In this article, we will see how we can send a mail using PHP. Mail functionality is mainly used in Contact Forms on a website. So that users visiting a particular site can contact admins or management person of that website.
For sending a mail through PHP we use the mail() function. mail() method was introduced with PHP version 4. Four parameters are required to send mail successfully.
1. to – Required. As it is the person to whom the mail will be sent.
2. subject – Required. Here we will specify the subject of the mail.
3. message – Required. Here we will write the message that is to be sent. Each line is to be separated with (\n), so as to add a new line in message. Also, each line in the message should not exceed 70 characters.
4. headers – Required. Here we will add headers like From, Cc and Bcc to the mail. The headers should be separated with (\r\n). For sending a mail From headers is required, whereas Cc and Bcc are optional to use.
5. parameters – Optional. Specifies an additional parameter to the send mail program.
mail(to, subject, message, headers, parameters);
*Note: if you are working on localhost or server, you need to setup the SMTP server first.
Sending plain text mail:
<?php $to = "user@example.com"; $subject = "How to send mail with PHP"; $message = "This is an message to show the example."; $headers = "From: webmaster@example.com \r\n"; $headers .= "Cc: webmaster@example.com \r\n"; $headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n"; $headers .= "Content-type: text/plain"; $mailStatus = mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers); if($mailStatus) { echo "Mail sent successfully."; } else { echo "Mail sent failed."; } ?>
Sending mail in HTML:
<?php $to = "user@example.com"; $subject = "How to send mail with PHP"; $message = "<h1>Welcome to Sanktips.com</h1>"; $message .= "<p>This is an HTML message to show the example.</p>"; $message .= "<p>Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+</p>"; $headers = "From: webmaster@example.com \r\n"; $headers .= "Cc: webmaster@example.com \r\n"; $headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n"; $headers .= "Content-type: text/html"; $mailStatus = mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers); if($mailStatus){ echo "Mail sent successfully."; } else { echo "Mail sent failed."; } ?>
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