---
tags:
 - meta
---

# import_x_headers

```
message:import_x_headers([NAMES])
```

When called with no parameters, iterates the headers of the message, and for
each header with an `"X-"` prefix, imports the header into the message
metadata.

When called with a list of header names, only those headers, if present in the
message, will be imported to the message metadata.  Header names passed in this
way do not need to have an `X-` prefix, making it convenient to use this method
as a way to import an arbitrary list of headers for logging purposes.

When importing an `X-` header, the header name is normalized to lowercase and any
`-` are transformed to underscores `_`.

For more flexible matching (wildcards, choosing first/last/all instances,
optional removal of matched headers, alternate naming transforms), see
[message:import_headers](import_headers.md).

For example, with a message content of:

```
X-Campaign-ID: 12345
X-Mailer: foobar
Subject: the subject

The body
```

calling:

```lua
message:import_x_headers()
print(message:get_meta 'x_campaign_id') -- prints 12345
print(message:get_meta 'x_mailer') -- prints foobar
```

but calling:

```lua
message:import_x_headers { 'x-campaign-id' }
print(message:get_meta 'x_campaign_id') -- prints 12345
print(message:get_meta 'x_mailer') -- prints nothing
```