Send Mail Attachments with PHP Mail()

In Send Mail Attachments with PHP Mail(), PHP mail() function is widely used for sending emails without using any external mail library, for example, PHPMailer.

Here we use only PHP mail() function for PHP Sendmail. We create a PHP mailing system step by step.

Table of Content

1 Send Mail Attachments with PHP Mail() Demo
2 Mail send with attachments in PHP step by step:
- 2.1 Creating HTML Form
- 2.2 PHP code to send email with attachment
3 Send Mail attachments with PHP code (Complete Source code)

Send Mail Attachments with PHP Mail() Demo

Click here for DEMO

Mail send with attachments in PHP step by step:

First, we create a simple HTML form with form attribute enctype="multipart/form-data"
Creating some HTML input box, textarea and for attachment input type="file"
Then we start with PHP code to send email with attachment.

Creating HTML Form

<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
	<input type="text" id="contact_name" class="form-control" placeholder="Name" name="user_name"/>
	<input type="text" id="contact_email" class="form-control" placeholder="Email Address"     
	name="user_mail">
	<textarea id="contact_message" class="form-control" rows="7" placeholder="Write a 
	message" name="user_message"></textarea>
	<input name="attachment" type="file">      
	<input type="submit" value="Send mail" class="btn btn-primary pull-right"/>
</form>

<input type="text" id="contact_email" class="form-control" placeholder="Email Address"

name="user_mail">

<textarea id="contact_message" class="form-control" rows="7" placeholder="Write a

message" name="user_message"></textarea>

</form>

On the above form enctype="multipart/form-data", this attribute is important for sending attachment.

PHP code to send email with attachment

First, we post all the data from the HTML Form using $_POST function.
Also, post the attachment using name attribute of that field.
For uploading file input type must have type="file"

 <?php
if(isset($_POST) && !empty($_POST)) {
 if(!empty($_FILES['attachment']['name'])) {
    $file_name = $_FILES['attachment']['name'];  
    $temp_name = $_FILES['attachment']['tmp_name'];  
    $file_type = $_FILES['attachment']['type'];

   $base = basename($file_name);

<?php

if(isset($_POST) && !empty($_POST)) {

if(!empty($_FILES['attachment']['name'])) {

$file_name = $_FILES['attachment']['name'];

$temp_name = $_FILES['attachment']['tmp_name'];

$file_type = $_FILES['attachment']['type'];

$base = basename($file_name);

Checking allowed an extension on below code,

$extension = substr($base, strlen($base)-4, strlen($base));

   //only these file types will be allowed
   $allowed_extensions = array(".doc", "docx", ".pdf", ".zip", ".png");

$extension = substr($base, strlen($base)-4, strlen($base));

//only these file types will be allowed

$allowed_extensions = array(".doc", "docx", ".pdf", ".zip", ".png");

If the file has satisfy allowed an extensions then go to next step,

//check that this file type is allowed
   if(in_array($extension,$allowed_extensions)) {
       //mail essentials
       $from = $_POST['user_mail'];
       $to = $_POST['user_mail'];
       $subject = $_POST['user_name'];
       $message = $_POST['user_message'];

       //things u need
       $file = $temp_name;
       $content = chunk_split(base64_encode(file_get_contents($file)));
       $uid = md5(uniqid(time()));  //unique identifier

       //standard mail headers
       $header = "From: ".$from."\r\n";
       $header .= "Reply-To: ".$replyto. "\r\n";
       $header .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";


       //declare multiple kinds of email (plain text + attch)
       $header .="Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$uid."\"\r\n";
       $header .="This is a multi-part message in MIME format.\r\n";

       //plain txt part

       $header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-type:text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\r\n";
       $header .= $message. "\r\n";


       //attch part
       $header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-Type: ".$file_type."; name=\"".$file_name."\"\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".$file_name."\"\r\n";
       $header .= $content."\r\n";  //chucked up 64 encoded attch


       //sending the mail - message is not here, but in the header in a multi part

       if(mail($to, $subject, $message, $header)) {
       echo "success";
       
       }else {
           echo "fail";
           echo error_get_last()['message'];
       }


   }else {
       echo "file type not allowed"; }    //echo an html file
}else {
  echo "no file posted"; }    
}
?>

//check that this file type is allowed

if(in_array($extension,$allowed_extensions)) {

//mail essentials

$from = $_POST['user_mail'];

$to = $_POST['user_mail'];

$subject = $_POST['user_name'];

$message = $_POST['user_message'];

//things u need

$file = $temp_name;

$content = chunk_split(base64_encode(file_get_contents($file)));

$uid = md5(uniqid(time())); //unique identifier

//standard mail headers

$header = "From: ".$from."\r\n";

$header .= "Reply-To: ".$replyto. "\r\n";

$header .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";

//declare multiple kinds of email (plain text + attch)

$header .="Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$uid."\"\r\n";

$header .="This is a multi-part message in MIME format.\r\n";

//plain txt part

$header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";

$header .= "Content-type:text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";

$header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\r\n";

$header .= $message. "\r\n";

//attch part

$header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";

$header .= "Content-Type: ".$file_type."; name=\"".$file_name."\"\r\n";

$header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";

$header .= "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".$file_name."\"\r\n";

$header .= $content."\r\n"; //chucked up 64 encoded attch

//sending the mail - message is not here, but in the header in a multi part

if(mail($to, $subject, $message, $header)) {

echo "success";

}else {

echo "fail";

echo error_get_last()['message'];

}

}else {

echo "file type not allowed"; } //echo an html file

}else {

echo "no file posted"; }

}

On the above PHP code, we create mail headers for sending PHP mail attachment.

Send Mail attachments with PHP code (Complete Source code)

<?php

 if(isset($_POST) && !empty($_POST)) {
 if(!empty($_FILES['attachment']['name'])) {
    $file_name = $_FILES['attachment']['name'];  
    $temp_name = $_FILES['attachment']['tmp_name'];  
    $file_type = $_FILES['attachment']['type'];

   $base = basename($file_name);
   $extension = substr($base, strlen($base)-4, strlen($base));

   //only these file types will be allowed
   $allowed_extensions = array(".doc", "docx", ".pdf", ".zip", ".png");

   //check that this file type is allowed
   if(in_array($extension,$allowed_extensions)) {
       //mail essentials
       $from = $_POST['user_mail'];
       $to = "phpcodertech@gmail.com";
       $subject = $_POST['user_name'];
       $message = $_POST['user_message'];

       //things u need
       $file = $temp_name;
       $content = chunk_split(base64_encode(file_get_contents($file)));
       $uid = md5(uniqid(time()));  //unique identifier

       //standard mail headers
       $header = "From: ".$from."\r\n";
       $header .= "Reply-To: ".$replyto. "\r\n";
       $header .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";


       //declare multiple kinds of email (plain text + attch)
       $header .="Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$uid."\"\r\n";
       $header .="This is a multi-part message in MIME format.\r\n";

       //plain txt part

       $header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-type:text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\r\n";
       $header .= $message. "\r\n";


       //attch part
       $header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-Type: ".$file_type."; name=\"".$file_name."\"\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";
       $header .= "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".$file_name."\"\r\n";
       $header .= $content."\r\n";  //chucked up 64 encoded attch


       //sending the mail - message is not here, but in the header in a multi part

       if(mail($to, $subject, $message, $header)) {
       echo "success";
       
       }else {
           echo "fail";
           echo error_get_last()['message'];
       }


   }else {
       echo "file type not allowed"; }    //echo an html file
}else {
  echo "no file posted"; }    
}
?>

<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
	<input type="text" id="contact_name" class="form-control" placeholder="Name" name="user_name"/>
	<input type="text" id="contact_email" class="form-control" placeholder="Email Address"     
	name="user_mail">
	<textarea id="contact_message" class="form-control" rows="7" placeholder="Write a 
	message" name="user_message"></textarea>
	<input name="attachment" type="file">      
	<input type="submit" value="Send mail" class="btn btn-primary pull-right"/>
</form>

<?php

if(isset($_POST) && !empty($_POST)) {

if(!empty($_FILES['attachment']['name'])) {

$file_name = $_FILES['attachment']['name'];

$temp_name = $_FILES['attachment']['tmp_name'];

$file_type = $_FILES['attachment']['type'];

$base = basename($file_name);

$extension = substr($base, strlen($base)-4, strlen($base));

//only these file types will be allowed

$allowed_extensions = array(".doc", "docx", ".pdf", ".zip", ".png");

//check that this file type is allowed

if(in_array($extension,$allowed_extensions)) {

//mail essentials

$from = $_POST['user_mail'];

$to = "phpcodertech@gmail.com";

$subject = $_POST['user_name'];

$message = $_POST['user_message'];

//things u need

$file = $temp_name;

$content = chunk_split(base64_encode(file_get_contents($file)));

$uid = md5(uniqid(time())); //unique identifier

//standard mail headers

$header = "From: ".$from."\r\n";

$header .= "Reply-To: ".$replyto. "\r\n";

$header .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";

//declare multiple kinds of email (plain text + attch)

$header .="Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$uid."\"\r\n";

$header .="This is a multi-part message in MIME format.\r\n";

//plain txt part

$header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";

$header .= "Content-type:text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";

$header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\r\n";

$header .= $message. "\r\n";

//attch part

$header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";

$header .= "Content-Type: ".$file_type."; name=\"".$file_name."\"\r\n";

$header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";

$header .= "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".$file_name."\"\r\n";

$header .= $content."\r\n"; //chucked up 64 encoded attch

//sending the mail - message is not here, but in the header in a multi part

if(mail($to, $subject, $message, $header)) {

echo "success";

}else {

echo "fail";

echo error_get_last()['message'];

}

}else {

echo "file type not allowed"; } //echo an html file

}else {

echo "no file posted"; }

}

<input type="text" id="contact_email" class="form-control" placeholder="Email Address"

name="user_mail">

<textarea id="contact_message" class="form-control" rows="7" placeholder="Write a

message" name="user_message"></textarea>

</form>

Please comment below if any issue. Here is the complete source with live view for Send Mail Attachments with PHP Mail() function.

Also check officially on PHP https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php

Happy Coding..!

Bikash

My name is Bikash Kr. Panda. I own and operate PHPCODER.TECH, my native place in Odisha. I am a Web Programmer by profession and working on more than 50 projects to date. My passion is working on the web-based project using PHP and relate to all CMS and frameworks which is based on PHP.

12 thoughts to “Send Mail Attachments with PHP Mail()”

ramesh says:

January 29, 2020 at 7:06 pm

mail sent with attachment . But attachment not able to open .pls give solution.

1. Bikash says:
  
  January 30, 2020 at 10:57 am
  
  You can use above complete code for solution. Also check the demo.
  
2. php dEV says:
  
  March 16, 2020 at 4:18 am
  
  You can use above complete code for solution. Also check the demo.
  
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shoaib says:

July 8, 2020 at 3:17 pm

How to Get attachment in zip file?????

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Send Mail Attachments with PHP Mail()

Send Mail Attachments with PHP Mail() Demo

Mail send with attachments in PHP step by step:

Creating HTML Form

PHP code to send email with attachment

Send Mail attachments with PHP code (Complete Source code)

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Bikash

12 thoughts to “Send Mail Attachments with PHP Mail()”

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