Automatic send specific time mail in php

A classic task!

To send an email at a specific time using PHP, you'll need to use a combination of the following:

  1. Cron jobs: Schedule a PHP script to run at the desired time using a cron job. Cron jobs are a way to automate tasks on a Unix-based system.
  2. PHP's mail() function: Use the mail() function to send the email.
  3. DateTime and date() functions: Use these functions to set the desired send time and calculate the delay until that time.

Here's an example code snippet to get you started:

<?php

// Set the desired send time (e.g., 8:00 AM tomorrow)
$sendTime = date_create('tomorrow 08:00:00');

// Calculate the delay until the send time
$delay = date_diff(date_create(), $sendTime);

// Sleep for the calculated delay
sleep($delay->format('%i'));

// Send the email
mail('[email protected]', 'Subject', 'Body');

?>

In this example, the script calculates the delay until the desired send time using the date_diff() function, then sleeps for that amount of time using the sleep() function. Finally, it sends the email using the mail() function.

To schedule this script to run at the desired time using a cron job, you'll need to add a cron entry to your system's crontab file. The format for a cron entry is:

minute hour day month day_of_week command

For example, to run the script at 8:00 AM every day, you would add the following cron entry:

0 8 * * * /usr/bin/php /path/to/your/script.php

Make sure to replace /path/to/your/script.php with the actual path to your PHP script.

Note that this is just a basic example, and you may need to modify it to fit your specific requirements. Additionally, be aware that cron jobs may not run exactly at the specified time, due to system load and other factors.