imap_mail_compose

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

imap_mail_composeCreate 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));

?>

add a note

User Contributed Notes 10 notes

up
5
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"
]
];
?>
up
3
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 =)
up
3
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.
up
2
thomas dot hebinck at digionline dot de
21 years ago
It is a good idea to set the date header:
$envelope['date']=date('r');
up
2
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;
up
0
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"
up
0
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"
up
-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
up
-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/
up
-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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