The mailto URL scheme
RFC 2368
Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(July 1998; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 6068
Was draft-hoffman-mailto-url (individual)
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Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | Legacy | ||
Formats | plain text pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | Legacy state | (None) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 2368 (Proposed Standard) | |
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group P. Hoffman Request for Comments: 2368 Internet Mail Consortium Updates: 1738, 1808 L. Masinter Category: Standards Track Xerox Corporation J. Zawinski Netscape Communications July 1998 The mailto URL scheme 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 (1998). All Rights Reserved. Abstract This document defines the format of Uniform Resource Locators (URL) for designating electronic mail addresses. It is one of a suite of documents which replace RFC 1738, 'Uniform Resource Locators', and RFC 1808, 'Relative Uniform Resource Locators'. The syntax of 'mailto' URLs from RFC 1738 is extended to allow creation of more RFC 822 messages by allowing the URL to express additional header and body fields. 1. Introduction The mailto URL scheme is used to designate the Internet mailing address of an individual or service. In its simplest form, a mailto URL contains an Internet mail address. For greater functionality, because interaction with some resources may require message headers or message bodies to be specified as well as the mail address, the mailto URL scheme is extended to allow setting mail header fields and the message body. 2. Syntax of a mailto URL Following the syntax conventions of RFC 1738 [RFC1738], a "mailto" URL has the form: Hoffman, et. al. Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 2368 The mailto URL scheme July 1998 mailtoURL = "mailto:" [ to ] [ headers ] to = #mailbox headers = "?" header *( "&" header ) header = hname "=" hvalue hname = *urlc hvalue = *urlc "#mailbox" is as specified in RFC 822 [RFC822]. This means that it consists of zero or more comma-separated mail addresses, possibly including "phrase" and "comment" components. Note that all URL reserved characters in "to" must be encoded: in particular, parentheses, commas, and the percent sign ("%"), which commonly occur in the "mailbox" syntax. "hname" and "hvalue" are encodings of an RFC 822 header name and value, respectively. As with "to", all URL reserved characters must be encoded. The special hname "body" indicates that the associated hvalue is the body of the message. The "body" hname should contain the content for the first text/plain body part of the message. The mailto URL is primarily intended for generation of short text messages that are actually the content of automatic processing (such as "subscribe" messages for mailing lists), not general MIME bodies. Within mailto URLs, the characters "?", "=", "&" are reserved. Because the "&" (ampersand) character is reserved in HTML, any mailto URL which contains an ampersand must be spelled differently in HTML than in other contexts. A mailto URL which appears in an HTML document must use "&" instead of "&". Also note that it is legal to specify both "to" and an "hname" whose value is "to". That is, mailto:addr1%2C%20addr2 is equivalent to mailto:?to=addr1%2C%20addr2 is equivalent to mailto:addr1?to=addr2 8-bit characters in mailto URLs are forbidden. MIME encoded words (as defined in [RFC2047]) are permitted in header values, but not for any part of a "body" hname. Hoffman, et. al. Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 2368 The mailto URL scheme July 1998 3. Semantics and operations A mailto URL designates an "internet resource", which is the mailbox specified in the address. When additional headers are supplied, the resource designated is the same address, but with an additional profile for accessing the resource. While there are Internet resources that can only be accessed via electronic mail, the mailto URL is not intended as a way of retrieving such objects automatically. In current practice, resolving URLs such as those in the "http" scheme causes an immediate interaction between client software and a host running an interactive server. The "mailto" URL has unusual semantics because resolving such a URL does not cause an immediate interaction. Instead, the client creates a message to the designatedShow full document text