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Doc: Clarify smtplib server reply bytes #149970

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15 changes: 9 additions & 6 deletions Doc/library/smtplib.rst
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ A nice selection of exceptions is defined as well:

.. attribute:: smtp_error

The error message.
The error message as a :class:`bytes` object.


.. exception:: SMTPSenderRefused
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -323,9 +323,11 @@ An :class:`SMTP` instance has the following methods:
.. method:: SMTP.verify(address)

Check the validity of an address on this server using SMTP ``VRFY``. Returns a
tuple consisting of code 250 and a full :rfc:`822` address (including human
name) if the user address is valid. Otherwise returns an SMTP error code of 400
or greater and an error string.
``(code, message)`` tuple, where *message* is the server response as a
:class:`bytes` object. If the user address is valid, *code* is 250 and
*message* contains a full :rfc:`822` address (including human name).
Otherwise *code* is an SMTP error code of 400 or greater and *message*
contains the error response.

@bitdancer bitdancer Aug 22, 2026

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This is a good rewrite, but I think it would read better if we said "code is the response code from the server as an integer and message is..."


.. note::

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -485,8 +487,9 @@ An :class:`SMTP` instance has the following methods:
recipient. Otherwise it will raise an exception. That is, if this method does
not raise an exception, then someone should get your mail. If this method does
not raise an exception, it returns a dictionary, with one entry for each
recipient that was refused. Each entry contains a tuple of the SMTP error code
and the accompanying error message sent by the server.
recipient that was refused. Each entry contains a ``(code, response)`` tuple,
where *code* is the SMTP error code and *response* is the accompanying server
error response as a :class:`bytes` object.

@bitdancer bitdancer Aug 22, 2026

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similarly here, "as an integer".


If ``SMTPUTF8`` is included in *mail_options*, and the server supports it,
*from_addr* and *to_addrs* may contain non-ASCII characters.
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