Internet Message Format
draft-ietf-emailcore-rfc5322bis-00
Network Working Group P. Resnick, Ed.
Internet-Draft Episteme
Obsoletes: 5322 (if approved) 6 October 2020
Updates: 4021 (if approved)
Intended status: Standards Track
Expires: 9 April 2021
Internet Message Format
draft-ietf-emailcore-rfc5322bis-00
Abstract
This document specifies the Internet Message Format (IMF), a syntax
for text messages that are sent between computer users, within the
framework of "electronic mail" messages. This specification is a
revision of Request For Comments (RFC) 5322, itself a revision of
Request For Comments (RFC) 2822, all of which supersede 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.
Status of This Memo
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Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
Resnick Expires 9 April 2021 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft Internet Message Format October 2020
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2. Notational Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.1. Requirements Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2. Syntactic Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.3. Structure of This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Lexical Analysis of Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1. General Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1.1. Line Length Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2. Header Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.1. Unstructured Header Field Bodies . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.2. Structured Header Field Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.3. Long Header Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3. Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3. Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2. Lexical Tokens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2.1. Quoted characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2.2. Folding White Space and Comments . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2.3. Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2.4. Quoted Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2.5. Miscellaneous Tokens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.3. Date and Time Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
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