XLIX. Mail functions

Introduction

The mail() function allows you to send mail.

Requirements

No external libraries are needed to build this extension.

Installation

There is no installation needed to use these functions; they are part of the PHP core.

Runtime Configuration

The behaviour of these functions is affected by settings in php.ini.

Table 1. Mail configuration options

NameDefaultChangeable
SMTP"localhost"PHP_INI_ALL
smtp_port"25"PHP_INI_ALL
sendmail_fromNULLPHP_INI_ALL
sendmail_pathDEFAULT_SENDMAIL_PATHPHP_INI_SYSTEM
For further details and definition of the PHP_INI_* constants see ini_set().

Here is a short explanation of the configuration directives.

SMTP string

Used under Windows only: DNS name or IP address of the SMTP server PHP should use for mail sent with the mail() function.

SMTP int

Used under Windows only: Number of the port to connect to the server specified with the SMTP setting when sending mail with mail(); defaults to 25. Only available since PHP 4.3.0.

sendmail_from string

Which "From:" mail address should be used in mail sent from PHP under Windows.

sendmail_path string

Where the sendmail program can be found, usually /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/lib/sendmail. configure does an honest attempt of locating this one for you and set a default, but if it fails, you can set it here.

Systems not using sendmail should set this directive to the sendmail wrapper/replacement their mail system offers, if any. For example, Qmail users can normally set it to /var/qmail/bin/sendmail or /var/qmail/bin/qmail-inject.

qmail-inject does not require any option to process mail correctly.

Resource Types

This extension has no resource types defined.

Predefined Constants

This extension has no constants defined.

Table of Contents
ezmlm_hash -- Calculate the hash value needed by EZMLM
mail -- send mail