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+:mod:`email`: Miscellaneous utilities
+-------------------------------------
+
+.. module:: email.utils
+ :synopsis: Miscellaneous email package utilities.
+
+
+There are several useful utilities provided in the :mod:`email.utils` module:
+
+
+.. function:: quote(str)
+
+ Return a new string with backslashes in *str* replaced by two backslashes, and
+ double quotes replaced by backslash-double quote.
+
+
+.. function:: unquote(str)
+
+ Return a new string which is an *unquoted* version of *str*. If *str* ends and
+ begins with double quotes, they are stripped off. Likewise if *str* ends and
+ begins with angle brackets, they are stripped off.
+
+
+.. function:: parseaddr(address)
+
+ Parse address -- which should be the value of some address-containing field such
+ as :mailheader:`To` or :mailheader:`Cc` -- into its constituent *realname* and
+ *email address* parts. Returns a tuple of that information, unless the parse
+ fails, in which case a 2-tuple of ``('', '')`` is returned.
+
+
+.. function:: formataddr(pair)
+
+ The inverse of :meth:`parseaddr`, this takes a 2-tuple of the form ``(realname,
+ email_address)`` and returns the string value suitable for a :mailheader:`To` or
+ :mailheader:`Cc` header. If the first element of *pair* is false, then the
+ second element is returned unmodified.
+
+
+.. function:: getaddresses(fieldvalues)
+
+ This method returns a list of 2-tuples of the form returned by ``parseaddr()``.
+ *fieldvalues* is a sequence of header field values as might be returned by
+ :meth:`Message.get_all`. Here's a simple example that gets all the recipients
+ of a message::
+
+ from email.utils import getaddresses
+
+ tos = msg.get_all('to', [])
+ ccs = msg.get_all('cc', [])
+ resent_tos = msg.get_all('resent-to', [])
+ resent_ccs = msg.get_all('resent-cc', [])
+ all_recipients = getaddresses(tos + ccs + resent_tos + resent_ccs)
+
+
+.. function:: parsedate(date)
+
+ Attempts to parse a date according to the rules in :rfc:`2822`. however, some
+ mailers don't follow that format as specified, so :func:`parsedate` tries to
+ guess correctly in such cases. *date* is a string containing an :rfc:`2822`
+ date, such as ``"Mon, 20 Nov 1995 19:12:08 -0500"``. If it succeeds in parsing
+ the date, :func:`parsedate` returns a 9-tuple that can be passed directly to
+ :func:`time.mktime`; otherwise ``None`` will be returned. Note that indexes 6,
+ 7, and 8 of the result tuple are not usable.
+
+
+.. function:: parsedate_tz(date)
+
+ Performs the same function as :func:`parsedate`, but returns either ``None`` or
+ a 10-tuple; the first 9 elements make up a tuple that can be passed directly to
+ :func:`time.mktime`, and the tenth is the offset of the date's timezone from UTC
+ (which is the official term for Greenwich Mean Time) [#]_. If the input string
+ has no timezone, the last element of the tuple returned is ``None``. Note that
+ indexes 6, 7, and 8 of the result tuple are not usable.
+
+
+.. function:: mktime_tz(tuple)
+
+ Turn a 10-tuple as returned by :func:`parsedate_tz` into a UTC timestamp. It
+ the timezone item in the tuple is ``None``, assume local time. Minor
+ deficiency: :func:`mktime_tz` interprets the first 8 elements of *tuple* as a
+ local time and then compensates for the timezone difference. This may yield a
+ slight error around changes in daylight savings time, though not worth worrying
+ about for common use.
+
+
+.. function:: formatdate([timeval[, localtime][, usegmt]])
+
+ Returns a date string as per :rfc:`2822`, e.g.::
+
+ Fri, 09 Nov 2001 01:08:47 -0000
+
+ Optional *timeval* if given is a floating point time value as accepted by
+ :func:`time.gmtime` and :func:`time.localtime`, otherwise the current time is
+ used.
+
+ Optional *localtime* is a flag that when ``True``, interprets *timeval*, and
+ returns a date relative to the local timezone instead of UTC, properly taking
+ daylight savings time into account. The default is ``False`` meaning UTC is
+ used.
+
+ Optional *usegmt* is a flag that when ``True``, outputs a date string with the
+ timezone as an ascii string ``GMT``, rather than a numeric ``-0000``. This is
+ needed for some protocols (such as HTTP). This only applies when *localtime* is
+ ``False``.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 2.4
+
+
+.. function:: make_msgid([idstring])
+
+ Returns a string suitable for an :rfc:`2822`\ -compliant
+ :mailheader:`Message-ID` header. Optional *idstring* if given, is a string used
+ to strengthen the uniqueness of the message id.
+
+
+.. function:: decode_rfc2231(s)
+
+ Decode the string *s* according to :rfc:`2231`.
+
+
+.. function:: encode_rfc2231(s[, charset[, language]])
+
+ Encode the string *s* according to :rfc:`2231`. Optional *charset* and
+ *language*, if given is the character set name and language name to use. If
+ neither is given, *s* is returned as-is. If *charset* is given but *language*
+ is not, the string is encoded using the empty string for *language*.
+
+
+.. function:: collapse_rfc2231_value(value[, errors[, fallback_charset]])
+
+ When a header parameter is encoded in :rfc:`2231` format,
+ :meth:`Message.get_param` may return a 3-tuple containing the character set,
+ language, and value. :func:`collapse_rfc2231_value` turns this into a unicode
+ string. Optional *errors* is passed to the *errors* argument of the built-in
+ :func:`unicode` function; it defaults to ``replace``. Optional
+ *fallback_charset* specifies the character set to use if the one in the
+ :rfc:`2231` header is not known by Python; it defaults to ``us-ascii``.
+
+ For convenience, if the *value* passed to :func:`collapse_rfc2231_value` is not
+ a tuple, it should be a string and it is returned unquoted.
+
+
+.. function:: decode_params(params)
+
+ Decode parameters list according to :rfc:`2231`. *params* is a sequence of
+ 2-tuples containing elements of the form ``(content-type, string-value)``.
+
+.. versionchanged:: 2.4
+ The :func:`dump_address_pair` function has been removed; use :func:`formataddr`
+ instead.
+
+.. versionchanged:: 2.4
+ The :func:`decode` function has been removed; use the
+ :meth:`Header.decode_header` method instead.
+
+.. versionchanged:: 2.4
+ The :func:`encode` function has been removed; use the :meth:`Header.encode`
+ method instead.
+
+.. rubric:: Footnotes
+
+.. [#] Note that the sign of the timezone offset is the opposite of the sign of the
+ ``time.timezone`` variable for the same timezone; the latter variable follows
+ the POSIX standard while this module follows :rfc:`2822`.
+