Sending mail using PHP mail()

Question

I've been trying to create a simple contact form using PHP. So, I've managed to get the form to work by plugging in values for all variables like so and it sends the email just fine:

$to = "[email protected]";
$subject = "Job";
$message = "Test";
$from = "[email protected]";
$headers = "From:" . $from;
mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers);

However, as soon as I replace the values with $_REQUEST[var], the email gets sent to my Junk email with no from address:

$to = "[email protected]";
$subject = "Job";
$message = $_REQUEST['clientMessage'];
$from = $_REQUEST['clientEmail'];
    $headers  = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";
$headers .= "From: $from";
mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers);

Screenshot of the email: enter image description here

I'm getting the values through an ajax form using jQuery:

    var clientName = $("#name").val();
    window.alert(clientName);
    var clientEmail = $("#email").val();    
    window.alert(clientEmail);
    var clientMessage = $("#message").val();            
    window.alert(clientMessage);
     var data = "from=" + clientEmail + "&subject=" + clientName + "&message=" + clientMessage;
     $.ajax({
            type: "POST",
            url: "email.php",
            data: data,
            success: function() {
                $("#loading").fadeOut(100).hide();
                $("#name").val(' ');
                $("#email").val(' ');
                $("#message").val(' ');
                $("#message-sent").fadeIn(100).show();
            }
        });

I've printed out clientName, clientMessage, and clientEmail all right before sending them into the ajax form and they all print out with correct values. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

HTML form:

 <form id="contactMe" data-abide>
 <input type="text" id="name">
  <input type="text" id="email">        
  <textarea  id="message"></textarea>
 <button type="submit" id="sendEmail" class="button">Submit</button>

Where is data defined? Also, use phpMailer or another lib to send emails instead of mail(). — user1233508
– user1233508, Commented Aug 4, 2013 at 6:05
Try adding these $headers = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n"; and $headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n"; certain web sites will mark it as Spam if proper headers are not included. — Funk Forty Niner
– Funk Forty Niner, Commented Aug 4, 2013 at 6:05
@DCoder, my apologies, I added in data now, though it still doesn't seem to work.@Fred, where would I add those? — Andrew
– Andrew, Commented Aug 4, 2013 at 6:09
@Andrew Have you tried it without the "from=" + clientEmail +? Seems like you already took care of that with $from = $_REQUEST['clientEmail']; — Funk Forty Niner
– Funk Forty Niner, Commented Aug 4, 2013 at 6:10
@Andrew You would add those underneath $headers = "From:" . $from;, yet you would need to continue concatenates in headers = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n"; to be $headers .= 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n"; the dot concatenates etc. — Funk Forty Niner
– Funk Forty Niner, Commented Aug 4, 2013 at 6:12

Nick Coons · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-04 06:34:16Z

3

You're using the wrong variable to read the client email. In your JS, you're pulling it into a variable called clientEmail, but then you're giving it the name from when passing the AJAX request:

var data = "from=" + clientEmail + "&subject=" + clientName + "&message=" + clientMessage;

So from within PHP, you should be accessing it as $_REQUEST['from'], not $_REQUEST['clientEmail'].

answered Aug 4, 2013 at 6:34

Nick Coons

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2 Comments

Andrew Over a year ago

Thanks, that seem to did it!

Funk Forty Niner Over a year ago

Good catch Nick, definitely worth a +1 here, cheers. Glad someone figured it out.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:05:17Z

1

This is only a "supplement" to the accepted answer (good catch Nick), since the Email was treated as Junk/Spam.

Adding proper headers such as:

$headers  = "From: $from";
$headers .= 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";

will help reduce the chance of E-mail ending up in Junk or treated as Spam.

Certain web sites will mark it as Spam if proper headers are not included.

More information on the mail() can be found on PHP.net

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:05

CommunityBot

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answered Aug 4, 2013 at 6:45

Funk Forty Niner

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