes the one specified in Request For Comments (RFC) 822, "Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages", updating it to reflect current practice and incorporating incremental changes that were specified in other RFCs. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................... 3 1.1. Scope .................................................... 3 1.2. Notational conventions ................................... 4 1.2.1. Requirements notation .................................. 4 1.2.2. Syntactic notation ..................................... 4 1.3. Structure of this document ............................... 4 2. Lexical Analysis of Messages ............................... 5 2.1. General Description ...................................... 5 2.1.1. Line Length Limits ..................................... 6 2.2. Header Fields ............................................ 7 2.2.1. Unstructured Header Field Bodies ....................... 7 2.2.2. Structured Header Field Bodies ......................... 7 2.2.3. Long Header Fields ..................................... 7 2.3. Body ..................................................... 8 3. Syntax ..................................................... 9 3.1. Introduction ............................................. 9 3.2. Lexical Tokens ........................................... 9 Resnick Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 2822 Internet Message Format April 2001 3.2.1. Primitive Tokens ....................................... 9 3.2.2. Quoted characters ......................................10 3.2.3. Folding white space and comments .......................11 3.2.4. Atom ...................................................12 3.2.5. Quoted strings .........................................13 3.2.6. Miscellaneous tokens ...................................13 3.3. Date and Time Specification ..............................14 3.4. Address Specification ....................................15 3.4.1. Addr-spec specification ................................16 3.5 Overall message syntax ....................................17 3.6. Field definitions ........................................18 3.6.1. The origination date field .............................20 3.6.2. Originator fields ......................................21 3.6.3. Destination address fields .............................22 3.6.4. Identification fields ..................................23 3.6.5. Informational fields ...................................26 3.6.6. Resent fields ..........................................26 3.6.7. Trace fields ...........................................28 3.6.8. Optional fields ........................................29 4. Obsolete Syntax ............................................29 4.1. Miscellaneous obsolete tokens ............................30 4.2. Obsolete folding white space .............................31 4.3. Obsolete Date and Time ...................................31 4.4. Obsolete Addressing ......................................33 4.5. Obsolete header fields ...................................33 4.5.1. Obsolete origination date field ........................34 4.5.2. Obsolete originator fields .............................34 4.5.3. Obsolete destination address fields ....................34 4.5.4. Obsolete identification fields .........................35 4.5.5. Obsolete informational fields ..........................35 4.5.6. Obsolete resent fields .................................35 4.5.7. Obsolete trace fields ..................................36 4.5.8. Obsolete optional fields ...............................36 5. Security Considerations ....................................36 6. Bibliography ...............................................37 7. Editor's Address ...........................................38Show full document text