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Message Headers

Sometimes you'll want to add your own headers to a message or modify/remove headers that are already present. You work with the message's HeaderSet to do this.

Header Basics

All MIME entities in Swift Mailer -- including the message itself -- store their headers in a single object called a HeaderSet. This HeaderSet is retrieved with the getHeaders() method.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, everything that forms a part of a message in Swift Mailer is a MIME entity that is represented by an instance of Swift_Mime_SimpleMimeEntity. This includes -- most notably -- the message object itself, attachments, MIME parts and embedded images. Each of these MIME entities consists of a body and a set of headers that describe the body.

For all of the "standard" headers in these MIME entities, such as the Content-Type, there are named methods for working with them, such as setContentType() and getContentType(). This is because headers are a moderately complex area of the library. Each header has a slightly different required structure that it must meet in order to comply with the standards that govern email (and that are checked by spam blockers etc).

You fetch the HeaderSet from a MIME entity like so:

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$message = new Swift_Message();

// Fetch the HeaderSet from a Message object
$headers = $message->getHeaders();

$attachment = Swift_Attachment::fromPath('document.pdf');

// Fetch the HeaderSet from an attachment object
$headers = $attachment->getHeaders();

The job of the HeaderSet is to contain and manage instances of Header objects. Depending upon the MIME entity the HeaderSet came from, the contents of the HeaderSet will be different, since an attachment for example has a different set of headers to those in a message.

You can find out what the HeaderSet contains with a quick loop, dumping out the names of the headers:

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foreach ($headers->getAll() as $header) {
  printf("%s<br />\n", $header->getFieldName());
}

/*
Content-Transfer-Encoding
Content-Type
MIME-Version
Date
Message-ID
From
Subject
To
*/

You can also dump out the rendered HeaderSet by calling its toString() method:

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echo $headers->toString();

/*
Message-ID: <1234869991.499a9ee7f1d5e@swift.generated>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:26:31 +1100
Subject: Awesome subject!
From: sender@example.org
To: recipient@example.org
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
*/

Where the complexity comes in is when you want to modify an existing header. This complexity comes from the fact that each header can be of a slightly different type (such as a Date header, or a header that contains email addresses, or a header that has key-value parameters on it!). Each header in the HeaderSet is an instance of Swift_Mime_Header. They all have common functionality, but knowing exactly what type of header you're working with will allow you a little more control.

You can determine the type of header by comparing the return value of its getFieldType() method with the constants TYPE_TEXT, TYPE_PARAMETERIZED, TYPE_DATE, TYPE_MAILBOX, TYPE_ID and TYPE_PATH which are defined in Swift_Mime_Header:

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foreach ($headers->getAll() as $header) {
  switch ($header->getFieldType()) {
    case Swift_Mime_Header::TYPE_TEXT: $type = 'text';
      break;
    case Swift_Mime_Header::TYPE_PARAMETERIZED: $type = 'parameterized';
      break;
    case Swift_Mime_Header::TYPE_MAILBOX: $type = 'mailbox';
      break;
    case Swift_Mime_Header::TYPE_DATE: $type = 'date';
      break;
    case Swift_Mime_Header::TYPE_ID: $type = 'ID';
      break;
    case Swift_Mime_Header::TYPE_PATH: $type = 'path';
      break;
  }
  printf("%s: is a %s header<br />\n", $header->getFieldName(), $type);
}

/*
Content-Transfer-Encoding: is a text header
Content-Type: is a parameterized header
MIME-Version: is a text header
Date: is a date header
Message-ID: is a ID header
From: is a mailbox header
Subject: is a text header
To: is a mailbox header
*/

Headers can be removed from the set, modified within the set, or added to the set.

The following sections show you how to work with the HeaderSet and explain the details of each implementation of Swift_Mime_Header that may exist within the HeaderSet.

Header Types

Because all headers are modeled on different data (dates, addresses, text!) there are different types of Header in Swift Mailer. Swift Mailer attempts to categorize all possible MIME headers into more general groups, defined by a small number of classes.

Text Headers

Text headers are the simplest type of Header. They contain textual information with no special information included within it -- for example the Subject header in a message.

There's nothing particularly interesting about a text header, though it is probably the one you'd opt to use if you need to add a custom header to a message. It represents text just like you'd think it does. If the text contains characters that are not permitted in a message header (such as new lines, or non-ascii characters) then the header takes care of encoding the text so that it can be used.

No header -- including text headers -- in Swift Mailer is vulnerable to header-injection attacks. Swift Mailer breaks any attempt at header injection by encoding the dangerous data into a non-dangerous form.

It's easy to add a new text header to a HeaderSet. You do this by calling the HeaderSet's addTextHeader() method:

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$message = new Swift_Message();
$headers = $message->getHeaders();
$headers->addTextHeader('Your-Header-Name', 'the header value');

Changing the value of an existing text header is done by calling it's setValue() method:

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$subject = $message->getHeaders()->get('Subject');
$subject->setValue('new subject');

When output via toString(), a text header produces something like the following:

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$subject = $message->getHeaders()->get('Subject');
$subject->setValue('amazing subject line');
echo $subject->toString();

/*

Subject: amazing subject line

*/

If the header contains any characters that are outside of the US-ASCII range however, they will be encoded. This is nothing to be concerned about since mail clients will decode them back:

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$subject = $message->getHeaders()->get('Subject');
$subject->setValue('contains – dash');
echo $subject->toString();

/*

Subject: contains =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=93?= dash

*/

Parameterized Headers

Parameterized headers are text headers that contain key-value parameters following the textual content. The Content-Type header of a message is a parameterized header since it contains charset information after the content type.

The parameterized header type is a special type of text header. It extends the text header by allowing additional information to follow it. All of the methods from text headers are available in addition to the methods described here.

Adding a parameterized header to a HeaderSet is done by using the addParameterizedHeader() method which takes a text value like addTextHeader() but it also accepts an associative array of key-value parameters:

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$message = new Swift_Message();
$headers = $message->getHeaders();
$headers->addParameterizedHeader(
  'Header-Name', 'header value',
  ['foo' => 'bar']
  );

To change the text value of the header, call it's setValue() method just as you do with text headers.

To change the parameters in the header, call the header's setParameters() method or the setParameter() method (note the pluralization):

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$type = $message->getHeaders()->get('Content-Type');

// setParameters() takes an associative array
$type->setParameters([
  'name' => 'file.txt',
  'charset' => 'iso-8859-1'
]);

// setParameter() takes two args for $key and $value
$type->setParameter('charset', 'iso-8859-1');

When output via toString(), a parameterized header produces something like the following:

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$type = $message->getHeaders()->get('Content-Type');
$type->setValue('text/html');
$type->setParameter('charset', 'utf-8');

echo $type->toString();

/*

Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8

*/

If the header contains any characters that are outside of the US-ASCII range however, they will be encoded, just like they are for text headers. This is nothing to be concerned about since mail clients will decode them back. Likewise, if the parameters contain any non-ascii characters they will be encoded so that they can be transmitted safely:

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$attachment = new Swift_Attachment();
$disp = $attachment->getHeaders()->get('Content-Disposition');
$disp->setValue('attachment');
$disp->setParameter('filename', 'report–may.pdf');
echo $disp->toString();

/*

Content-Disposition: attachment; filename*=utf-8''report%E2%80%93may.pdf

*/

Date Headers

Date headers contains an RFC 2822 formatted date (i.e. what PHP's date('r') returns). They are used anywhere a date or time is needed to be presented as a message header.

The data on which a date header is modeled as a DateTimeImmutable object. The object is used to create a correctly structured RFC 2822 formatted date with timezone such as Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:26:31 +1100.

The obvious place this header type is used is in the Date: header of the message itself.

It's easy to add a new date header to a HeaderSet. You do this by calling the HeaderSet's addDateHeader() method:

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$message = new Swift_Message();
$headers = $message->getHeaders();
$headers->addDateHeader('Your-Header', new DateTimeImmutable('3 days ago'));

Changing the value of an existing date header is done by calling it's setDateTime() method:

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$date = $message->getHeaders()->get('Date');
$date->setDateTime(new DateTimeImmutable());

When output via toString(), a date header produces something like the following:

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$date = $message->getHeaders()->get('Date');
echo $date->toString();

/*

Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:35:02 +1100

*/

Mailbox (e-mail address) Headers

Mailbox headers contain one or more email addresses, possibly with personalized names attached to them. The data on which they are modeled is represented by an associative array of email addresses and names.

Mailbox headers are probably the most complex header type to understand in Swift Mailer because they accept their input as an array which can take various forms, as described in the previous chapter.

All of the headers that contain e-mail addresses in a message -- with the exception of Return-Path: which has a stricter syntax -- use this header type. That is, To:, From: etc.

You add a new mailbox header to a HeaderSet by calling the HeaderSet's addMailboxHeader() method:

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$message = new Swift_Message();
$headers = $message->getHeaders();
$headers->addMailboxHeader('Your-Header-Name', [
      'person1@example.org' => 'Person Name One',
      'person2@example.org',
      'person3@example.org',
      'person4@example.org' => 'Another named person'
]);

Changing the value of an existing mailbox header is done by calling it's setNameAddresses() method:

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$to = $message->getHeaders()->get('To');
$to->setNameAddresses([
  'joe@example.org' => 'Joe Bloggs',
  'john@example.org' => 'John Doe',
  'no-name@example.org'
]);

If you don't wish to concern yourself with the complicated accepted input formats accepted by setNameAddresses() as described in the previous chapter and you only want to set one or more addresses (not names) then you can just use the setAddresses() method instead:

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$to = $message->getHeaders()->get('To');
$to->setAddresses([
  'joe@example.org',
  'john@example.org',
  'no-name@example.org'
]);

Note

Both methods will accept the above input format in practice.

If all you want to do is set a single address in the header, you can use a string as the input parameter to setAddresses() and/or setNameAddresses():

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$to = $message->getHeaders()->get('To');
$to->setAddresses('joe-bloggs@example.org');

When output via toString(), a mailbox header produces something like the following:

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$to = $message->getHeaders()->get('To');
$to->setNameAddresses([
  'person1@example.org' => 'Name of Person',
  'person2@example.org',
  'person3@example.org' => 'Another Person'
]);

echo $to->toString();

/*

To: Name of Person <person1@example.org>, person2@example.org, Another Person
 <person3@example.org>

*/

Internationalized domains are automatically converted to IDN encoding:

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$to = $message->getHeaders()->get('To');
$to->setAddresses('joe@ëxämple.org');

echo $to->toString();

/*

To: joe@xn--xmple-gra1c.org

*/

ID Headers

ID headers contain identifiers for the entity (or the message). The most notable ID header is the Message-ID header on the message itself.

An ID that exists inside an ID header looks more-or-less less like an email address. For example, <1234955437.499becad62ec2@example.org>. The part to the left of the @ sign is usually unique, based on the current time and some random factor. The part on the right is usually a domain name.

Any ID passed to the header's setId() method absolutely MUST conform to this structure, otherwise you'll get an Exception thrown at you by Swift Mailer (a Swift_RfcComplianceException). This is to ensure that the generated email complies with relevant RFC documents and therefore is less likely to be blocked as spam.

It's easy to add a new ID header to a HeaderSet. You do this by calling the HeaderSet's addIdHeader() method:

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$message = new Swift_Message();
$headers = $message->getHeaders();
$headers->addIdHeader('Your-Header-Name', '123456.unqiue@example.org');

Changing the value of an existing ID header is done by calling its setId() method:

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$msgId = $message->getHeaders()->get('Message-ID');
$msgId->setId(time() . '.' . uniqid('thing') . '@example.org');

When output via toString(), an ID header produces something like the following:

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$msgId = $message->getHeaders()->get('Message-ID');
echo $msgId->toString();

/*

Message-ID: <1234955437.499becad62ec2@example.org>

*/

Path Headers

Path headers are like very-restricted mailbox headers. They contain a single email address with no associated name. The Return-Path header of a message is a path header.

You add a new path header to a HeaderSet by calling the HeaderSet's addPathHeader() method:

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$message = new Swift_Message();
$headers = $message->getHeaders();
$headers->addPathHeader('Your-Header-Name', 'person@example.org');

Changing the value of an existing path header is done by calling its setAddress() method:

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$return = $message->getHeaders()->get('Return-Path');
$return->setAddress('my-address@example.org');

When output via toString(), a path header produces something like the following:

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$return = $message->getHeaders()->get('Return-Path');
$return->setAddress('person@example.org');
echo $return->toString();

/*

Return-Path: <person@example.org>

*/

Header Operations

Working with the headers in a message involves knowing how to use the methods on the HeaderSet and on the individual Headers within the HeaderSet.

Adding new Headers

New headers can be added to the HeaderSet by using one of the provided add..Header() methods.

The added header will appear in the message when it is sent:

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// Adding a custom header to a message
$message = new Swift_Message();
$headers = $message->getHeaders();
$headers->addTextHeader('X-Mine', 'something here');

// Adding a custom header to an attachment
$attachment = Swift_Attachment::fromPath('/path/to/doc.pdf');
$attachment->getHeaders()->addDateHeader('X-Created-Time', time());

Retrieving Headers

Headers are retrieved through the HeaderSet's get() and getAll() methods:

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$headers = $message->getHeaders();

// Get the To: header
$toHeader = $headers->get('To');

// Get all headers named "X-Foo"
$fooHeaders = $headers->getAll('X-Foo');

// Get the second header named "X-Foo"
$foo = $headers->get('X-Foo', 1);

// Get all headers that are present
$all = $headers->getAll();

When using get() a single header is returned that matches the name (case insensitive) that is passed to it. When using getAll() with a header name, an array of headers with that name are returned. Calling getAll() with no arguments returns an array of all headers present in the entity.

Note

It's valid for some headers to appear more than once in a message (e.g. the Received header). For this reason getAll() exists to fetch all headers with a specified name. In addition, get() accepts an optional numerical index, starting from zero to specify which header you want more specifically.

Note

If you want to modify the contents of the header and you don't know for sure what type of header it is then you may need to check the type by calling its getFieldType() method.

Check if a Header Exists

You can check if a named header is present in a HeaderSet by calling its has() method:

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$headers = $message->getHeaders();

// Check if the To: header exists
if ($headers->has('To')) {
  echo 'To: exists';
}

// Check if an X-Foo header exists twice (i.e. check for the 2nd one)
if ($headers->has('X-Foo', 1)) {
  echo 'Second X-Foo header exists';
}

If the header exists, true will be returned or false if not.

Note

It's valid for some headers to appear more than once in a message (e.g. the Received header). For this reason has() accepts an optional numerical index, starting from zero to specify which header you want to check more specifically.

Removing Headers

Removing a Header from the HeaderSet is done by calling the HeaderSet's remove() or removeAll() methods:

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$headers = $message->getHeaders();

// Remove the Subject: header
$headers->remove('Subject');

// Remove all X-Foo headers
$headers->removeAll('X-Foo');

// Remove only the second X-Foo header
$headers->remove('X-Foo', 1);

When calling remove() a single header will be removed. When calling removeAll() all headers with the given name will be removed. If no headers exist with the given name, no errors will occur.

Note

It's valid for some headers to appear more than once in a message (e.g. the Received header). For this reason remove() accepts an optional numerical index, starting from zero to specify which header you want to check more specifically. For the same reason, removeAll() exists to remove all headers that have the given name.

Modifying a Header's Content

To change a Header's content you should know what type of header it is and then call it's appropriate setter method. All headers also have a setFieldBodyModel() method that accepts a mixed parameter and delegates to the correct setter:

The header will be updated inside the HeaderSet and the changes will be seen when the message is sent:

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$headers = $message->getHeaders();

// Change the Subject: header
$subj = $headers->get('Subject');
$subj->setValue('new subject here');

// Change the To: header
$to = $headers->get('To');
$to->setNameAddresses([
  'person@example.org' => 'Person',
  'thing@example.org'
]);

// Using the setFieldBodyModel() just delegates to the correct method
// So here to calls setNameAddresses()
$to->setFieldBodyModel([
  'person@example.org' => 'Person',
  'thing@example.org'
]);

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Creative Commons License Swiftmailer documentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.