How to attach file in an email

I understand your frustration. Many times I have had a need
from within a cron job or a script to send mail with text
and an attachment. If you are sending a file to a microsoft
person, you can just do:

uuencode file name | mailx -s file dest

This works because microsoft mailers to not follow the rfc
standards for uuencoded attachments. A unix client will
not see an attachment, but a uuencoded data block. (Which
is OK, for the uudecode savy unix people!)

The desired formatting would be a properly formatted
encoded attachments is a plain/text header and a base64
translated attachment. To achieve this, I wrote my own
mailer using perl. This mailer is meant to be used from
either a cron job or at the command line. The syntax is:

-->mime_mail
Usage: mime_mail -h | -d document.txt -s "mail subject"
          -u "user1 [,user2 ...]" -f "file1 [,file2 ...]"

Full help ...

-->mime_mail -h
NAME
    mime_mail

DISCRIPTION
    This program is a command line mailer that sends a text file
    description and one or more files in mime attachments. On success,
    mime_mail will work silently.

SYNOPSIS
    mime_mail -h | -d document.txt -s "mail subject"
              -u "user1 [,user2 ...]" -f "file1 [,file2 ...]"

OPTIONS
    -h
        Displays a man page.

    -d document.txt
        Sends "document.txt" in the mail message body. The file must
        be a normal text file. If a "-" is provided as an argument,
        the input will be taken from stdin. If no "-d" argument is
        supplied, the attachment will be sent with the message
        "Please see the attached.".

    -s "mail subject"
        Sets the mail subject. The mail subject must be quoted if the
        subject contains any spaces.

    -u user1,user2 ...
        A comma separated list of email addresses or aliases. Quotes
        are required if the list contains any spaces.

    -f file1,file2 ...
        A comma separaed list of files to attach. Quotes are required
        if the list contains any spaces. The files can be of any type.
        The recognised application content types are ".doc", ".html",
        ,"htm",".xls", ".csv", ".pdf", ".rtf", and ".mdb".

William Julien
-->mime_mail -h
NAME
    mime_mail

DISCRIPTION
    This program is a command line mailer that sends a text file
    description and one or more files in mime attachments. On success,
    mime_mail will work silently.

SYNOPSIS
    mime_mail -h | -d document.txt -s "mail subject"
              -u "user1 [,user2 ...]" -f "file1 [,file2 ...]"

OPTIONS
    -h
        Displays a man page.

    -d document.txt
        Sends "document.txt" in the mail message body. The file must
        be a normal text file. If a "-" is provided as an argument,
        the input will be taken from stdin. If no "-d" argument is
        supplied, the attachment will be sent with the message
        "Please see the attached.".

    -s "mail subject"
        Sets the mail subject. The mail subject must be quoted if the
        subject contains any spaces.

    -u user1,user2 ...
        A comma separated list of email addresses or aliases. Quotes
        are required if the list contains any spaces.

    -f file1,file2 ...
        A comma separaed list of files to attach. Quotes are required
        if the list contains any spaces. The files can be of any type.
        The recognised application content types are ".doc", ".html",
        ,"htm",".xls", ".csv", ".pdf", ".rtf", and ".mdb".

William Julien

With this utility you can send a properly formatted attachment with a text header.

Here is the perl script:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#
# simple program to send a text message with an attachment
#
# William Julien
###

use strict;             # turn on the strict pragma
use Getopt::Std;        # use standard getopt to parse options

$/ = undef;             # turn on slurp mode

#
# scope local variables
#
my ($date,              # the current date
    $sendmail,          # the sendmail command
    $document,          # the document text
    %options,           # program options
    $filename,          # a file to send
    $file,              # the content of a file
    @filelist,          # list files to send
    $tolist,            # list of comma separated email addresses
    $today,             # today's date
    $usage,             # program usage
    $man,               # program man page
    $subject,           # email subject
    $extent,            # file extension
    %mime_type,         # list of supported application context mime types
    $mime_type,         # current mime application content type
    );

#
# variable initializations
#
$man = <<MAN;
NAME
    mime_mail

DISCRIPTION
    This program is a command line mailer that sends a text file
    description and one or more files in mime attachments. On success,
    mime_mail will work silently.

SYNOPSIS
    mime_mail -h | -d document.txt -s "mail subject"
              -u "user1 [,user2 ...]" -f "file1 [,file2 ...]"

OPTIONS
    -h
        Displays a man page.

    -d document.txt
        Sends "document.txt" in the mail message body. The file must
        be a normal text file. If a "-" is provided as an argument,
        the input will be taken from stdin. If no "-d" argument is
        supplied, the attachment will be sent with the message
        "Please see the attached.".

    -s "mail subject"
        Sets the mail subject. The mail subject must be quoted if the
        subject contains any spaces.

    -u user1,user2 ...
        A comma separated list of email addresses or aliases. Quotes
        are required if the list contains any spaces.

    -f file1,file2 ...
        A comma separaed list of files to attach. Quotes are required
        if the list contains any spaces. The files can be of any type.
        The recognised application content types are ".doc", ".html",
        ,"htm",".xls", ".csv", ".pdf", ".rtf", and ".mdb".

William Julien
425-865-5511
MAN
$usage = <<USAGE;

Usage:
mime_mail -h | -d document.txt -s "mail subject"
          -u "user1 [,user2 ...]" -f "file1 [,file2 ...]"
USAGE
$sendmail = "/usr/lib/sendmail";
if ( ! -f $sendmail ) {
    die "Sorry -- cannot locate sendmail at $sendmail.\nYou must edit $0\n";
}
$today = scalar(localtime());
%mime_type = ("doc"   => "application/msword",
              "txt"   => "text/plain",
              "htm"   => "text/html",
              "html"  => "text/html",
              "xls"   => "application/vnd.ms-excel",
              "csv"   => "application/octet-stream",
              "pdf"   => "application/acrobat",
              "rtf"   => "application/rtf",
              "mdb"   => "application/vnd.ms-access",
             );

#
# process program options
#
getopts('d:s:u:f:h', \%options) or die "$usage\n";
if ( defined $options{"h"} ) {
    print "$man\n";
    exit;
}
if ( defined $options{"f"} ) {
    @filelist = split /\,/,$options{"f"};
    foreach $file (@filelist) {
        if (! -f $file) {
            die "$0: cannot open $file\n";
        }
    }
} else {
    die "$usage\n";
}
if ( defined $options{"d"} ) {
    $document = $options{"d"};
    if ( $document eq "-" ) {
        $document = <STDIN>;
    } else {
        if ( -f $document ) {
            open F, "$document";
            $document = <F>;
            close F;
        } else {
            die "$0 error: cannot open $document\n";
        }
    }
} else {
    $document = "Please see the attached.\n";
}
if ( defined $options{"s"} ) {
    $subject = $options{"s"};
} else {
    die "$usage\nError: No Subject\n";
}
if ( defined $options{"u"} ) {
    $tolist = $options{"u"};
} else {
    die "$usage\n$0 error: no subject specified\n";
}

open MAIL, "|$sendmail -t";
print MAIL <<HEADER;
To: $tolist
Subject: $subject
Date: $today
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
        boundary="ThisRandomString"

This mail was formatted with mime_mail (wmj)

--ThisRandomString
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

$document
HEADER
foreach $filename (@filelist) {
    $extent = $filename =~ /\.(\w+)$/ ? "\L$1" : undef;
    $mime_type = "application/octet-stream";
    if ( defined $extent ) {
        if ( defined $mime_type{"$extent"} ) {
            $mime_type = $mime_type{"$extent"};
        } else {
            $mime_type = "application/octet-stream";
        }
    }
    open F,"$filename";
    $file = <F>;
    close F;
    $file = encode_base64($file);
    print MAIL <<FILE;
--ThisRandomString
Content-Type: $mime_type; name="$filename"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="$filename"

$file
FILE
}
print MAIL "--ThisRandomString--\n";
#
# send the mail
#
close MAIL;

#
# fin
###

sub encode_base64
{
    use integer;
    my $res = "";
    my $eol = $_[1];
    $eol = "\n" unless defined $eol;
    pos($_[0]) = 0;                          # ensure start at the beginning
    while ($_[0] =~ /(.{1,45})/gs) {
        $res .= substr(pack('u', $1), 1);
        chop($res);
    }
    $res =~ tr|` -_|AA-Za-z0-9+/|;            # `# help emacs
    # fix padding at the end
    my $padding = (3 - length($_[0]) % 3) % 3;
    $res =~ s/.{$padding}$/'=' x $padding/e if $padding;
    # break encoded string into lines of no more than 76 characters each
    if (length $eol) {
        $res =~ s/(.{1,76})/$1$eol/g;
    }
    return $res;
}
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#
# simple program to send a text message with an attachment
#
# William Julien
###

use strict;             # turn on the strict pragma
use Getopt::Std;        # use standard getopt to parse options

$/ = undef;             # turn on slurp mode

#
# scope local variables
#
my ($date,              # the current date
    $sendmail,          # the sendmail command
    $document,          # the document text
    %options,           # program options
    $filename,          # a file to send
    $file,              # the content of a file
    @filelist,          # list files to send
    $tolist,            # list of comma separated email addresses
    $today,             # today's date
    $usage,             # program usage
    $man,               # program man page
    $subject,           # email subject
    $extent,            # file extension
    %mime_type,         # list of supported application context mime types
    $mime_type,         # current mime application content type
    );

#
# variable initializations
#
$man = <<MAN;
NAME
    mime_mail

DISCRIPTION
    This program is a command line mailer that sends a text file
    description and one or more files in mime attachments. On success,
    mime_mail will work silently.

SYNOPSIS
    mime_mail -h | -d document.txt -s "mail subject"
              -u "user1 [,user2 ...]" -f "file1 [,file2 ...]"

OPTIONS
    -h
        Displays a man page.

    -d document.txt
        Sends "document.txt" in the mail message body. The file must
        be a normal text file. If a "-" is provided as an argument,
        the input will be taken from stdin. If no "-d" argument is
        supplied, the attachment will be sent with the message
        "Please see the attached.".

    -s "mail subject"
        Sets the mail subject. The mail subject must be quoted if the
        subject contains any spaces.

    -u user1,user2 ...
        A comma separated list of email addresses or aliases. Quotes
        are required if the list contains any spaces.

    -f file1,file2 ...
        A comma separaed list of files to attach. Quotes are required
        if the list contains any spaces. The files can be of any type.
        The recognised application content types are ".doc", ".html",
        ,"htm",".xls", ".csv", ".pdf", ".rtf", and ".mdb".

William Julien
425-865-5511
MAN
$usage = <<USAGE;

Usage:
mime_mail -h | -d document.txt -s "mail subject"
          -u "user1 [,user2 ...]" -f "file1 [,file2 ...]"
USAGE
$sendmail = "/usr/lib/sendmail";
if ( ! -f $sendmail ) {
    die "Sorry -- cannot locate sendmail at $sendmail.\nYou must edit $0\n";
}
$today = scalar(localtime());
%mime_type = ("doc"   => "application/msword",
              "txt"   => "text/plain",
              "htm"   => "text/html",
              "html"  => "text/html",
              "xls"   => "application/vnd.ms-excel",
              "csv"   => "application/octet-stream",
              "pdf"   => "application/acrobat",
              "rtf"   => "application/rtf",
              "mdb"   => "application/vnd.ms-access",
             );

#
# process program options
#
getopts('d:s:u:f:h', \%options) or die "$usage\n";
if ( defined $options{"h"} ) {
    print "$man\n";
    exit;
}
if ( defined $options{"f"} ) {
    @filelist = split /\,/,$options{"f"};
    foreach $file (@filelist) {
        if (! -f $file) {
            die "$0: cannot open $file\n";
        }
    }
} else {
    die "$usage\n";
}
if ( defined $options{"d"} ) {
    $document = $options{"d"};
    if ( $document eq "-" ) {
        $document = <STDIN>;
    } else {
        if ( -f $document ) {
            open F, "$document";
            $document = <F>;
            close F;
        } else {
            die "$0 error: cannot open $document\n";
        }
    }
} else {
    $document = "Please see the attached.\n";
}
if ( defined $options{"s"} ) {
    $subject = $options{"s"};
} else {
    die "$usage\nError: No Subject\n";
}
if ( defined $options{"u"} ) {
    $tolist = $options{"u"};
} else {
    die "$usage\n$0 error: no subject specified\n";
}

open MAIL, "|$sendmail -t";
print MAIL <<HEADER;
To: $tolist
Subject: $subject
Date: $today
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
        boundary="ThisRandomString"

This mail was formatted with mime_mail (wmj)

--ThisRandomString
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

$document
HEADER
foreach $filename (@filelist) {
    $extent = $filename =~ /\.(\w+)$/ ? "\L$1" : undef;
    $mime_type = "application/octet-stream";
    if ( defined $extent ) {
        if ( defined $mime_type{"$extent"} ) {
            $mime_type = $mime_type{"$extent"};
        } else {
            $mime_type = "application/octet-stream";
        }
    }
    open F,"$filename";
    $file = <F>;
    close F;
    $file = encode_base64($file);
    print MAIL <<FILE;
--ThisRandomString
Content-Type: $mime_type; name="$filename"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="$filename"

$file
FILE
}
print MAIL "--ThisRandomString--\n";
#
# send the mail
#
close MAIL;

#
# fin
###

sub encode_base64
{
    use integer;
    my $res = "";
    my $eol = $_[1];
    $eol = "\n" unless defined $eol;
    pos($_[0]) = 0;                          # ensure start at the beginning
    while ($_[0] =~ /(.{1,45})/gs) {
        $res .= substr(pack('u', $1), 1);
        chop($res);
    }
    $res =~ tr|` -_|AA-Za-z0-9+/|;            # `# help emacs
    # fix padding at the end
    my $padding = (3 - length($_[0]) % 3) % 3;
    $res =~ s/.{$padding}$/'=' x $padding/e if $padding;
    # break encoded string into lines of no more than 76 characters each
    if (length $eol) {
        $res =~ s/(.{1,76})/$1$eol/g;
    }
    return $res;
}