18.15.1 imsimta test -exp Output

The full command imsimta test -exp for is as follows:

# imsimta test -exp -mm -block -input=temp.filter -message=rfc2822.msg

An example of the output is as follows:

Example 18–4 imsimta test -exp Output

# imsimta test -exp -mm -block -input tmp.filter -message=rfc2822.msg
Expression: if header :contains ["to"] ["pamw"]       (1)
Expression: {
Expression: redirect "usr3@sesta.com";
Expression: keep;
Expression: }
Expression:
Expression: Dump: header:2000114;0  3  1  :contains  1  "to"  1
"pamw"  if  8  ;
Dump: redirect:2000121;0  1  1  "usr3@sesta.com"  ;  keep:2000117;0 (2)
Dump: 0
Result: 0
Filter result: [ redirect "usr3@sesta.com" keep ]    (3)
            

1) The Expression: output lines show the filter being read and parsed from tmp.filter text file. These are not particularly useful in debugging the script.

2) The Dump: output lines are the result of the computer interpreting the Sieve statements. You should not see any errors and the output should seem to match your input. For example the dump shows the word redirect, usr3@sesta.com which is like the line in the filter file redirect "usr3@sesta.com";

If it didn't show this matching text, then you'd be concerned, otherwise, these also are not particularly useful in debugging the script.

3) At the bottom of the output you will get the Filter result: statement. As stated earlier there are two possible results:

Sieve Result: [] or this: Sieve Result: [action]

where action is the action taken by the Sieve script. Note that sometimes the results are expected to be empty. For example, for a discard filter, you should test that it doesn't always discard every .msg file you test it against. If there is some action between the brackets, for example:

Filter result: [ fileinto "QMSG" keep]

This means the text in the rfc2822.msg file matched the filter criteria. In this particular example, the filter will file the mail into folder QMSG and keep a copy in the inbox. The resulting actions in this case are fileinto and keep.

When testing filters you should test various .msg files for both results. You should always test that messages that match your filter are filtered, and messages that you do not want to match are not filtered.

Keep in mind that if for wildcard matches, you must use the :matches test and not :contains. For example, if you wish from=*@sesta.com to match, you must use :matches or the test will fail as it will not ever satisfy the test condition.