- Home
- Download
- Contribute
- Support
- Cyrus SASL

# unexpunge

Recover messages the user has (accidentally) deleted.

## Synopsis

    unexpunge [ -C config-file ] -l mailbox
    unexpunge [ -C config-file ] -t time-interval [ -d ] [ -v ] [ -f flagname ] mailbox
    unexpunge [ -C config-file ] -a [ -d ] [ -v ] [ -f flagname ] mailbox
    unexpunge [ -C config-file ] -u [ -d ] [ -v ] [ -f flagname ] mailbox uid...

## Description

The unexpunge program is used to list or restore messages which have been deleted from a mailbox, but still reside in the Cyrus IMAP mail spool.

This utility is only useful when the server is configured with `expunge_mode` set to `delayed` in its configuration file.

unexpunge reads its configuration options out of the imapd.conf(5) file unless specified otherwise by -C.

## Options

`-C` `config-file`

  Use the specified configuration file config-file rather than the default imapd.conf(5).

`-l```

  List the expunged messages in the specified mailbox which are available for restoration.

`-t` `time-interval`

  Unexpunge messages which where expunged within the last `time-interval` seconds. Use one of the trailing modifiers – `m` (minutes), `h` (hours), `d` (days) or `w` (weeks) – to specify a different time unit.

`-a```

  Restore all of the expunged messages in the specified mailbox.

`-u```

  Restore only messages matching the UIDs, in a space-separated list at the end of the command invocation, in the specified mailbox.

`-d```

  Unset the \Deleted flag on any restored messages.

`-f` `flagname`

  Set the user flag \flagname on the messages restored, making it easier for the user(s) to find the restored messages and operate on them (in a batch).

`-v```

  Enable verbose output/logging.

## Examples

    unexpunge -l user/john@example.org

> List the messages that are expunged and could be restored for mailbox user/john@example.org.

    UID: 278786
        Size: 2548
        Sent: Sat Mar  7 12:00:00 2015
        Recv: Sat Mar  7 12:42:52 2015
        Expg: Sun Mar  8 14:37:43 2015
        From: <notifications@fedoraproject.org>
        To  : <john+fedora@example.org>
        Cc  :
        Bcc :
        Subj: "pghmcfc submitted milter-greylist-4.5.12-2.fc21 to testing"

    UID: 278787
        Size: 2545
        Sent: Sat Mar  7 12:00:00 2015
        Recv: Sat Mar  7 12:42:52 2015
        Expg: Sun Mar  8 14:37:43 2015
        From: <notifications@fedoraproject.org>
        To  : <john+fedora@example.org>
        Cc  :
        Bcc :
        Subj: "pghmcfc submitted milter-greylist-4.5.12-2.el7 to testing"

    UID: 278788
        Size: 2548
        Sent: Sat Mar  7 12:00:00 2015
        Recv: Sat Mar  7 12:42:53 2015
        Expg: Sun Mar  8 14:37:43 2015
        From: <notifications@fedoraproject.org>
        To  : <john+fedora@example.org>
        Cc  :
        Bcc :
        Subj: "pghmcfc submitted milter-greylist-4.5.12-2.fc20 to testing"

    unexpunge -u user/john@example.org 278787 278788

> Unexpunge two of these messages.

    restoring expunged messages in mailbox 'example/org!user/john'
    restored 2 expunged messages

Note

The output of the unexpunge command may not match the input terms, in the case above, the mailbox `user/john@example.org` appears in the output as `example/org!user/john`.

    mbexamine user/john@example.org

> Examine the mailbox for the two restored messages.

    (...snip...)
    000001> UID:00278862   INT_DATE:1425728572 SENTDATE:1425726000 SIZE:2545
        > HDRSIZE:2259   LASTUPD :1425912731 SYSFLAGS:00000014   LINES:6
        > CACHEVER:3  GUID:95349cd5d1cf21b55e6e0930b2ee5754f977ba8c MODSEQ:274250 CID: 0
        > USERFLAGS: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
    Envel>{369}("Sat,  7 Mar 2015 11:42:47 +0000 (UTC)" "pghmcfc submitted milter-greylist-4.5.12-2.el7 to testing" (...snip...)
    BdyStr>{76}("TEXT" "PLAIN" ("CHARSET" "us-ascii") NIL NIL "7BIT" 286 6 NIL NIL NIL NIL)
    Body>{60}("TEXT" "PLAIN" ("CHARSET" "us-ascii") NIL NIL "7BIT" 286 6)
    CacHdr>{98}X-Spam-Score: -6.909
    Message-Id: <20150307114247.3829C6087DAC@bastion01.phx2.fedoraproject.org>

    From>{33}<notifications@fedoraproject.org>
    To>{32}<john+fedora@example.org>
    Cc>{0}
    Bcc>{0}
    Subjct>{59}"pghmcfc submitted milter-greylist-4.5.12-2.el7 to testing"
    000001> UID:00278863   INT_DATE:1425728573 SENTDATE:1425726000 SIZE:2548
        > HDRSIZE:2260   LASTUPD :1425912743 SYSFLAGS:00000014   LINES:6
        > CACHEVER:3  GUID:e503646e389f507777fb75eeacc2da0d2156016a MODSEQ:274251 CID: 0
        > USERFLAGS: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
    Envel>{370}("Sat,  7 Mar 2015 11:42:51 +0000 (UTC)" "pghmcfc submitted milter-greylist-4.5.12-2.fc20 to testing" (...snip...)
    BdyStr>{76}("TEXT" "PLAIN" ("CHARSET" "us-ascii") NIL NIL "7BIT" 288 6 NIL NIL NIL NIL)
    Body>{60}("TEXT" "PLAIN" ("CHARSET" "us-ascii") NIL NIL "7BIT" 288 6)
    CacHdr>{98}X-Spam-Score: -6.909
    Message-Id: <20150307114251.A0E716087DAC@bastion01.phx2.fedoraproject.org>

    From>{33}<notifications@fedoraproject.org>
    To>{32}<john+fedora@example.org>
    Cc>{0}
    Bcc>{0}
    Subjct>{60}"pghmcfc submitted milter-greylist-4.5.12-2.fc20 to testing"
    (...snip...)

    unexpunge -u -d user.johnsmith 46908

> Unexpunge a select message based on its UID, clearing the \Deleted flag.

    unexpunge -a user.johnsmit.Trash

> Unexpunge all messages in a user’s Trash, but leave them flagged \Deleted.

    unexpunge -a -f Flagged user.johnsmith.Trash

> The same, but setting user flag \Flagged to facilitate later bulk operations.

    unexpunge -t 24h -d -f Flagged user.johnsmith

> Unexpunge messages matching only a given time period.

    unexpunge -t 24h -d -f Flagged user/johnsmith

> The same command, supporting the `unixhierarchysep: yes` option in imapd.conf(5).

## Files

/etc/imapd.conf

## See Also

imapd.conf(5)