email checking and then act upon script for reacting to a sms message

Question

Ok i wish to do this on a Linux box..

I need to be able to receive a sms message (it will no doubt arrive by email) and then act upon it..

so for instance..

Answer 1

If you control your own machine you can configure it to pipe the e-mail through a filter. Simplest would be to setup a new account and setup a .forward or alias.

The following examples are for Sendmail, but (all?) Unix e-mail programs offer a similar service.

Setting up an alias (option 1)

Look in the directory /etc on your server for your alias file. Add the line:

script: "|/path/toyourscript/pipe.php"

Using a .forward file (option 2)

Create a .forward file in your main home directory.

"|/path/toyourscript/pipe.php"

or:

myemail@example.com,"|/path/toyourscript/pipe.php"

If you are on shared hosting then most hosting providers also provide the possibility to "pipe" e-mails received to a particular account through a script instead of storing them in a mailbox. Check the CPanel setup.