PHP 5 Unleashed

Chapter 16. Writing Email in PHP

IN THIS CHAPTER

• The MIME Protocol

• Implementing MIME Email in PHP

With all the power that PHP provides the developer, one thing PHP has no method of doing (at least internally) is to automate the process of sending a MIME-based email. Without this capability, PHP is unable to send emails with file attachments or embed HTML documents (complete with images and graphics)—and that's just two of the big ones! Thankfully, although not supported internally, a PHP script can be developed that will create emails using the MIME protocol. This chapter is devoted to both the theory of MIME-based email and its implementation. Of course, because you cannot properly understand a script unless you understand the theory, we will ...