Re: Checking from an external file?

On Sun, 18 May 2025 10:50:33 +1000
Philip Rhoades via Courier-maildrop
<[email protected]> wrote:

> People,
> 
> Part of my .mailfilter looks like this:
> 
> # .spam ^Subject: Uppper {{{3
> if ( /^Subject:  INQ /:h \
>      || /^Subject:  \(/:h \
>      || /^Subject: (Top|Luxury) Watches/:h \
>      || /^Subject: 180/:h \
>      || /^Subject: 4mJ/:h \
>      || /^Subject: =?UTF/:h \
>      || /^Subject: ? eat this.../:h \
>      || /^Subject: \*\*/:h \
>      || /^Subject: \.You/:h \
>      || /^Subject: \[CONFINDENTIAL\]/:h \
>      || /^Subject: \[Mayo Clinic Research\]/:h \
>      || /^Subject: A .*(reverse|Daily).*(payment|Sprinkle)/:h \
>      || /^Subject: Action Required/:h \
>      || /^Subject: ACH/:h \
>      || /^Subject: ACTIVEZ/:h \
> 
> etc.
> 
> Is it possible to have a separate file with all the lines in so that 
> section of .mailfilter could be reduced to something like:
> 
> # .spam ^Subject: Uppper {{{3
> if ( /^Subject:  "/home/phr/Maildir/spam_upper.txt" /:h )
> 
> ?
>

Why not?

I am doing something similar with List-Id header, simplified version
here:

  if (/^List-Id: *(.*)/)
   {ListId = $MATCH1
    if ($ListId =~ /.*\<(.*)\>/)
     ListId = $MATCH1
    if (gdbmopen('.list.db','R'))
     echo 'gdbmopen error R1'
    else
     {MAILDIR = gdbmfetch($ListId)
      gdbmclose
      if ($MAILDIR)
       {exception {to "$HOME/Maildir/$MAILDIR/"
                  }
       }
     }
   }

File .list.db contains mappings from mailing list header to maildir
folder, it is created from .list text file, containing List-Id and
maildir folder name delimited by spaces/tabs, which, for this list, is

courier-maildrop.lists.sourceforge.net .Software.Courier.courier-maildrop

This file is converted into .list.db with following code:

   {if (gdbmopen('.list.db','N'))
     echo 'gdbmopen error N1'
    else
     {foreach (`cat $HOME/.list`) =~ /\S+\s+\S+/
       {$MATCH =~ /(\S+)\s+(\S+)/;
        if (gdbmstore($MATCH1,$MATCH2))
         echo "gdbm $MATCH1 => $MATCH2 problem!"
       }
      gdbmclose
     }
   }

(yes, in maildrop - it is triggered when .list file is changed)

I have 101 lines in my .list file, so while its handling looks somewhat
complex, it is simpler to maintain long-term... and when I created
this, I was willing to spend some time to learn things and automatize
mail processing when possible.

Also, this maildrop recipe could be made global, so you could customise
your filtering experience per maildir/user, just by creating .list file
in your home directory.

Regards,
Milan