About Email Attachments Using PHP

A Web programmer can design a Web page that allows visitors to send emails with attachments. He can use PHP and HTML to prompt a visitor for a file and send the email attachment with the PHP mail function.

Function

The PHP mail function allows a programmer to create a Web page that can send email attachments through PHP scripting. The function must include the receiving email address, subject and message but reserves space for an optional "headers" parameter, which includes information about the email sender's address, additional carbon copies and attachments.

Features

To send an attachment, the programmer must design an HTML form that prompts a user to upload a file, for example using a dialog box. The form then submits the information to the PHP script, where the script appends the attachment to the "headers" parameter in the mail function.

Considerations

The Web programmer can use the "fopen" and "fread" functions in his PHP script to check attributes of an attachment before emailing it. The fopen function binds a file to a stream, while fread can check the length or size of the file in bytes. The programmer can program the script to reject an attachment if it exceeds a specified file size.

References

• Web Cheat Sheet: PHP Sending Email
• Code Walkers: PHP Email Attachment V1
• PHP: mail
• PHP: fread
• PHP: fopen