Python Email.utils

The email.utils module in Python provides utility functions for parsing and formatting email addresses, dates, and other components commonly found in email messages. It’s part of the standard library and can be used to work with various email-related tasks.

Here are some common functions and classes available in the email.utils module:

1. email.utils.parsedate(datestr, headertype='date'): This function parses a date string typically found in email headers and returns a 9-tuple representing the date and time. headertype can be one of ‘date’, ‘resent-date’, ‘orig-date’, or ‘expiry-date’.

from email.utils import parsedate

datestr = 'Tue, 12 Oct 2021 15:30:00 +0300'
parsed_date = parsedate(datestr)
print(parsed_date)

2. email.utils.formatdate(timestamp=None, localtime=False, usegmt=False): This function returns a string representing the current date and time in RFC 2822 format. You can provide a custom timestamp or set localtime or usegmt to control how the date is formatted.

from email.utils import formatdate
import time

timestamp = time.time()
formatted_date = formatdate(timestamp, localtime=True)
print(formatted_date)

3. email.utils.parseaddr(addr): This function parses an email address string and returns a tuple containing the display name and the actual email address.

from email.utils import parseaddr

addr = 'John Doe <[email protected]>'
display_name, email_address = parseaddr(addr)
print(display_name)
print(email_address)

4. email.utils.formataddr(pair): This function formats a pair of (display_name, email_address) into a properly formatted email address string.

from email.utils import formataddr

pair = ('John Doe', '[email protected]')
formatted_addr = formataddr(pair)
print(formatted_addr)

These are some of the commonly used functions in the email.utils module for working with email-related data. This module can be helpful when dealing with email parsing and formatting tasks, especially when processing email messages in Python.