rfc822 (2 of 5)
ron at brl-adm.UUCP
ron at brl-adm.UUCP
Tue May 20 14:00:08 AEST 1986
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
is analyzed into the following lexical symbols and types:
:sysmail quoted string
@ special
Some-Group atom
. special
Some-Org atom
, special
Muhammed atom
. special
(I am the greatest) comment
Ali atom
@ atom
(the) comment
Vegas atom
. special
WBA atom
The canonical representations for the data in these addresses
are the following strings:
":sysmail"@Some-Group.Some-Org
and
Muhammed.Ali at Vegas.WBA
Note: For purposes of display, and when passing such struc-
tured information to other systems, such as mail proto-
col services, there must be NO linear-white-space
between <word>s that are separated by period (".") or
at-sign ("@") and exactly one SPACE between all other
<word>s. Also, headers should be in a folded form.
August 13, 1982 - 8 - RFC #822
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
3.2. HEADER FIELD DEFINITIONS
These rules show a field meta-syntax, without regard for the
particular type or internal syntax. Their purpose is to permit
detection of fields; also, they present to higher-level parsers
an image of each field as fitting on one line.
field = field-name ":" [ field-body ] CRLF
field-name = 1*<any CHAR, excluding CTLs, SPACE, and ":">
field-body = field-body-contents
[CRLF LWSP-char field-body]
field-body-contents =
<the ASCII characters making up the field-body, as
defined in the following sections, and consisting
of combinations of atom, quoted-string, and
specials tokens, or else consisting of texts>
August 13, 1982 - 9 - RFC #822
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
3.3. LEXICAL TOKENS
The following rules are used to define an underlying lexical
analyzer, which feeds tokens to higher level parsers. See the
ANSI references, in the Bibliography.
; ( Octal, Decimal.)
CHAR = <any ASCII character> ; ( 0-177, 0.-127.)
ALPHA = <any ASCII alphabetic character>
; (101-132, 65.- 90.)
; (141-172, 97.-122.)
DIGIT = <any ASCII decimal digit> ; ( 60- 71, 48.- 57.)
CTL = <any ASCII control ; ( 0- 37, 0.- 31.)
character and DEL> ; ( 177, 127.)
CR = <ASCII CR, carriage return> ; ( 15, 13.)
LF = <ASCII LF, linefeed> ; ( 12, 10.)
SPACE = <ASCII SP, space> ; ( 40, 32.)
HTAB = <ASCII HT, horizontal-tab> ; ( 11, 9.)
<"> = <ASCII quote mark> ; ( 42, 34.)
CRLF = CR LF
LWSP-char = SPACE / HTAB ; semantics = SPACE
linear-white-space = 1*([CRLF] LWSP-char) ; semantics = SPACE
; CRLF => folding
specials = "(" / ")" / "<" / ">" / "@" ; Must be in quoted-
/ "," / ";" / ":" / "\" / <"> ; string, to use
/ "." / "[" / "]" ; within a word.
delimiters = specials / linear-white-space / comment
text = <any CHAR, including bare ; => atoms, specials,
CR & bare LF, but NOT ; comments and
including CRLF> ; quoted-strings are
; NOT recognized.
atom = 1*<any CHAR except specials, SPACE and CTLs>
quoted-string = <"> *(qtext/quoted-pair) <">; Regular qtext or
; quoted chars.
qtext = <any CHAR excepting <">, ; => may be folded
"\" & CR, and including
linear-white-space>
domain-literal = "[" *(dtext / quoted-pair) "]"
August 13, 1982 - 10 - RFC #822
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
dtext = <any CHAR excluding "[", ; => may be folded
"]", "\" & CR, & including
linear-white-space>
comment = "(" *(ctext / quoted-pair / comment) ")"
ctext = <any CHAR excluding "(", ; => may be folded
")", "\" & CR, & including
linear-white-space>
quoted-pair = "\" CHAR ; may quote any char
phrase = 1*word ; Sequence of words
word = atom / quoted-string
3.4. CLARIFICATIONS
3.4.1. QUOTING
Some characters are reserved for special interpretation, such
as delimiting lexical tokens. To permit use of these charac-
ters as uninterpreted data, a quoting mechanism is provided.
To quote a character, precede it with a backslash ("\").
This mechanism is not fully general. Characters may be quoted
only within a subset of the lexical constructs. In particu-
lar, quoting is limited to use within:
- quoted-string
- domain-literal
- comment
Within these constructs, quoting is REQUIRED for CR and "\"
and for the character(s) that delimit the token (e.g., "(" and
")" for a comment). However, quoting is PERMITTED for any
character.
Note: In particular, quoting is NOT permitted within atoms.
For example when the local-part of an addr-spec must
contain a special character, a quoted string must be
used. Therefore, a specification such as:
Full\ Name at Domain
is not legal and must be specified as:
"Full Name"@Domain
August 13, 1982 - 11 - RFC #822
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
3.4.2. WHITE SPACE
Note: In structured field bodies, multiple linear space ASCII
characters (namely HTABs and SPACEs) are treated as
single spaces and may freely surround any symbol. In
all header fields, the only place in which at least one
LWSP-char is REQUIRED is at the beginning of continua-
tion lines in a folded field.
When passing text to processes that do not interpret text
according to this standard (e.g., mail protocol servers), then
NO linear-white-space characters should occur between a period
(".") or at-sign ("@") and a <word>. Exactly ONE SPACE should
be used in place of arbitrary linear-white-space and comment
sequences.
Note: Within systems conforming to this standard, wherever a
member of the list of delimiters is allowed, LWSP-chars
may also occur before and/or after it.
Writers of mail-sending (i.e., header-generating) programs
should realize that there is no network-wide definition of the
effect of ASCII HT (horizontal-tab) characters on the appear-
ance of text at another network host; therefore, the use of
tabs in message headers, though permitted, is discouraged.
3.4.3. COMMENTS
A comment is a set of ASCII characters, which is enclosed in
matching parentheses and which is not within a quoted-string
The comment construct permits message originators to add text
which will be useful for human readers, but which will be
ignored by the formal semantics. Comments should be retained
while the message is subject to interpretation according to
this standard. However, comments must NOT be included in
other cases, such as during protocol exchanges with mail
servers.
Comments nest, so that if an unquoted left parenthesis occurs
in a comment string, there must also be a matching right
parenthesis. When a comment acts as the delimiter between a
sequence of two lexical symbols, such as two atoms, it is lex-
ically equivalent with a single SPACE, for the purposes of
regenerating the sequence, such as when passing the sequence
onto a mail protocol server. Comments are detected as such
only within field-bodies of structured fields.
If a comment is to be "folded" onto multiple lines, then the
syntax for folding must be adhered to. (See the "Lexical
August 13, 1982 - 12 - RFC #822
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
Analysis of Messages" section on "Folding Long Header Fields"
above, and the section on "Case Independence" below.) Note
that the official semantics therefore do not "see" any
unquoted CRLFs that are in comments, although particular pars-
ing programs may wish to note their presence. For these pro-
grams, it would be reasonable to interpret a "CRLF LWSP-char"
as being a CRLF that is part of the comment; i.e., the CRLF is
kept and the LWSP-char is discarded. Quoted CRLFs (i.e., a
backslash followed by a CR followed by a LF) still must be
followed by at least one LWSP-char.
3.4.4. DELIMITING AND QUOTING CHARACTERS
The quote character (backslash) and characters that delimit
syntactic units are not, generally, to be taken as data that
are part of the delimited or quoted unit(s). In particular,
the quotation-marks that define a quoted-string, the
parentheses that define a comment and the backslash that
quotes a following character are NOT part of the quoted-
string, comment or quoted character. A quotation-mark that is
to be part of a quoted-string, a parenthesis that is to be
part of a comment and a backslash that is to be part of either
must each be preceded by the quote-character backslash ("\").
Note that the syntax allows any character to be quoted within
a quoted-string or comment; however only certain characters
MUST be quoted to be included as data. These characters are
the ones that are not part of the alternate text group (i.e.,
ctext or qtext).
The one exception to this rule is that a single SPACE is
assumed to exist between contiguous words in a phrase, and
this interpretation is independent of the actual number of
LWSP-chars that the creator places between the words. To
include more than one SPACE, the creator must make the LWSP-
chars be part of a quoted-string.
Quotation marks that delimit a quoted string and backslashes
that quote the following character should NOT accompany the
quoted-string when the string is passed to processes that do
not interpret data according to this specification (e.g., mail
protocol servers).
3.4.5. QUOTED-STRINGS
Where permitted (i.e., in words in structured fields) quoted-
strings are treated as a single symbol. That is, a quoted-
string is equivalent to an atom, syntactically. If a quoted-
string is to be "folded" onto multiple lines, then the syntax
for folding must be adhered to. (See the "Lexical Analysis of
August 13, 1982 - 13 - RFC #822
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
Messages" section on "Folding Long Header Fields" above, and
the section on "Case Independence" below.) Therefore, the
official semantics do not "see" any bare CRLFs that are in
quoted-strings; however particular parsing programs may wish
to note their presence. For such programs, it would be rea-
sonable to interpret a "CRLF LWSP-char" as being a CRLF which
is part of the quoted-string; i.e., the CRLF is kept and the
LWSP-char is discarded. Quoted CRLFs (i.e., a backslash fol-
lowed by a CR followed by a LF) are also subject to rules of
folding, but the presence of the quoting character (backslash)
explicitly indicates that the CRLF is data to the quoted
string. Stripping off the first following LWSP-char is also
appropriate when parsing quoted CRLFs.
3.4.6. BRACKETING CHARACTERS
There is one type of bracket which must occur in matched pairs
and may have pairs nested within each other:
o Parentheses ("(" and ")") are used to indicate com-
ments.
There are three types of brackets which must occur in matched
pairs, and which may NOT be nested:
o Colon/semi-colon (":" and ";") are used in address
specifications to indicate that the included list of
addresses are to be treated as a group.
o Angle brackets ("<" and ">") are generally used to
indicate the presence of a one machine-usable refer-
ence (e.g., delimiting mailboxes), possibly including
source-routing to the machine.
o Square brackets ("[" and "]") are used to indicate the
presence of a domain-literal, which the appropriate
name-domain is to use directly, bypassing normal
name-resolution mechanisms.
3.4.7. CASE INDEPENDENCE
Except as noted, alphabetic strings may be represented in any
combination of upper and lower case. The only syntactic units
August 13, 1982 - 14 - RFC #822
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
which requires preservation of case information are:
- text
- qtext
- dtext
- ctext
- quoted-pair
- local-part, except "Postmaster"
When matching any other syntactic unit, case is to be ignored.
For example, the field-names "From", "FROM", "from", and even
"FroM" are semantically equal and should all be treated ident-
ically.
When generating these units, any mix of upper and lower case
alphabetic characters may be used. The case shown in this
specification is suggested for message-creating processes.
Note: The reserved local-part address unit, "Postmaster", is
an exception. When the value "Postmaster" is being
interpreted, it must be accepted in any mixture of
case, including "POSTMASTER", and "postmaster".
3.4.8. FOLDING LONG HEADER FIELDS
Each header field may be represented on exactly one line con-
sisting of the name of the field and its body, and terminated
by a CRLF; this is what the parser sees. For readability, the
field-body portion of long header fields may be "folded" onto
multiple lines of the actual field. "Long" is commonly inter-
preted to mean greater than 65 or 72 characters. The former
length serves as a limit, when the message is to be viewed on
most simple terminals which use simple display software; how-
ever, the limit is not imposed by this standard.
Note: Some display software often can selectively fold lines,
to suit the display terminal. In such cases, sender-
provided folding can interfere with the display
software.
3.4.9. BACKSPACE CHARACTERS
ASCII BS characters (Backspace, decimal 8) may be included in
texts and quoted-strings to effect overstriking. However, any
use of backspaces which effects an overstrike to the left of
the beginning of the text or quoted-string is prohibited.
August 13, 1982 - 15 - RFC #822
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
3.4.10. NETWORK-SPECIFIC TRANSFORMATIONS
During transmission through heterogeneous networks, it may be
necessary to force data to conform to a network's local con-
ventions. For example, it may be required that a CR be fol-
lowed either by LF, making a CRLF, or by <null>, if the CR is
to stand alone). Such transformations are reversed, when the
message exits that network.
When crossing network boundaries, the message should be
treated as passing through two modules. It will enter the
first module containing whatever network-specific transforma-
tions that were necessary to permit migration through the
"current" network. It then passes through the modules:
o Transformation Reversal
The "current" network's idiosyncracies are removed and
the message is returned to the canonical form speci-
fied in this standard.
o Transformation
The "next" network's local idiosyncracies are imposed
on the message.
------------------
From ==> | Remove Net-A |
Net-A | idiosyncracies |
------------------
||
\/
Conformance
with standard
||
\/
------------------
| Impose Net-B | ==> To
| idiosyncracies | Net-B
------------------
August 13, 1982 - 16 - RFC #822
Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages
4. MESSAGE SPECIFICATION
4.1. SYNTAX
Note: Due to an artifact of the notational conventions, the syn-
tax indicates that, when present, some fields, must be in
a particular order. Header fields are NOT required to
occur in any particular order, except that the message
body must occur AFTER the headers. It is recommended
that, if present, headers be sent in the order "Return-
Path", "Received", "Date", "From", "Subject", "Sender",
"To", "cc", etc.
This specification permits multiple occurrences of most
fields. Except as noted, their interpretation is not
specified here, and their use is discouraged.
The following syntax for the bodies of various fields should
be thought of as describing each field body as a single long
string (or line). The "Lexical Analysis of Message" section on
"Long Header Fields", above, indicates how such long strings can
be represented on more than one line in the actual transmitted
message.
message = fields *( CRLF *text ) ; Everything after
; first null line
; is message body
fields = dates ; Creation time,
source ; author id & one
1*destination ; address required
*optional-field ; others optional
source = [ trace ] ; net traversals
originator ; original mail
[ resent ] ; forwarded
trace = return ; path to sender
1*received ; receipt tags
return = "Return-path" ":" route-addr ; return address
received = "Received" ":" ; one per relay
["from" domain] ; sending host
["by" domain] ; receiving host
["via" atom] ; physical path
*("with" atom) ; link/mail protocol
["id" msg-id] ; receiver msg id
["for" addr-spec] ; initial form
August 13, 1982 - 17 - RFC #822
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