MIME Reference Guide

This section is for MIME users. The Section Some MIME Content Types and Subtypes -- which applies to MH, mh-e; and exmh -- lists some MIME content types and subtypes. The Section Syntax of mhn Directives lists mhn directives; this is handy for MH, mh-e, and exmh users who are composing MIME messages.

Some MIME Content Types and Subtypes

There's a complete and up-to-date list of standard content types and subtypes available by anonymous FTP from ftp.isi.edu in the directory /in-notes/iana/assignments/media-types. The media-types directory contains a subdirectory for each content type; each of those directories contains a file for each content subtype. Note that there are some non-standard contents, like image/X-pbm, that are widely used.

text Content-type

Content-types
text/plain                Text meant to be read by a person
text/richtext             Obsolete; replaced by text/enriched
text/enriched             Text with structure and font
                          information coded in plain ASCII

Parameters
    ; charset             Character set
          =us-ascii       Default 7-bit ASCII (ANSI X3.4-1986)
          =iso-8859-n     ISO international character set
                          number n (1 thru 9)
          =iso-2022-xx    xx is JP for Japan (RFC 1468),
                          KR for Korea
          =X-something    Experimental, non-standard extension

message Content-type

message/rfc822            Body of message is structured in RFC 822
                          format (such as a forwarded message)

message/partial           Message has been split into several parts
   ; id=                  Unique identifier for matching parts
   ; number=              Location (1, 2, 3, etc.) of this part in all parts
   ; total=               Total number of parts

message/external-body     Data not included in message. May be cached
                          locally.  Must have Content-ID: header field.
   ; access-type=         How to access external body part
       ftp                File Transfer Protocol (RFC 959)
       tftp               Trivial File Transfer Protocol (RFC 783)
       anon-ftp           Anonymous FTP
       local-file         On recipient's local filesystem
       afs                Andrew filesystem
       mail-server        An email file server
       X-something        Experimental, non-standard extension
   ; expiration=          (Optional) after this date, source data
                          may be deleted
   ; size=                (Optional) size of data, in octets
   ; permission=          (Optional)
        read              local cache will always be valid
        read-write        data may change; local cache may be invalid

application Content-type

application/octet-stream  Uninterpreted data or data for an application
   ; type=                General category of binary data
   ; padding=             Number of bits of padding appended

application/oda           Open Document Interchange Format (ODIF)

application/postscript    Adobe PostScript

application/X-something   Experimental, non-standard extension

audio Content-type

audio/basic               u-law (telephone-quality) sound

image Content-type

image/jpeg                JPEG-format image
image/gif                 GIF-format image
image/x-xwd               X11 Window System Window Dump format (non-standard)
image/x-pbm               Portable Bitmap format (non-standard)
image/X-something         Experimental, non-standard extension

video Content-type

video/mpeg                Video in MPEG format (ISO 11172 CD, May 1991)
video/X-something         Experimental, non-standard extension
                          (may include synchronized audio)

multipart Content-type

multipart/mixed           One or more content-types in a particular order
multipart/alternative     Interchangeable parts, from simplest to most-faithful
multipart/digest          Default content-type is message/rfc822
multipart/parallel        Output all parts simultaneously, if possible

X-something Content-type

X-something/subtype       Experimental, non-standard extension

Syntax of mhn Directives

A directive starts with a hash mark (#) as the first character of the line. A directive should fit on a single line unless you continue the directive by ending the line with a backslash (\). The tables in Section Some MIME Content Types and Subtypes list some MIME types and subtypes.

Note that mhn will accept some invalid content-type directives like #<text/plane.

In the tables below, read down the first column for the parts of each directive. The second column tells how many of that part are needed: the value zero (0) means the part is not required. The third column describes the part. Type the parts you choose in the order given. As you saw at the top of the Section mhn Directives, you can enter all the parts of a directive on one line -- or continue on another line, using a backslash.

Table 1. Type Directive for Files #

Part                Quantity    Description
#type/subtype       1           Content type and subtype
;attribute=value    0 or more   Parameters for Content-Type:
(comment)           0 or 1      Comment for Content-Type:
<id>                0 or 1      Content-ID: to replace default
[description]       0 or 1      Content-Description:
filename            0 or 1      Content file to read. If none, use the 
                                mhn-compose-type/subtype:
                                composition string.

Table 2. Type Directive for Text in Draft #<

Part                Quantity    Description
#<type/subtype      1           Content type and subtype
;attribute=value    0 or more   Parameters for Content-Type:
(comment)           0 or 1      Comment for Content-Type:
[description]       0 or 1      Content-Description:
end of line         1           Directive must end before text begins
lines of text       1 or more   Text for body part
#                   0 or 1      Hash mark to signal end of body part

Table 3. External-type Directive #@

Part                Quantity    Description
#@type/subtype      1           Content type and subtype
;attribute=value    0 or more   Parameters for mhn
(comment)           0 or 1      Comment for Content-Type:
<id>                0 or 1      Content-ID: to replace default
[description]       1           Content-Description:
;attribute=value    1 or more   Parameters for external body part

Table 4. Message Directive: #forw

Part                Quantity    Description
#forw               1           Message-forwarding directive (creates
                                message/rfc822 or multipart/digest
                                content)
<id>                0 or 1      Content-ID: to replace default
[description]       1           Content-Description:
+folder             0 or 1      MH folder to read (default = current)
msgs                0 or more   MH message numbers, ranges, sequences
                                (default = current message)

Table 5. Multiple Directives: #begin, #end

Part                Quantity    Description
#begin              1           Begin multipart content
<id>                0 or 1      Content-ID: to replace default
[description]       1           Content-Description:
alternative         1           Multipart content subtype
parallel                            "        "       "
something                           "        "       "
end of line         1           Directive must end before others
#directive(s)       1 or more   Directives (and any text) for
                                included parts
#end                1           End multipart content

[Table of Contents] [Index] [Previous: exmh Reference Guide]

This file is from the third edition of the book MH & xmh: Email for Users & Programmers, ISBN 1-56592-093-7, by Jerry Peek. Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. This file is freely-available; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. For more information, see the file copying.htm.