PHP Sending E-mails
Posted by forcescript on March 26, 2009
19 comments
The PHP mail() Function
The PHP mail() function is used to send emails from inside a script.
Syntax
mail(to,subject,message,headers,parameters)
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| to | Required. Specifies the receiver / receivers of the email |
| subject | Required. Specifies the subject of the email. Note: This parameter cannot contain any newline characters |
| message | Required. Defines the message to be sent. Each line should be separated with a LF (\n). Lines should not exceed 70 characters |
| headers | Optional. Specifies additional headers, like From, Cc, and Bcc. The additional headers should be separated with a CRLF (\r\n) |
| parameters | Optional. Specifies an additional parameter to the sendmail program |
Note: For the mail functions to be available, PHP requires an installed and working email system. The program to be used is defined by the configuration settings in the php.ini file.
PHP Simple E-Mail
The simplest way to send an email with PHP is to send a text email.
In the example below we first declare the variables ($to, $subject, $message, $from, $headers), then we use the variables in the mail() function to send an e-mail:
<?php $to = "someone@example.com"; $subject = "Test mail"; $message = "Hello! This is a simple email message."; $from = "someonelse@example.com"; $headers = "From: $from"; mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers); echo "Mail Sent."; ?>