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EML Format (Email)

Description​

EML (Email) format represents a single email message in RFC 822 format. EML files contain email headers and body content, and may include attachments. Each EML file typically represents one email message.

File Extensions​

  • .eml - Email message files

Implementation Details​

Reading​

The EML implementation:

  • Uses Python's built-in email module
  • Parses RFC 822 email format
  • Extracts email headers (From, To, Subject, Date, etc.)
  • Handles email body (text and HTML)
  • Extracts attachments
  • Converts email to dictionary

Writing​

Writing is not currently supported for EML format.

Key Features​

  • Email format: Single email message format
  • Header extraction: Extracts all email headers
  • Body handling: Handles text and HTML body
  • Attachment support: Extracts attachment information
  • Date parsing: Parses email dates

Usage​

from iterable import open_iterable

# Basic reading
source = open_iterable('message.eml')
for email in source:
    print(email)  # Contains email headers and body
source.close()

Parameters​

  • encoding (str): File encoding (default: utf8)

Limitations​

  1. Read-only: EML format does not support writing
  2. Single message: Each file typically contains one email
  3. Email focus: Designed for email data, not general data
  4. Complex structure: Email structure can be complex with multipart content

Compression Support​

EML files can be compressed with all supported codecs:

  • GZip (.eml.gz)
  • BZip2 (.eml.bz2)
  • LZMA (.eml.xz)
  • LZ4 (.eml.lz4)
  • ZIP (.eml.zip)
  • Brotli (.eml.br)
  • ZStandard (.eml.zst)

Use Cases​

  • Email processing: Processing individual email messages
  • Email archiving: Archiving email messages
  • Email analysis: Analyzing email content
  • Data migration: Migrating email data
  • MBOX - Mailbox format (multiple emails)
  • MHTML - Web archive format