Learn PHP for Developing Web Application

Learn to build web applications with PHP and MySQL, Start your own blog, e-commerce site. In this tutorial you will learn basic, syntax, examples, functions, loops, cookies, sessions, file handling, data connectivity, etc.

PHP Mail


PHP mail() function is used to send email in PHP. You can send text message, html message and attachment with message using PHP mail() function.

PHP mail() function

Syntax

bool mail ( string $to , string $subject , string $message [, string $additional_headers [, string $additional_parameters ]] )

$to: specifies receiver or receivers of the mail. The receiver must be specified one of the following forms.

  • user@example.com
  • user@example.com, anotheruser@example.com
  • User <user@example.com>
  • User <user@example.com>, Another User <anotheruser@example.com>

$subject: represents subject of the mail.

$message: represents message of the mail to be sent.

$additional_headers (optional): specifies the additional headers such as From, CC, BCC etc. Extra additional headers should also be separated with CRLF ( \r\n ).


PHP Mail Example

File: mailer.php
<?php
ini_set("sendmail_from", "xyz@indexsolutions.in");
$to = "sonoojaiswal1987@gmail.com";//change receiver address
$subject = "This is subject";
$message = "This is simple text message.";
$header = "From:xyz@indexsolutions.in \r\n";

$result = mail ($to,$subject,$message,$header);

if( $result == true ){
echo "Message sent successfully...";
}else{
echo "Sorry, unable to send mail...";
}
?>

If you run this code on the live server, it will send an email to the specified receiver.


PHP Mail: Send HTML Message

To send HTML message, you need to mention Content-type text/html in the message header.

<?php
$to = "abc@example.com";//change receiver address
$subject = "This is subject";
$message = "

This is HTML heading

";

$header = "From:xyz@example.com \r\n";
$header .= "MIME-Version: 1.0 \r\n";
$header .= "Content-type: text/html;charset=UTF-8 \r\n";

$result = mail ($to,$subject,$message,$header);

if( $result == true ){
echo "Message sent successfully...";
}else{
echo "Sorry, unable to send mail...";
}
?>

PHP Mail: Send Mail with Attachment

To send message with attachment, you need to mention many header information which is used in the example given below.

<?php
$to = "abc@example.com";
$subject = "This is subject";
$message = "This is a text message.";
# Open a file
$file = fopen("/tmp/test.txt", "r" );//change your file location
if( $file == false )
{
echo "Error in opening file";
exit();
}
# Read the file into a variable
$size = filesize("/tmp/test.txt");
$content = fread( $file, $size);

# encode the data for safe transit
# and insert \r\n after every 76 chars.
$encoded_content = chunk_split( base64_encode($content));

# Get a random 32 bit number using time() as seed.
$num = md5( time() );

# Define the main headers.
$header = "From:xyz@example.com\r\n";
$header .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
$header .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; ";
$header .= "boundary=$num\r\n";
$header .= "--$num\r\n";

# Define the message section
$header .= "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n";
$header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding:8bit\r\n\n";
$header .= "$message\r\n";
$header .= "--$num\r\n";

# Define the attachment section
$header .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; ";
$header .= "name=\"test.txt\"\r\n";
$header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding:base64\r\n";
$header .= "Content-Disposition:attachment; ";
$header .= "filename=\"test.txt\"\r\n\n";
$header .= "$encoded_content\r\n";
$header .= "--$num--";
# Send email now
$result = mail ( $to, $subject, "", $header );
if( $result == true ){
echo "Message sent successfully...";
}else{
echo "Sorry, unable to send mail...";
}
?>