imap_sort

    (PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    imap_sort — Gets and sort messages

    Description

    imap_sort(
        IMAP\Connection $imap,
        int $criteria,
        bool $reverse,
        int $flags = 0,
        ?string $search_criteria = null,
        ?string $charset = null
    ): array|false

    Gets and sorts message numbers by the given parameters.

    Parameters

    imap

    An IMAP\Connection instance.

    criteria

    Criteria can be one (and only one) of the following:

    reverse

    Whether to sort in reverse order.

    flags

    The flags are a bitmask of one or more of the following:

    • SE_UID - Return UIDs instead of sequence numbers
    • SE_NOPREFETCH - Don't prefetch searched messages

    search_criteria

    IMAP2-format search criteria string. For details see imap_search().

    charset

    MIME character set to use when sorting strings.

    Return Values

    Returns an array of message numbers sorted by the given parameters, or false on failure.

    Changelog

    Version Description
    8.1.0 The imap parameter expects an IMAP\Connection instance now; previously, a valid imap resource was expected.
    8.0.0 reverse is now bool instead of int.
    8.0.0 search_criteria and charset are now nullable.

    Improve This Page

    Learn How To Improve This Page • Submit a Pull Request • Report a Bug
    ＋add a note

    User Contributed Notes 1 note

    up
    9
    antoine dot spam-nono at maxg dot info
    18 years ago
    I worked a lot with IMAP functions since I wrote a complete webmail and I've got a little tip about the imap_sort function :

    There is a big difference between :

    <?php
    imap_sort    ($imap, SORTDATE, 1);
    // and
    imap_sort($imap, SORTARRIVAL, 1);
    ?>

    The first command will issue a
    >> FETCH 1:last (UID ENVELOPE BODY.PEEK[HEADER.FIELDS (Newsgroups Content-MD5 Content-Disposition Content-Language Content-Location Followup-To References)] INTERNALDATE RFC822.SIZE FLAGS)

    While the second resulted in
    >> FETCH 1:last (UID INTERNALDATE RFC822.SIZE FLAGS)

    As a result, using SORTDATE took 3 seconds longer to complete on a 800-emails mailbox, while the results are quite the same (except if you have to deal with forged dates or timezones, but the arrival order is far more logical)

    My advice if you sort your emails by arrival is to actually use SORTARRIVAL, or better don't use imap_sort and go straight with message numbers (not UIDs). On large mailboxes, if you display messages per page, you will have significant performance increases (by avoiding 5 seconds of sorting).
    ＋add a note
    To Top