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I know that using * in IMAP FETCH Command either defines all or one mail but does "*:*" also defines all mails in the selected folder? Does it defines something else too? Asking cause my company is implementing its own IMAP server, and I couldn't find any reference to *:* in the RFC 3501 and 4466.

If possible, please also cite the RFC.

Gautam Somani
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2 Answers2

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* does not mean all mail. As a number, * means "the last message in the folder". More generally, 42 means "message 42", 42:50 means "messages 42 to 50 inclusive", 42:* "messages 42 to the last one", and * means "the last message", see? *:* is another way to say "just the last message".

But *.* doesn't mean anything in particular. I can't think of any case where that is even syntactically valid.

arnt
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  • My bad. I had meant "*:*" and not "*.*" . My apologies. Corrected the question. But can you please cite an RFC? We just want to be sure we are coding right. – Gautam Somani Nov 27 '13 at 06:35
  • RFC 3501, page 90, the definition of sequence-set (and the others on that page). The entire section 9 is worth reading very carefully. – arnt Nov 27 '13 at 09:36
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: would mean just the last message. You can check for rfc 791. Check www.tools.ietf.org

Sham
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