mail

(PHP 3, PHP 4 )

mail -- send mail

Description

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

Mail() automatically mails the message specified in message to the receiver specified in to. Multiple recipients can be specified by putting a comma between each address in to.

mail() returns TRUE if the mail is sucessfully sent, FALSE otherwise.

Example 1. Sending mail.


mail("rasmus@lerdorf.on.ca", "My Subject", "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3");
      

If a fourth string argument is passed, this string is inserted at the end of the header. This is typically used to add extra headers. Multiple extra headers are separated with a newline.

If the fifth parameter is supplied, PHP will add this data to the call to the mailer. This is useful when setting the correct Return-Path header when using sendmail.

Example 2. Sending mail with extra headers.


mail("nobody@aol.com", "the subject", $message,
     "From: webmaster@$SERVER_NAME\nReply-To: webmaster@$SERVER_NAME\nX-Mailer: PHP/" . phpversion());
      
With the fifth parameter you can set additional command line parameters to the actual mailer. In the example below we set the correct Return-Path header for sendmail. Normally sendmail will add the X-Authentication-Warning header when using the -f parameter, because the webserver user is probably not a member of the trusted users. To suppress this warning, you should add the web server user to the trusted users in your sendmail config file.

Note: This fifth parameter was added in PHP 4.0.5.

Example 3. Sending mail with extra headers and setting an additional command line parameter.


mail("nobody@aol.com", "the subject", $message,
     "From: webmaster@$SERVER_NAME", "-fwebmaster@$SERVERNAME");
      
You can also use fairly simple string building techniques to build complex email messages.

Example 4. Sending complex email.


/* recipients */
$recipient .= "Mary <mary@u.college.edu>" . ", " ; //note the comma
$recipient .= "Kelly <kelly@u.college.edu>" . ", ";
$recipient .= "ronabop@php.net";

/* subject */
$subject = "Birthday Reminders for August";

/* message */
$message .= "The following email includes a formatted ASCII table\n";
$message .= "Day \t\tMonth \t\tYear\n";
$message .= "3rd \t\tAug \t\t1970\n";
$message .= "17rd\t\tAug \t\t1973\n";

/* you can add a stock signature */ 
$message .= "--\r\n"; //Signature delimiter
$message .= "Birthday reminder copylefted by public domain";

/* additional header pieces for errors, From cc's, bcc's, etc */

$headers .= "From: Birthday Reminder <birthday@php.net>\n";
$headers .= "X-Sender: <birthday@php.net>\n"; 
$headers .= "X-Mailer: PHP\n"; // mailer
$headers .= "X-Priority: 1\n"; // Urgent message!
$headers .= "Return-Path: <birthday@php.net>\n";  // Return path for errors

/* If you want to send html mail, uncomment the following line */
// $headers .= "Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1\n"; // Mime type

$headers .= "cc:birthdayarchive@php.net\n"; // CC to
$headers .= "bcc:birthdaycheck@php.net, birthdaygifts@php.net\n"; // BCCs to

/* and now mail it */
mail($recipient, $subject, $message, $headers);
      

Note: Make sure you have no new-line (or other whitespace) after your to or subject parameters, as this may cause strange results.