Short and simple email function for python, easy to plug in into any scripts and run right away.

mailman.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
# coding=utf8
"""
Copyright (c) 2013 Azar-A Ltd., Azarov Andrew
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.
"""
import datetime
import smtplib
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.header import Header
from email import Charset

# Add the general charset here, you can do the same in your script before
# running the module function to add your custom encodings for support
Charset.add_charset('utf-8', Charset.QP, Charset.QP, 'utf-8')


def send_email(messages_list, smtp_user=None, smtp_pass=None, tls=False, service_name=None, service_port=587, pre_hook=None, post_hook=None):
    """
    Send plain text or text+html email

    Keyword arguments:
    messages_list   -- required, a list of tuples in format:
        (
            [
                'To someone',               - optional, nice name for To header
                'someone@email.test'        - required, To header email address
            ],
            [
                'From someone',             - optional, nice name for From header
                'someone2@email.test'       - required, From header email address
            ],
            'Subject',                      - required, can be empty string
            'encoding',                     - required, must be preloaded with email.Charset.add_charset() function, for more information look into email module
            [
                [
                    'Text',                 - required, the text portion of the message, goes with text type to MIMEText function of email module
                    'encoding'              - required, must be preloaded with email.Charset.add_charset() function, for more information look into email module
                ],
                [
                    'html',                 - required, the html portion of the message, goes with html type to MIMEText function of email module
                    'encoding'              - required, must be preloaded with email.Charset.add_charset() function, for more information look into email module
                ]
            ]
        )
    smtp_user       -- optional, for smtp login function
    smtp_pass       -- optional, for smtp login function
    tls             -- optional, whether establish secure connection over TLS
    service_name    -- required, server to connect to (ie mail.serverastra.com)
    service_port    -- optional, port (remember that default is 587 - submission port)
    pre_hook        -- optional, function to run before full email construction but after MIME classification, you can redefine it though, gets arguments of resulting MIME part and the input message pair.
    post_hook       -- optional, function to run after full email construction but before actual sending, same arguments as in pre_hook.
    """
    failed = []
    try:
        s = smtplib.SMTP(service_name, service_port)
        s.ehlo()
        if tls:
            s.starttls()
            s.ehlo()
        if smtp_user and smtp_pass:
            s.login(smtp_user, smtp_pass)
    except:
        traceback.print_exc()
        print(x[0] + "ehlo failed")
        failed = [x[0] for x in messages_list]
    else:
        for to_address, from_address, subject, encoding, mesg in messages_list:
            try:
                if len(mesg) == 2:
                    # 2 parts to the message - define as alternative to allow
                    # attachments
                    msg = MIMEMultipart('alternative')
                else:
                    # 1 part - MIMEText part is applied right away
                    msg = MIMEText(mesg[0][0], 'plain', mesg[0][1])
                if pre_hook:
                    # Execute function before constructing email but after MIME
                    # classification, however you can redefine it or attach more
                    # parts.
                    msg = pre_hook(msg, mesg)
                # Subject with general message encoding
                msg['Subject'] = "%s" % Header(subject, encoding)
                # Message address encoding
                if len(from_address) == 2:
                    msg['From'] = "\"%s\" <%s>" % (
                        Header(from_address[0], encoding), from_address[-1])
                else:
                    # No need to encode just the email address as it must be
                    # ASCII according to RFC
                    msg['From'] = from_address[-1]

                if len(to_address) == 2:
                    msg['From'] = "\"%s\" <%s>" % (
                        Header(to_address[0], encoding), to_address[-1])
                else:
                    # No need to encode just the email address as it must be
                    # ASCII according to RFC
                    msg['To'] = to_address[-1]
                # Setting general message encoding
                msg.set_charset(encoding)
                if len(mesg) == 2:
                    # Preparing 2 parts - attaching both
                    part1 = MIMEText(mesg[0][0], 'plain', mesg[0][1])
                    part2 = MIMEText(mesg[1][0], 'html', mesg[1][1])
                    msg.attach(part1)
                    msg.attach(part2)
                if post_hook:
                    # Execute function after constructing email and attaching
                    # parts but before sending.
                    msg = post_hook(msg, mesg)
                # Final launch of email to the server
                s.sendmail(from_address[-1], to_address[-1], msg.as_string())
            except:
                traceback.print_exc()
                failed.append(to_address[-1])
    try:
        s.quit()
    except:
        # I don't care, I love it
        pass
    return failed


if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Example use, might not work, as I did not test it and refactored
    # blindly. Please accept my apologies and refine this GIST if you find an
    # error, we use a bit less customizeable version which works fine from
    # 2013. Have a nice day!
    maillist = []
    maillist.append((['someone@gmail.com'], ["Me", "noreply@example.com"], 'Subject',
                     'utf-8', [['text_message', 'utf-8'], ['html but you can delete this list item and it will become plain text', 'utf-8']]))
    for k in send_email(maillist, smtp_user='you@serverastra.com', smtp_pass='pwd', tls=True, service_name='mail-test.serverastra.com'):
        print(k + 'not delivered')