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IMAP and IMAP clients permit so-called hierarchical folders.
The forward slash character, /
, is used as the hierarchy
separator, just as when specifying subdirectories and files. And
indeed, for the native Berkeley mailbox, hierarchical folders are
implemented as UNIX directories and files. That is, for the native
Berkeley mailbox an IMAP hierarchical folder
/apple/banana/carrot
will correspond to the file
carrot
within a subdirectory /apple/banana/
under your default directory. Note that hierarchical folders in PMDF
MessageStore mailboxes do not correspond to UNIX subdirectories in this
way.
It is not necessary to create "intermediate" folders before
creating a terminal folder; for instance, folder
/apple/banana/carrot
may be created even if the folder
(which in the case of a native Berkeley mailbox is implemented as a
subdirectory) /apple/banana/
did not previously exist; the
IMAP server will create the necessary folder (the necessary
subdirectory in the case of a native Berkeley mailbox) for you
automatically.
Note that since "intermediate" folders for the native Berkeley mailbox are actually UNIX subdirectories, it is not possible to store messages in such "intermediate" folders; messages may only be stored in a file at the "end" of a folder specification. But with PMDF MessageStore mailbox hierarchical folders, as they are not limited by subdirectory issues, it is possible to store messages in "intermediate" folders.
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