Doc/library/quopri.rst

:mod:`quopri` --- Encode and decode MIME quoted-printable data
==============================================================

.. module:: quopri
   :synopsis: Encode and decode files using the MIME quoted-printable encoding.


.. index::
   pair: quoted-printable; encoding
   single: MIME; quoted-printable encoding

This module performs quoted-printable transport encoding and decoding, as
defined in :rfc:`1521`: "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part One:
Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing the Format of Internet Message Bodies".
The quoted-printable encoding is designed for data where there are relatively
few nonprintable characters; the base64 encoding scheme available via the
:mod:`base64` module is more compact if there are many such characters, as when
sending a graphics file.


.. function:: decode(input, output[,header])

   Decode the contents of the *input* file and write the resulting decoded binary
   data to the *output* file. *input* and *output* must be :term:`file objects
   <file object>`.  *input* will be read until ``input.readline()`` returns an
   empty string. If the optional argument *header* is present and true, underscore
   will be decoded as space. This is used to decode "Q"-encoded headers as
   described in :rfc:`1522`: "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
   Part Two: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text".


.. function:: encode(input, output, quotetabs)

   Encode the contents of the *input* file and write the resulting quoted-printable
   data to the *output* file. *input* and *output* must be :term:`file objects
   <file object>`.  *input* will be read until ``input.readline()`` returns an
   empty string. *quotetabs* is a flag which controls whether to encode embedded
   spaces and tabs; when true it encodes such embedded whitespace, and when
   false it leaves them unencoded.  Note that spaces and tabs appearing at the
   end of lines are always encoded, as per :rfc:`1521`.


.. function:: decodestring(s[,header])

   Like :func:`decode`, except that it accepts a source string and returns the
   corresponding decoded string.


.. function:: encodestring(s[, quotetabs])

   Like :func:`encode`, except that it accepts a source string and returns the
   corresponding encoded string.  *quotetabs* is optional (defaulting to 0), and is
   passed straight through to :func:`encode`.


.. seealso::

   Module :mod:`base64`
      Encode and decode MIME base64 data