Scribd
Upload
55 views

Sending E-Mails: The PHP Mail Function

PHP allows sending emails and uploading files. The mail() function sends emails by specifying parameters like the recipient, subject, and message. Files can be uploaded with a form using enctype="multipart/form-data" and accessed via the $_FILES array. Uploaded files are first stored temporarily and can then be moved to a permanent location on the server. Restrictions like file type and size should be applied for security.

Uploaded by

Aniket Mahakalkar
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
55 views

Sending E-Mails: The PHP Mail Function

PHP allows sending emails and uploading files. The mail() function sends emails by specifying parameters like the recipient, subject, and message. Files can be uploaded with a form using enctype="multipart/form-data" and accessed via the $_FILES array. Uploaded files are first stored temporarily and can then be moved to a permanent location on the server. Restrictions like file type and size should be applied for security.

Uploaded by

Aniket Mahakalkar
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

PHP 

Sending E-mails
PHP allows you to send e-mails directly from a script.

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. Read more in ourPHP Mail reference.

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 = "[email protected]";
$subject = "Test mail";
$message = "Hello! This is a simple email message.";
$from = "[email protected]";
$headers = "From:" . $from;
mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers);
echo "Mail Sent.";
?>

PHP File Upload
With PHP, it is possible to upload files to the server.

Create an Upload-File Form


To allow users to upload files from a form can be very useful.

Look at the following HTML form for uploading files:

<html>
<body>
<form action="upload_file.php" method="post"
enctype="multipart/form-data">
<label for="file">Filename:</label>
<input type="file" name="file" id="file" /> 
<br />
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>

</body>
</html>

Notice the following about the HTML form above:

 The enctype attribute of the <form> tag specifies which content-type to use when submitting the form.
"multipart/form-data" is used when a form requires binary data, like the contents of a file, to be uploaded
 The type="file" attribute of the <input> tag specifies that the input should be processed as a file. For example, when
viewed in a browser, there will be a browse-button next to the input field

Note: Allowing users to upload files is a big security risk. Only permit trusted users to perform file uploads.

Create The Upload Script


The "upload_file.php" file contains the code for uploading a file:

<?php
if ($_FILES["file"]["error"] > 0)
  {
  echo "Error: " . $_FILES["file"]["error"] . "<br />";
  }
else
  {
  echo "Upload: " . $_FILES["file"]["name"] . "<br />";
  echo "Type: " . $_FILES["file"]["type"] . "<br />";
  echo "Size: " . ($_FILES["file"]["size"] / 1024) . " Kb<br />";
  echo "Stored in: " . $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"];
  }
?>

By using the global PHP $_FILES array you can upload files from a client computer to the remote server.

The first parameter is the form's input name and the second index can be either "name", "type", "size", "tmp_name" or "error".
Like this:

 $_FILES["file"]["name"] - the name of the uploaded file


 $_FILES["file"]["type"] - the type of the uploaded file
 $_FILES["file"]["size"] - the size in bytes of the uploaded file
 $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"] - the name of the temporary copy of the file stored on the server
 $_FILES["file"]["error"] - the error code resulting from the file upload

This is a very simple way of uploading files. For security reasons, you should add restrictions on what the user is allowed to
upload.

Restrictions on Upload
In this script we add some restrictions to the file upload. The user may only upload .gif or .jpeg files and the file size must be
under 20 kb:

<?php
if ((($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/gif")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/jpeg")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/pjpeg"))
&& ($_FILES["file"]["size"] < 20000))
  {
  if ($_FILES["file"]["error"] > 0)
    {
    echo "Error: " . $_FILES["file"]["error"] . "<br />";
    }
  else
    {
    echo "Upload: " . $_FILES["file"]["name"] . "<br />";
    echo "Type: " . $_FILES["file"]["type"] . "<br />";
    echo "Size: " . ($_FILES["file"]["size"] / 1024) . " Kb<br />";
    echo "Stored in: " . $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"];
    }
  }
else
  {
  echo "Invalid file";
  }
?>

Note: For IE to recognize jpg files the type must be pjpeg, for FireFox it must be jpeg.

Saving the Uploaded File


The examples above create a temporary copy of the uploaded files in the PHP temp folder on the server.

The temporary copied files disappears when the script ends. To store the uploaded file we need to copy it to a different location:

<?php
if ((($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/gif")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/jpeg")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/pjpeg"))
&& ($_FILES["file"]["size"] < 20000))
  {
  if ($_FILES["file"]["error"] > 0)
    {
    echo "Return Code: " . $_FILES["file"]["error"] . "<br />";
    }
  else
    {
    echo "Upload: " . $_FILES["file"]["name"] . "<br />";
    echo "Type: " . $_FILES["file"]["type"] . "<br />";
    echo "Size: " . ($_FILES["file"]["size"] / 1024) . " Kb<br />";
    echo "Temp file: " . $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"] . "<br />";

    if (file_exists("upload/" . $_FILES["file"]["name"]))


      {
      echo $_FILES["file"]["name"] . " already exists. ";
      }
    else
      {
      move_uploaded_file($_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"],
      "upload/" . $_FILES["file"]["name"]);
      echo "Stored in: " . "upload/" . $_FILES["file"]["name"];
      }
    }
  }
else
  {
  echo "Invalid file";
  }
?>

The script above checks if the file already exists, if it does not, it copies the file to the specified folder.

Note: This example saves the file to a new folder called "upload"

You might also like