imap_utf7_encode Converts 8bit data to modified UTF-7 text. stringimap_utf7_encode stringdata Converts 8bit data to modified UTF-7 text. This is needed to encode mailbox names that contain international characters outside of the printable ASCII range. The modified UTF-7 encoding is defined in RFC 2060, section 5.1.3 (original UTF-7 was defned in RFC1642). Returns the modified UTF-7 text.