uses common 3-character strings for indicating time zones in
North America.
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 25
V. Examples
A. Addresses
V. EXAMPLES
A. ADDRESSES
1. Alfred E. Neuman <Neuman at BBN-TENEXA>
2. Neuman@BBN-TENEXA
These two "Alfred E. Neuman" examples have identical semantics,
as far as the operation of the local host's mail sending
(distribution) program (also sometimes called its "mailer") and
the remote host's FTP server are concerned. In the first
example, the "Alfred E. Neuman" is ignored by the mailer, as
"Neuman at BBN-TENEXA" completely specifies the recipient. The
second example contains no superfluous information, and, again,
"Neuman@BBN-TENEXA" is the intended recipient.
3. Al Neuman at BBN-TENEXA
This is identical to "Al Neuman <Al Neuman at BBN-TENEXA>". That
is, the full phrase, "Al Neuman", is passed to the FTP server.
Note that not all FTP servers accept multi-word identifiers; and
some that do accept them will treat each word as a different
addressee (in this case, attempting to send a copy of the message
to "Al" and a copy to "Neuman").
4. "George Lovell, Ted Hackle" <Shared-Mailbox at Office-1>
This form might be used to indicate that a single mailbox is
shared by several users. The quoted string is ignored by the
originating host's mailer, as "Shared-Mailbox at Office-1"
completely specifies the destination mailbox.
4. Wilt (the Stilt) Chamberlain at NBA
The "(the Stilt)" is a comment, which is NOT included in the
destination mailbox address handed to the originating system's
mailer. The address is the string "Wilt Chamberlain", with
exactly one space between the first and second words. (The
quotation marks are not included.)
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 26
V. Examples
B. Address Lists
B. ADDRESS LISTS
Gourmets: Pompous Person <WhoZiWhatZit at Cordon-Bleu>,
Cooks: Childs at WGBH, Galloping Gourmet at
ANT (Australian National Television);,
Wine Lovers: Cheapie at Discount-Liquors,
Port at Portugal;;,
Jones at SEA
This group list example points out the use of comments, the
nesting of groups, and the mixing of addresses and groups. Note
that the two consecutive semi-colons preceding "Jones at SEA"
mean that Jones is NOT a member of the Gourmets group.
C. ORIGINATOR ITEMS
1. Author-sent
George Jones logs into his Host as "Jones". He sends mail
himself.
From: Jones at Host
or
From: George Jones <Jones at Host>
2. Secretary-sent
George Jones logs in as Jones on his Host. His secretary, who
logs in as Secy on Shost sends mail for him. Replies to the mail
should go to George, of course.
From: George Jones <Jones at Host>
Sender: Secy at SHost
3. Shared directory or unrepresentative directory-name
George Jones logs in as Group at Host. He sends mail himself;
replies should go to the Group mailbox.
From: George Jones <Group at Host>
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 27
V. Examples
C. Originator Items
4. Secretary-sent, for user of shared directory
George Jones' secretary sends mail for George in his capacity as
a member of Group while logged in as Secy at Host. Replies
should go to Group.
From: George Jones<Group at Host>
Sender: Secy at Host
Note that there need not be a space between "Jones" and the "<",
but adding a space enhances readability (as is the case in other
examples).
5. Secretary acting as full agent of author
George Jones asks his secretary (Secy at Host) to send a message
for him in his capacity as Group. He wants his secretary to
handle all replies.
From: George Jones <Group at Host>
Sender: Secy at Host
Reply-To: Secy at Host
6. Agent for user without online mailbox
A non-ARPANET user friend of George's, Sarah, is visting.
George's secretary sends some mail to a friend of Sarah in
computer-land. Replies should go to George, whose mailbox is
Jones at Host.
From: Sarah Friendly
Sender: Secy at Host
Reply-To: Jones at Host
7. Sent by member of a committee
George is a member of a committee. He wishes to have any replies
to his message go to all committee members.
From: George Jones
Sender: Jones at Host
Reply-To: Big-committee: Jones at Host,
Smith at Other-Host,
Doe at Somewhere-Else;
Note that if George had not included himself in the enumeration
of Big-committee, he would not have gotten an implicit reply; the
presence of the "Reply-to" field SUPERSEDES the sending of a
reply to the person named in the "From" field.
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 28
V. Examples
C. Originator Items
8. Example of INCORRECT use
George desires a reply to go to his secretary; therefore his
secretary leaves his mailbox address off the "From" field,
leaving only his name, which is not, itself, a mailbox address.
From: George Jones
Sender: Secy at SHost
THIS IS NOT PERMITTED. Replies are NEVER implicitly sent to the
"Sender"; George's secretary should have used the "Reply-To"
field, or the mail creating program should have forced the
secretary to.
9. Agent for member of a committee
George's secretary sends out a message which was authored jointly
by all the members of the "Big-committee".
From: Big-committee: Jones at Host,
Smith at Other-Host,
Doe at Somewhere-Else;
Sender: Secy at SHost
D. COMPLETE HEADERS
1. Minimum required:
Date: 26 August 1976 1429-EDT
From: Jones at Host
2. Using some of the additional fields:
Date: 26 August 1976 1430-EDT
From:George Jones<Group at Host>
Sender:Secy at SHOST
To:Al Neuman at Mad-Host,
Sam Irving at Other-Host
Message-ID: <some string at SHOST>
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 29
V. Examples
D. Complete Headers
3. About as complex as you're going to get:
Date : 27 Aug 1976 0932-PDT
From : Ken Davis <KDavis at Other-Host>
Subject : Re: The Syntax in the RFC
Sender : KSecy at Other-Host
Reply-To : Sam Irving at Other-Host
To : George Jones <Group at Host>,
Al Neuman at Mad-Host
cc : Important folk:
Tom Softwood <Balsa at Another-Host>,
Sam Irving at Other-Host;,
Standard Distribution::Include:
</main/davis/people/standard at Other-Host,
"<Jones>standard.dist.3" at Tops-20-Host>,
(The following Included Postal list is part
of Standard Distribution.)
:Postal::Include: Non-net-addrs@Other-host;,
:Postal: "Sam Irving, P.O. Box 001, Las Vegas,
Nevada" (So that he can stay
apprised of the situation)
Comment : Sam is away on business. He asked me to handle
his mail for him. He'll be able to provide a
more accurate explanation when he returns
next week.
In-Reply-To: <some string at SHOST>
Special (action): This is a sample of multi-word field-
names, using a range of characters. There
could also be a field-name "Special (info)".
Message-ID: <4231.629.XYzi-What at Other-Host>
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 31
Appendix
A. Alphabetical Listing of Syntax Rules
APPENDIX
A. ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF SYNTAX RULES
address = host-phrase / quoted-string
/ (*phrase "<" #address ">" )
/ (*phrase ":" #address ";" )
/ (":" ("Include" / "Postal" / atom) ":" address)
ALPHA = <any TELNET ASCII alphabetic character>
atom = 1*<any CHAR except specials and CTLs>
CHAR = <any TELNET ASCII character>
comment = "(" *(ctext / comment / quoted-pair) ")"
CR = <TELNET ASCII carriage return>
CRLF = CR LF
ctext = <any CHAR excluding "(", ")", CR, LF and
including linear-white-space>
CTL = <any TELNET ASCII control character and DEL>
date = 1*2DIGIT ["-"] month ["-"] (2DIGIT /4DIGIT)
date-field = "Date" ":" date-time
date-time = [ day-of-week "," ] date time
day-of-week = "Monday" / "Mon" / "Tuesday" / "Tue"
/ "Wednesday" / "Wed" / "Thursday" / "Thu"
/ "Friday" / "Fri" / "Saturday" / "Sat"
/ "Sunday" / "Sun"
delimiters = specials / comment / linear-white-space
DIGIT = <any TELNET ASCII digit>
extension-field = <Any field which is defined in a document
published as a formal extension to this
specification>
field = field-name ":" [ field-body ] CRLF
fields = date-field originator-fields *optional-field
field-body = field-body-contents
[CRLF LWSP-char field-body]
field-body-contents = <the TELNET 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>
field-name = fnatom *(LWSP-char [fnatom])
fnatom = 1*<any CHAR, excluding CTLs, SPACE, and ":">
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 32
Appendix
A. Alphabetical Listing of Syntax Rules
host-indicator = 1*( ("at" / "@") node )
host-phrase = phrase host-indicator
hour = 2DIGIT [":"] 2DIGIT [ [":"] 2DIGIT ]
HTAB = <TELNET ASCII horizontal-tab>
LF = <TELNET ASCII linefeed>
linear-white-space = 1*([CRLF] LWSP-char)
LWSP-char = SPACE / HTAB
mach-id = "<" host-phrase ">"
mailbox = host-phrase / (phrase mach-id)
message = fields *(CRLF *text)
month = "January" / "Jan" / "February" / "Feb"
/ "March" / "Mar" / "April" / "Apr"
/ "May" / "June" / "Jun"
/ "July" / "Jul" / "August" / "Aug"
/ "September" / "Sep" / "October" / "Oct"
/ "November" / "Nov" / "December" / "Dec"
node = word / 1*DIGIT
optional-field =
"To" ":" #address
/ "cc" ":" #address
/ "bcc" ":" #address
/ "Subject" ":" *text
/ "Comments" ":" *text
/ "Message-ID" ":" mach-id
/ "In-Reply-To"":" #(phrase / mach-id)
/ "References" ":" #(phrase / mach-id)
/ "Keywords" ":" #phrase
/ extension-field
/ user-defined-field
originator-fields =
( "From" ":" mailbox
["Reply-To" ":" #address] )
/ ( "From" ":" 1#address
"Sender" ":" mailbox
["Reply-To" ":" #address] )
phrase = 1*word
quoted-pair = "\" CHAR
quoted-string = <"> *(qtext / quoted-pair) <">
qtext = <any CHAR except <">, CR, or LF and including
linear-white-space>
SPACE = <TELNET ASCII space>
specials = "(" / ")" / "<" / ">" / "@"/ "," / ";" / ":"
/ "\" / <">
text = <any CHAR, including bare CR and/or bare LF, but
NOT including CRLF>
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 33
Appendix
A. Alphabetical Listing of Syntax Rules
time = hour zone
user-defined-field = <Any field which has not been defined in
this specification or published as an extension to
this specification; names for such fields must be
unique and may be preempted by putlished
extensions>
word = atom / quoted-string
zone = ( ("+" / "-") 4DIGIT )
/ ( ["-"] (1ALPHA
/ "GMT" / "NST" / "AST" / "ADT" / "EST" / "EDT"
/ "CST" / "CDT" / "MST" / "MDT" / "PST" / "PDT"
/ "YST" / "YDT" / "HST" / "HDT" / "BST" / "BDT" ))
<"> = <TELNET ASCII quote mark>
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 35
Appendix
B. Simple Parsing
B. SIMPLE PARSING
Some mail-reading software systems may wish to perform only
minimal processing, ignoring the internal syntax of structured
field-bodies and treating them the same as unstructured-field-
bodies. Such software will need only to distinguish:
- Header fields from the message body,
- Beginnings of fields from lines which continue fields,
- Field-names from field-contents.
The abbreviated set of syntactic rules which follows will
suffice for this purpose. They describe a limited view of
messages and are a subset of the syntactic rules provided in the
main part of this specification. One small exception is that the
contents of field-bodies consist only of text:
SYNTAX:
message = *field *(CRLF *text)
field = field-name ":" [field-body] CRLF
field-name = fnatom *( LWSP-char [fnatom] )
fnatom = 1*<any CHAR, excluding CTLs, SPACE, and ":">
field-body = *text [CRLF LWSP-char field-body]
SEMANTICS:
Headers occur before the message body and are terminated by
a null line (i.e., two contiguous CRLFs).
A line which continues a header field begins with a SPACE or
HTAB character, while a line beginning a field starts with a
printable character which is not a colon.
A field-name consists of one or more printable characters
(excluding colon), each separated by one or more SPACES or HTABS.
A field-name MUST be contained on one line. Upper and lower case
are not distinguished when comparing field-names.
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 37
Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANSI. Representations of universal time, local time
differentials, and United States time zone references for
information interchange. ANSI X3.51-1975; American National
Standards Institute: New York, 1975.
Bhushan, A.K. The File Transfer Protocol. ARPANET Request for
Comments, No. 354, Network Information Center No. 10596;
Augmentation Research Center, Stanford Research Institute:
Menlo Park, July 1972.
Bhushan, A.K. Comments on the File Transfer Protocol. ARPANET
Request for Comments, No. 385, Network Information Center No.
11357; Augmentation Research Center, Stanford Research
Institute: Menlo Park, August 1972.
Bhushan, A.K., Pogran, K.T., Tomlinson, R.S., and White, J.E.
Standardizing Network Mail Headers. ARPANET Request for
Comments, No. 561, Network Information Center No. 18516;
Augmentation Research Center, Stanford Research Institute:
Menlo Park, September 1973.
Feinler, E.J. and Postel, J.B. ARPANET Protocol Handbook.
Network Information Center No. 7104; Augmentation Research
Center, Stanford Research Institute: Menlo Park, April 1976.
(NTIS AD A003890).
McKenzie, A. File Transfer Protocol. ARPANET Request for
Comments, No. 454, Network Information Center No. 14333;
Augmentation Research Center, Stanford Research Institute:
Menlo Park, February 1973.
McKenzie, A. TELNET Protocol Specification. Network Information
Center No. 18639; Augmentation Research Center, Stanford
Research Institute: Menlo Park, August 1973.
Myer, T.H. and Henderson, D.A. Message Transmission Protocol.
ARPANET Request for Comments, No. 680, Network Information
Center No. 32116; Augmentation Research Center, Stanford
Research Institute: Menlo Park, 1975.
Neigus, N. File Transfer Protocol. ARPANET Request for
Comments, No. 542, Network Information Center No. 17759;
Augmentation Research Center, Stanford Research Institute:
Menlo Park, July 1973.
Pogran, K., Vittal, J., Crocker, D. and Henderson, A. Proposed
official standard for the format of ARPA network messages.
Standard for the Format of Text Messages 38
Bibliography
ARPANET Request for Comments, No. 724, Network Information
Center No. 37435; Augmentation Research Center, Stanford
Research Institute: Menlo Park, May 1977.
Postel, J.B. Revised FTP Reply Codes. ARPANET Request for
Comments, No. 640, Network Information Center No. 30843;
Augmentation Research Center, Stanford Research Institute:
Menlo Park, June 1974.