How to send email using mail function in localhost

To send an email using the mail() function in a localhost environment, you'll need to configure your PHP settings and make sure your server is set up to send emails. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you achieve this:

Step 1: Configure your PHP settings

Open your php.ini file (usually located in C:\php or /etc/php.ini depending on your operating system).
Look for the SMTP settings and update them as follows:
- SMTP = localhost (or the IP address of your localhost server)
- smtp_port = 25 (or the port number your localhost server uses for SMTP)
- sendmail_from = [email protected] (replace with your email address)
Save the changes to the php.ini file.

Step 2: Set up your localhost server

If you're using XAMPP, WAMP, or MAMP, make sure the SMTP server is enabled. You can do this by:
- For XAMPP: Go to C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra\httpd-xampp.conf and uncomment the Include conf/extra/httpd-smtp.conf line.
- For WAMP: Go to C:\wamp\bin\apache\apache2.4.9\conf\extra\httpd-xampp.conf and uncomment the Include conf/extra/httpd-smtp.conf line.
- For MAMP: Go to Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/httpd.conf and uncomment the Include conf/extra/httpd-smtp.conf line.
Restart your localhost server to apply the changes.

Step 3: Test the email sending

Create a PHP file with the following code:


<?php
$headers = array(
 'From' => '[email protected]',
 'To' => '[email protected]',
 'Subject' => 'Test Email',
 'MIME-Version' => '1.0',
 'Content-Type' => 'text/plain; charset=UTF-8'
);

$message = 'This is a test email sent from localhost.';

mail('[email protected]', 'Test Email', $message, $headers);

echo 'Email sent successfully!'; ?>


2. Replace `[email protected]` and `[email protected]` with your actual email addresses.
3. Save the file with a `.php` extension (e.g., `test_email.php`).
4. Open a web browser and navigate to the PHP file (e.g., `http://localhost/test_email.php`).
5. If everything is set up correctly, you should see the message "Email sent successfully!" and the email should be sent to the recipient's email address.

**Troubleshooting tips**

* Make sure your localhost server is configured to send emails. You can check this by sending an email using a tool like `telnet` or `nc` (Netcat) from the command line.
* Verify that your email address and password are correct.
* Check your email server logs to see if there are any errors or issues with the email sending process.
* If you're using a firewall, make sure it's not blocking the SMTP port (usually port 25).

By following these steps, you should be able to send emails using the `mail()` function in your localhost environment.

Mail Knowledge

How to send email using mail function in localhost