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6.3.11 STATUS Command

Arguments:

  • mailbox name
  • status data item names

Responses: REQUIRED untagged responses: STATUS

Result:

  • OK - status completed
  • NO - status failure: no status for that name
  • BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid

The STATUS command requests the status of the indicated mailbox. It does not change the currently selected mailbox, nor does it affect the state of any messages in the queried mailbox.

The STATUS command provides an alternative to opening a second IMAP4rev2 connection and doing an EXAMINE command on a mailbox to query that mailbox's status without deselecting the current mailbox in the first IMAP4rev2 connection.

Unlike the LIST command, the STATUS command is not guaranteed to be fast in its response. Under certain circumstances, it can be quite slow.

Currently defined status data items:​

MESSAGES - The number of messages in the mailbox.

UIDNEXT - The next unique identifier value of the mailbox.

UIDVALIDITY - The unique identifier validity value of the mailbox.

UNSEEN - The number of messages that do not have the \Seen flag set.

DELETED - The number of messages that have the \Deleted flag set.

SIZE - The total size of the mailbox in octets.

Example:

C: A042 STATUS blurdybloop (UIDNEXT MESSAGES)
S: * STATUS blurdybloop (MESSAGES 231 UIDNEXT 44292)
S: A042 OK STATUS completed
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