imap_mail_compose

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

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

Description

string imap_mail_compose ( array $envelope , array $body )

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

Parameters

envelope

An associative array of headers fields. Valid keys are: "remail", "return_path", "date", "from", "reply_to", "in_reply_to", "subject", "to", "cc", "bcc", "message_id" and "custom_headers" (which contains associative array of other headers).

body

An indexed array of bodies

A body is an associative array which can consist of the following keys: "type", "encoding", "charset", "type.parameters", "subtype", "id", "description", "disposition.type", "disposition", "contents.data", "lines", "bytes" and "md5".

Return Values

Returns the MIME message.

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));

?>

User Contributed Notes

coxsterdillon at hotmail dot com

2 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

as1 at powersite dot com dot ar

13 years ago


How can I do if I have multi mime headers?
By example:

Content-Type: multipart/related;
                   type="multipart/alternative";
or:

Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
                   type="multipart/alternative";

or both methods: nested and multi mime headers:

Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
        boundary="147147"

--147147
Content-Type: multipart/related;
        type="multipart/alternative";
        boundary="247247"

These headers are used when you need attach files and
insert files in a body into mime mails.

prices at dflytech dot com

14 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  =)

Guido

7 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;

thomas dot hebinck at digionline dot de

12 years ago


imap_mail_compose modifies $envelope! Subsequent calls with the same $envelope may not work depending on the contents of the header. The best way (at least it works) I found, is:

$temp_env=unserialize(serialize($envelope));
$mail=imap_mail_compose($temp_env,$body);

(just $temp_env=$envelope does not work either)

Los Olvidados

13 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.

Freman

8 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"

hans at lintoo dot dk

10 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!

derf dot m at reseaunix dot net

13 years ago


class ImapCompose
{
    var $DATA;
    var $MIME;
    var $TYPE;
    var $BASENAME;
    
    function ImapCompose()
    {}
    
    function LECTURE_FICHIER($filename,$mime,$filetmp)
    {
        $filetmp = "/tmp/".$filetmp;
        $fp=fopen($filetmp,"r");
        $this->DATA     = fread($fp,filesize($filetmp));
        fclose($fp);
        //unlink($filetmp);

        $mime = explode("/",$mime);
        $this->BASENAME = basename($filename);
        $this->TYPE        = $mime[1]; 
        
        switch($mime[0])
        {
            case "image":    
                        $this->MIME = TYPEIMAGE;
                        break;
                        
            case "text":
                        $this->MIME = TYPETEXT;
                        break;
                        
            case "audio":
                        $this->MIME = TYPEAUDIO;
                        break;
                        
            case "autre":
            default:
                        $this->MIME = TYPEAPPLICATION;
                        break;
        }    
    }

    function LECTURE_FILE_MAIL($file,$data,$mime,$type)
    {
        $this->BASENAME = $file;
        $this->MIME        = $mime;
        $this->DATA     = $data;    
        $this->TYPE        = $type;
    }
    
    function ATTACHER_FICHIER()
    {
        $part["type"]        =$this->MIME."<br>";
        $part["encoding"]    =ENCBINARY."<br>";
        $part["subtype"]     =$this->TYPE."<br>";
        $part["description"]=$this->BASENAME."<br>";
        $part["contents.data"]=$this->DATA."<br>";
        return $part;
    }
        
    function ATTACHER_MSG($msg)
    {
        $part["type"]=TEXT;
        $part["subtype"]="plain";
        $part["description"]="message mode texte";
        $part["contents.data"]="$msg\n\n\n\t";

        return $part;
    }

    function ENVELLOPE_MAIL($from,$to,$cc,$sujet="")
    {
        $envelope["from"]=$from;
        $envelope["to"]=$to;
        $envelope["cc"]=$cc;
        
        if($sujet != "")
            $envelope["subject"]=$sujet;
        
        return $envelope;
    }
    
    function ENETE_MAIL()
    {
        $part["type"]=TYPEMULTIPART;
        $part["subtype"]="mixed";        
        return $part;
    }
}    
?>

prices at dflytech dot com

14 years ago


In regards to my earlier note about "charset", this feature seems to have been added in the 4.1.X series  I have not actually checked 4.1.0, but it is in 4.1.1 and not it 4.0.6.

trionon at mail dot ru

14 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"

vlad ( at php dot net)

14 years ago


... and the headers (elements of the envelope) are case-sensitive and are listed below:

remail
return_path
date
from
reply_to
in_reply_to
subject
to
cc
bcc
message_id
custom_headers

If you can't find a header you need in this list, you can use 'custom_headers'. It is just an array of lines to be appended to the header without any formatting, like this:

$envelope["custom_headers"] = Array("User-Agent: My Mail Client", "My-Header: My Value");

TODO: This should really migrate from a note to documentation

thomas dot hebinck at digionline dot de

12 years ago


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

hans at lintoo dot dk

10 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/