Apache and IIS both interpret the mail() function differently. Here is how to send text email, HTML email, text email with an attachment, and HTML email with an attachment ... from a server running Apache.

This code must be copied EXACTLY as it is, including all \ " ' characters. Remember that a list of email addresses must be comma-separated, as semi-colons will result in errors.

TEXT EMAIL

$headers = "From: WebServer\n";

$body = "This is the text section";

mail("test@test.com", "Text Email", $body, $headers);

HTML EMAIL

This email sends both plaintext and HTML. If the email client cannot interpret the HTML, it will display the plaintext. The code uses a boundary to separate the plaintext from the HTML, contained in an attachment boundary.

$random_hash = md5(date("jS M Y", time()));

$boundary = "boundary-alt-".$random_hash;

$attboundary = "boundary-mixed-".$random_hash;



$headers="From: WebServer\n"

."MIME-Version: 1.0\n"

."Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$attboundary."\"\n\n";



$body =

"--".$attboundary."\n"

	."Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=\"".$boundary."\"\n\n"

	."--".$boundary."\n"

		."Content-Type: text/plain; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"\n"

		."Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\n\n"

		."This is the text section\n\n"

	."--".$boundary."\n"

		."Content-Type: text/html; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"\n"

		."Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\n\n"

		."This is the HTML section\n\n"

	."--".$boundary."--\n"

."--".$attboundary."--\n";



mail("test@test.com", "HTML Email", $body, $headers);

TEXT EMAIL WITH ATTACHMENT

This script reads the file filename.pdf and attaches it as my_attachment.pdf, so ensure that filename.txt is in the right directory. It uses a boundary to enclose the text, and an attachment boundary to separate this from the actual attachment.

$random_hash = md5(date("jS M Y", time()));

$boundary = "boundary-alt-".$random_hash;

$attboundary = "boundary-mixed-".$random_hash;



$headers="From: WebServer\n"

."MIME-Version: 1.0\n"

."Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$attboundary."\"\n\n";



$handle=fopen("filename.pdf", "r");

$content=fread($handle, filesize("filename.pdf"));

fclose($handle);

$attachment = chunk_split(base64_encode($content));



$body =

"--".$attboundary."\n"

	."Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=\"".$boundary."\"\n\n"

	."--".$boundary."\n"

		."Content-Type: text/plain; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"\n"

		."Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\n\n"

		."This is the text section\n\n"

	."--".$boundary."--\n"

."--".$attboundary."\n"

	."Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=\"my_attachment.pdf\"\n"

	."Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\n"

	."Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"my_attachment.pdf\"\n\n"

	.$attachment."\n"

."--".$attboundary."--\n";



mail("test@test.com", "Text Email with Attachment", $body, $headers);

HTML EMAIL WITH ATTACHMENT

This email sends plaintext, HTML and an attachment. The code uses a boundary to separate the plaintext from the HTML, and an attachment boundary to separate this from the actual attachment.

$random_hash = md5(date("jS M Y", time()));

$boundary = "boundary-alt-".$random_hash;

$attboundary = "boundary-mixed-".$random_hash;



$headers="From: WebServer\n"

."MIME-Version: 1.0\n"

."Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$attboundary."\"\n\n";



$handle=fopen("filename.pdf", "r");

$content=fread($handle, filesize("filename.pdf"));

fclose($handle);

$attachment = chunk_split(base64_encode($content));



$body = "--".$attboundary."\n"

	."Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=\"".$boundary."\"\n\n"

	."--".$boundary."\n"

		."Content-Type: text/plain; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"\n"

		."Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\n\n"

		."This is the text section\n\n"

	."--".$boundary."\n"

		."Content-Type: text/html; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"\n"

		."Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\n\n"

		."This is the HTML section\n\n"

	."--".$boundary."--\n"

."--".$attboundary."\n"

	."Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=\"my_attachment.pdf\"\n"

	."Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\n"

	."Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"my_attachment.pdf\"\n\n"

	.$attachment."\n"

."--".$attboundary."--\n";



mail("test@test.com", "HTML Email with Attachment", $body, $headers);

>> Posted in Websites at 16:02, and viewed 10,108 times

Next article: Marathon Training Programme (30 September 2011)

Hakan Says:

23rd June 2011 at 02:16

helped me alot, thanks a bunch! H.

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