imap_mail_compose

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

imap_mail_compose — Create a MIME message based on given envelope and body sections

Description

imap_mail_compose(array $envelope, array $bodies): string|false

Create a MIME message based on the given envelope and bodies sections.

Parameters

envelope

An associative array of header fields. Valid keys are: "remail", "return_path", "date", "from", "reply_to", "in_reply_to", "subject", "to", "cc", "bcc" and "message_id", which set the respective message headers to the given string. To set additional headers, the key "custom_headers" is supported, which expects an array of those headers, e.g. ["User-Agent: My Mail Client"].

bodies

An indexed array of bodies. The first body is the main body of the message; only if it has a type of TYPEMULTIPART, further bodies are processed; these bodies constitute the bodies of the parts.

**Body Array Structure**
Key	Type	Description
`type`	int	The MIME type. One of `TYPETEXT` (default), `TYPEMULTIPART`, `TYPEMESSAGE`, `TYPEAPPLICATION`, `TYPEAUDIO`, `TYPEIMAGE`, `TYPEMODEL` or `TYPEOTHER`.
`encoding`	int	The `Content-Transfer-Encoding`. One of `ENC7BIT` (default), `ENC8BIT`, `ENCBINARY`, `ENCBASE64`, `ENCQUOTEDPRINTABLE` or `ENCOTHER`.
`charset`	string	The charset parameter of the MIME type.
`type.parameters`	array	An associative array of `Content-Type` parameter names and their values.
`subtype`	string	The MIME subtype, e.g. `'jpeg'` for `TYPEIMAGE`.
`id`	string	The `Content-ID`.
`description`	string	The `Content-Description`.
`disposition.type`	string	The `Content-Disposition`, e.g. `'attachment'`.
`disposition`	array	An associative array of `Content-Disposition` parameter names and values.
`contents.data`	string	The payload.
`lines`	int	The size of the payload in lines.
`bytes`	int	The size of the payload in bytes.
`md5`	string	The MD5 checksum of the payload.

Return Values

Returns the MIME message as string, or false on failure.

Examples

Example #1 imap_mail_compose() example

<?php

$envelope["from"]= "joe@example.com";
$envelope["to"]  = "foo@example.com";
$envelope["cc"]  = "bar@example.com";

$part1["type"] = TYPEMULTIPART;
$part1["subtype"] = "mixed";

$filename = "/tmp/imap.c.gz";
$fp = fopen($filename, "r");
$contents = fread($fp, filesize($filename));
fclose($fp);

$part2["type"] = TYPEAPPLICATION;
$part2["encoding"] = ENCBINARY;
$part2["subtype"] = "octet-stream";
$part2["description"] = basename($filename);
$part2["contents.data"] = $contents;

$part3["type"] = TYPETEXT;
$part3["subtype"] = "plain";
$part3["description"] = "description3";
$part3["contents.data"] = "contents.data3\n\n\n\t";

$body[1] = $part1;
$body[2] = $part2;
$body[3] = $part3;

echo nl2br(imap_mail_compose($envelope, $body));

?>

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User Contributed Notes 10 notes

down

Los Olvidados ¶

21 years ago


If you wish to send the output of this function, simply use it for the headers argument of imap_mail() or mail().  Keep in mind that those functions set the To: and Subject: headers, so including them in the envelope will create double entries.

down

prices at dflytech dot com ¶

22 years ago


The documentation above does not mention that you can use the index ["charset"] to set the character set of the messsage part.

Example:

$part1["type"]= "TEXT";
$part1["subtype"]="PLAIN";
$part1["charset"] = "koi8-r";

to send a message in Russian-koi8.

Scott  =)

down

thomas dot hebinck at digionline dot de ¶

21 years ago


It is a good idea to set the date header:
$envelope['date']=date('r');

down

Guido ¶

16 years ago


For some email clients its necessary first to start with the body text and end with the attachment(s). Otherwise all the parts end up in attachments, also the body text (took a while to find this).

So example #1 (above) should be switched over, like:

$body[1] = $part1;
$body[2] = $part3;
$body[3] = $part2;

down

jvandeweghe at kipsu dot com ¶

7 years ago


The custom_headers envelope documentation is misleading. Its not actually an "associative array", its a regular array of headers.

This is wrong:

<?php
$envelope = [
    //...
    "custom_headers" => [
        "X-SES-CONFIGURATION-SET" => "example",
        "X-SES-MESSAGE-TAGS" => "emailType=example"
    ]
];
?>

This is right:

<?php
$envelope = [
    //...
    "custom_headers" => [
        "X-SES-CONFIGURATION-SET: example",
        "X-SES-MESSAGE-TAGS: emailType=example"
    ]
];
?>

down

Freman ¶

17 years ago


Since at least PHP 4.3 the $part[] hash can contain the $part['type.parameters'] which expects a hash.

Unfortunately for "hans at lintoo dot dk" there doesn't appear to have ever been $part['parameters.name'] or a $part['dparameters.filename']

So it would appear the corrected code for his function is

<?php
            $part["type"] = TYPEAPPLICATION;
            $part["encoding"] = ENCBASE64;
            $part["subtype"] = "octet-stream";
            $part["description"] = $file_name;
            $part['disposition.type'] = 'attachment';
            $part['disposition'] = array ('filename' => $file_name);
            $part['type.parameters'] = array('name' => $file_name);
            $part["contents.data"] = base64_encode(fread($file_handle,$file_size));
?>
While this correctly sets the header

Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="file_name"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: BASE64
Content-Description: file_name
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="file_name"

But this is still not a good idea to blanket set every attachment as a application/octet-stream so please consider using the unix command file, or Fileinfo functions (or even trusting file upload mimetype) and pay attention to the code from "derf dot m at reseaunix dot net"

down

trionon at mail dot ru ¶

22 years ago


At least the following items in $part[] hashes are parsed:

type
encoding
charset
subtype
id
description
disposition.type
disposition
contents.data
lines
bytes
md5

Note: $part['disposition'] is a hash:

$part['disposition.type'] = 'attachment';
$part['disposition'] = array ('filename'=>'file.txt');

This will transform in such part header:

Content-disposition: attachment; filename="file.txt"

down

-1

coxsterdillon at hotmail dot com ¶

11 years ago


So following on from their example, once you've composed your email with attachment or whatever, you'll probably want to send it.

since imap_mail(...) takes the message as body and re-encodes it, ignoring all the hard work you've done already.

Only real solution I found is to post it yourself:

// open connect to mail server
$socket=socket_create(AF_INET,SOCK_STREAM,SOL_TCP);
if ($socket===false) {
    die('Error: socket_create, '.socket_strerror(socket_last_error()));
}

$server="myserver.com"; // say 10.0.0.1 or whatever your mail sever is
$port=25;  // again your mail server port, here generic smtp
if (socket_connect($socket,$server,$port)) {
    print "Connection successful\n";
}else {
    die('Error: socket_connect, '.socket_strerror(socket_last_error()));
}

// send it...
socket_write($socket,"HELO {$envelope["from"]}\n");
socket_write($socket,"MAIL FROM: {$envelope["from"]}\n");
socket_write($socket,"RCPT TO: {$envelope["to"]}\n");
socket_write($socket,"DATA\n");
socket_write($socket,"$message\n");
socket_write($socket,".\n");
socket_write($socket,"QUIT\n");

// done...
socket_close($socket);

Ofcourse the shell may work for you?

echo "Hello World" | mail -s "Greeting..." -a "attachSomeFile.txt" gspot@gmail.com

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-2

hans at lintoo dot dk ¶

19 years ago


Here is a little something for attaching files... This is already documented in the manual, but my solution involves some changes. This is based on testing and suggestions from others notes on this page.
<?php
//snip
if (count($_FILES) > 0) {
    $multipart["type"] = TYPEMULTIPART;
    $multipart["subtype"] = "mixed";
    $body[] = $multipart; //add multipart stuff
}
//snip
$uploaddir = ini_get("upload_tmp_dir"); //Get tmp upload dir from PHP.ini
foreach ($_FILES as $fieldName => $file) {
    for ($i=0;$i < count($file['tmp_name']);$i++) {
        if (is_uploaded_file($file['tmp_name'][$i])) {
            $file_handle = fopen($file["tmp_name"][$i], "rb");
            $file_name = $file["name"][$i];
            $file_size = filesize($file["tmp_name"][$i]);
            
            $part["type"] = TYPEAPPLICATION;
            $part["encoding"] = ENCBASE64;
            $part["subtype"] = "octet-stream";
            $part["description"] = $file_name;
            $part['disposition.type'] = 'attachment';
            $part['disposition'] = array ('filename' => $file_name);
            $part['dparameters.filename'] = $file_name;
            $part['parameters.name'] = $file_name;
            $part["contents.data"] = base64_encode(fread($file_handle,$file_size));
            
            $body[] = $part;
            unlink($file["tmp_name"][$i]);
        }
    }
}
//snip
?>
hope someone can use this...
Regards, Hans @ http://lintoo.dk/

down

-2

hans at lintoo dot dk ¶

19 years ago


I got a lot of problems with attachments (multipart emails) and the fix directly below this note.
instead just include it in the optional headers argument as previously suggested:

<?php
$mail = str_replace("\r","",imap_mail_compose($envelope, $body));
imap_mail($_POST["to"],$_POST["subject"],'',$mail);
?>
"Nothing like a fix on a fix". 

If you want to copy the message to ie: a sent folder do:
<?php
//take note of the link: $this->mbox, and the constant: self::$imapStream
$envelope["to"]  = $_POST["to"]; //included with imap_mail
$envelope["subject"]  = $_POST["subject"]; //included with imap_mail
$mail = imap_mail_compose($envelope, $body); //note no problems with \r
imap_append($this->mbox,self::$imapStream."INBOX.Sent",$mail ,"\\Seen");
?>
See imap_append for more info.... Enjoy!

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