Mail::Identity(3)

NAME
Mail::Identity - an e-mail role

INHERITANCE
 Mail::Identity
   is a User::Identity::Item

SYNOPSIS
  use User::Identity;
  use Mail::Identity;
  my $me   = User::Identity->new(...);
  my $addr = Mail::Identity->new(address => 'x@y');
  $me->add(email => $addr);

  # Simpler
  use User::Identity;
  my $me   = User::Identity->new(...);
  my $addr = $me->add(email => 'x@y');
  my $addr = $me->add(email => 'home', address => 'x@y');

  # Conversion
  my $ma   = Mail::Address->new(...);
  my $mi   = Mail::Identity->coerce($ma);

DESCRIPTION
The "Mail::Identity" object contains the description of role played by a human when sending e-mail. Most people have more than one role these days: for instance, a private and a company role with different e-mail addresses.

An "Mail::Identity" object combines an e-mail address, user description ("phrase"), a signature, pgp-key, and so on. All fields are optional, and some fields are smart. One such set of data represents one role. "Mail::Identity" is therefore the smart cousine of the Mail::Address object.

Extends "DESCRIPTION" in User::Identity::Item.

METHODS
Extends "METHODS" in User::Identity::Item.

  Constructors
Extends "Constructors" in User::Identity::Item.

$class->new( [$name], %options )

     -Option      --Defined in          --Default
      address                             <usernameP<@domain> or name>
      charset                             <user's charset>
      comment                             <user's fullname if phrase is different>
      description   User::Identity::Item  undef
      domain                              <from email or localhost>
      language                            <from user>
      location                            <random user's location>
      name          User::Identity::Item  <phrase or user's fullName>
      organization                        <location's organization>
      parent        User::Identity::Item  undef
      pgp_key                             undef
      phrase                              <user's fullName>
      signature                           undef
      username                            <from address or user's nickname>

    address => STRING
        The e-mail address is constructed from the username/domain, but when both do not exist, the name is taken.

    charset => STRING
    comment => STRING
    description => STRING
    domain => STRING
    language => STRING
    location => $name|OBJECT
        The user's location which relates to this mail identity. This can be specified as location $name (which will be looked-up when needed), or as User::Identity::Location object.

    name => STRING
    organization => STRING
        Usually defined for e-mail addresses which are used by a company or other organization, but less common for personal addresses. This value will be used to fill the "Organization" header field of messages.

    parent => OBJECT
    pgp_key => STRING|FILENAME
    phrase => STRING
    signature => STRING
    username => STRING

  Attributes
Extends "Attributes" in User::Identity::Item.

$obj->address()
    Returns the e-mail address for this role. If none was specified, it will be constructed from the username and domain. If those are not present as well, then the name() is used when it contains a "@", else the user's nickname is taken.

$obj->charset()
    Returns the character set used in comment and phrase. When set to "undef", the strings (are already encoded to) contain only ASCII characters. This defaults to the value of the user's charset, if a user is defined.

$obj->comment( [STRING] )
    E-mail address -when included in message MIME headers- can contain a comment. The RFCs advice not to store useful information in these comments, but it you really want to, you can do it. The comment defaults to the user's fullname if the phrase is not the fullname and there is a user defined.

    Comments will be enclosed in parenthesis when used. Parenthesis (matching) or non-matching) which are already in the string will carefully escaped when needed. You do not need to worry.

$obj->description()
    Inherited, see "Attributes" in User::Identity::Item

$obj->domain()
    The domain is the part of the e-mail address after the "@"-sign. When this is not defined, it can be deducted from the email address (see address()). If nothing is known, "localhost" is returned.

$obj->language()
    Returns the language which is used for the description fields of this e-mail address, which defaults to the user's language.

$obj->location()
    Returns the object which describes to which location this mail address relates. The location may be used to find the name of the organization involved, or to create a signature. If no location is specified, but a user is defined which has locations, one of those is randomly chosen.

$obj->name( [$newname] )
    Inherited, see "Attributes" in User::Identity::Item

$obj->organization()
    Returns the organization which relates to this e-mail identity. If not explicitly specified, it is tried to be found via the location.

$obj->phrase()
    The phrase is used in an e-mail address to explain who is sending the message. This usually is the fullname (the user's fullname is used by default), description of your function (Webmaster), or any other text.

    When an email string is produced, the phase will be quoted if needed. Quotes which are within the string will automatically be escaped, so you do no need to worry: input cannot break the outcome!

$obj->username()
    Returns the username of this e-mail address. If none is specified, first it is tried to extract it from the specified e-mail address. If there is also no username in the e-mail address, the user identity's nickname is taken.

  Collections
Extends "Collections" in User::Identity::Item.

$obj->add($collection, $role)
    Inherited, see "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

$obj->addCollection( $object | <[$type], %options> )
    Inherited, see "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

$obj->collection($name)
    Inherited, see "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

$obj->parent( [$parent] )
    Inherited, see "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

$obj->removeCollection($object|$name)
    Inherited, see "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

$any->type()
    Inherited, see "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

$obj->user()
    Inherited, see "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

  Searching
Extends "Searching" in User::Identity::Item.

$obj->find($collection, $role)
    Inherited, see "Searching" in User::Identity::Item

DIAGNOSTICS

Error: cannot load collection module for $type ($class): $@
    Either the specified $type does not exist, or that module named $class returns compilation errors. If the type as specified in the warning is not the name of a package, you specified a nickname which was not defined. Maybe you forgot the 'require' the package which defines the nickname. Cast by addCollection()

Error: nvalid collection $name.
    The collection with $name does not exist and can not be created. Cast by add()

Error: this $object is not a collection.
    Cast by addCollection()

SEE ALSO
This module is part of User-Identity version 4.00, built on December 12, 2025. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/CPAN/

LICENSE
For contributors see file ChangeLog.

This software is copyright (c) 2003-2025 by Mark Overmeer.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.