Send email with PHP from html form on submit with the same script

I want to send an email with PHP when a user has finished filling in an HTML form and then emailing information from the form. I want to do it from the same script that displays the web page that has the form.

I found this code, but the mail does not send.

<?php 

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {
    $to = $_POST['email']; 
    $subject = $_POST['name'];
    $message = getRequestURI();
    $from = "[email protected]";
    $headers = "From:" . $from;

    if (mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers)) {
        echo "Mail Sent.";
    }
    else {
        echo "failed";
    }
}

?>

What is the code to send an email in PHP?

Solution 1:

EDIT (#1)

If I understand correctly, you wish to have everything in one page and execute it from the same page.

You can use the following code to send mail from a single page, for example index.php or contact.php

The only difference between this one and my original answer is the <form action="" method="post"> where the action has been left blank.

It is better to use header('Location: thank_you.php'); instead of echo in the PHP handler to redirect the user to another page afterwards.

Copy the entire code below into one file.

<?php 
if(isset($_POST['submit'])){
    $to = "[email protected]"; // this is your Email address
    $from = $_POST['email']; // this is the sender's Email address
    $first_name = $_POST['first_name'];
    $last_name = $_POST['last_name'];
    $subject = "Form submission";
    $subject2 = "Copy of your form submission";
    $message = $first_name . " " . $last_name . " wrote the following:" . "\n\n" . $_POST['message'];
    $message2 = "Here is a copy of your message " . $first_name . "\n\n" . $_POST['message'];

    $headers = "From:" . $from;
    $headers2 = "From:" . $to;
    mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers);
    mail($from,$subject2,$message2,$headers2); // sends a copy of the message to the sender
    echo "Mail Sent. Thank you " . $first_name . ", we will contact you shortly.";
    // You can also use header('Location: thank_you.php'); to redirect to another page.
    }
?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
<title>Form submission</title>
</head>
<body>

<form action="" method="post">
First Name: <input type="text" name="first_name"><br>
Last Name: <input type="text" name="last_name"><br>
Email: <input type="text" name="email"><br>
Message:<br><textarea rows="5" name="message" cols="30"></textarea><br>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

</body>
</html>

Original answer

I wasn't quite sure as to what the question was, but am under the impression that a copy of the message is to be sent to the person who filled in the form.

Here is a tested/working copy of an HTML form and PHP handler. This uses the PHP mail() function.

The PHP handler will also send a copy of the message to the person who filled in the form.

You can use two forward slashes // in front of a line of code if you're not going to use it.

For example: // $subject2 = "Copy of your form submission"; will not execute.

HTML FORM:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
<title>Form submission</title>
</head>
<body>

<form action="mail_handler.php" method="post">
First Name: <input type="text" name="first_name"><br>
Last Name: <input type="text" name="last_name"><br>
Email: <input type="text" name="email"><br>
Message:<br><textarea rows="5" name="message" cols="30"></textarea><br>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

</body>
</html>

PHP handler (mail_handler.php)

(Uses info from HTML form and sends the Email)

<?php 
if(isset($_POST['submit'])){
    $to = "[email protected]"; // this is your Email address
    $from = $_POST['email']; // this is the sender's Email address
    $first_name = $_POST['first_name'];
    $last_name = $_POST['last_name'];
    $subject = "Form submission";
    $subject2 = "Copy of your form submission";
    $message = $first_name . " " . $last_name . " wrote the following:" . "\n\n" . $_POST['message'];
    $message2 = "Here is a copy of your message " . $first_name . "\n\n" . $_POST['message'];

    $headers = "From:" . $from;
    $headers2 = "From:" . $to;
    mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers);
    mail($from,$subject2,$message2,$headers2); // sends a copy of the message to the sender
    echo "Mail Sent. Thank you " . $first_name . ", we will contact you shortly.";
    // You can also use header('Location: thank_you.php'); to redirect to another page.
    // You cannot use header and echo together. It's one or the other.
    }
?>

To send as HTML:

If you wish to send mail as HTML and for both instances, then you will need to create two separate sets of HTML headers with different variable names.

Read the manual on mail() to learn how to send emails as HTML:

http://php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php

Footnotes:

In regards to HTML5

You have to specify the URL of the service that will handle the submitted data, using the action attribute.

As outlined at https://www.w3.org/TR/html5/forms.html under 4.10.1.3 Configuring a form to communicate with a server. For complete information, consult the page.

Therefore, action="" will not work in HTML5.

The proper syntax would be:

action="handler.xxx" or
action="http://www.example.com/handler.xxx".

Note that xxx will be the extension of the type of file used to handle the process. This could be a .php, .cgi, .pl, .jsp file extension etc.

Consult the following Q&A on Stack if sending mail fails:

PHP mail form doesn't complete sending e-mail

Solution 2:

If you haven't already, look at your php.ini and make sure the parameters under the [mail function] setting are set correctly to activate the email service. After you can use PHPMailer library and follow the instructions.

Solution 3:

PHP script to connect to a SMTP server and send email on Windows 7

Sending an email from PHP in Windows is a bit of a minefield with gotchas and head scratching. I'll try to walk you through one instance where I got it to work on Windows 7 and PHP 5.2.3 under (IIS) Internet Information Services webserver.

I'm assuming you don't want to use any pre-built framework like CodeIgniter or Symfony which contains email sending capability. We'll be sending an email from a standalone PHP file. I acquired this code from under the codeigniter hood (under system/libraries) and modified it so you can just drop in this Email.php file and it should just work.

This should work with newer versions of PHP. But you never know.

Step 1, You need a username/password with an SMTP server:

I'm using the smtp server from smtp.ihostexchange.net which is already created and setup for me. If you don't have this you can't proceed. You should be able to use an email client like thunderbird, evolution, Microsoft Outlook, to specify your smtp server and then be able to send emails through there.

Step 2, Create your Hello World Email file:

I'm assuming you are using IIS. So create a file called index.php under C:\inetpub\wwwroot and put this code in there:

<?php

  include("Email.php");

  $c = new CI_Email();

  $c->from("[email protected]");
  $c->to("[email protected]");
  $c->subject("Celestial Temple");
  $c->message("Dominion reinforcements on the way.");
  $c->send();
  echo "done";
?>

You should be able to visit this index.php by navigating to localhost/index.php in a browser, it will spew errors because Email.php is missing. But make sure you can at least run it from the browser.

Step 3, Create a file called Email.php:

Create a new file called Email.php under C:\inetpub\wwwroot.

Copy/paste this PHP code into Email.php:

https://github.com/sentientmachine/standalone_php_script_send_email/blob/master/Email.php

Since there are many kinds of smtp servers, you will have to manually fiddle with the settings at the top of Email.php. I've set it up so it automatically works with smtp.ihostexchange.net, but your smtp server might be different.

For example:

Set the smtp_port setting to the port of your smtp server.
Set the smtp_crypto setting to what your smtp server needs.
Set the $newline and $crlf so it's compatible with what your smtp server uses. If you pick wrong, the smtp server may ignore your request without error. I use \r\n, for you maybe \n is required.

The linked code is too long to paste as a stackoverflow answer, If you want to edit it, leave a comment in here or through github and I'll change it.

Step 4, make sure your php.ini has ssl extension enabled:

Find your PHP.ini file and uncomment the

;extension=php_openssl.dll

So it looks like:

extension=php_openssl.dll

Step 5, Run the index.php file you just made in a browser:

You should get the following output:

220 smtp.ihostexchange.net Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service ready at 
Wed, 16 Apr 2014 15:43:58 -0400 250 2.6.0 
<[email protected]> Queued mail for delivery 
lang:email_sent

done

Step 6, check your email, and spam folder:

Visit the email account for [email protected] and you should have received an email. It should arrive within 5 or 10 seconds. If you does not, inspect the errors returned on the page. If that doesn't work, try mashing your face on the keyboard on google while chanting: "working at the grocery store isn't so bad."