POP3 and IMAP functions question

OK. So I’m trying to moniter my POP3 inbox w/ PHP and its IMAP finctions.
IMAP seems limited w/ pop3 but for the most part suits my needs.

Question.

E-mails are not uniquely id’ed but rather come as a cuttent list i,i=1..n where n=imap_num_msg($inbox);
I process my messages in reverse so as not to disrupt the current sequencing (i=n;i>0;i–)

Some I delete/forward in the process and as such decrement n and save as last_n.

Later, when I come back, is it safe to assume that any new (since I last ran) e-mails would have a sequence number > last_n?

That is, I do another m=imap_num_msg($inbox); and m > last_n. Can I assume that new messages start at last_n+1 … OR
does the sequence get scrampled where I must process all as potentially new?

Any experts out there that can help?

Thanks.

Greg

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