Basic email form (php)

Question

I'm trying to send a basic email from a form using PHP. The form is validated using jquery.validate.js (which is working fine), but I can't get the email to send. I simply keep getting the php file that is declared in the action when I submit.

The site is here, the form looks like this:

    <form method="post" action="send-email.php" id="contact-form" class="form-horizontal" role="form">
      <fieldset> 

        <div class="col-12  col-md-6  col-lg-6  contact--left">
          <div class="form-group">
            <label for="name" class="col-12  control-label  brand  brand-font">Name</label>
            <div class="col-12">
              <input type="text" class="form-control  brand-font--standard" name="name" id="name">
            </div>
          </div>                  
          <div class="form-group">
            <label for="email" class="col-12  control-label  brand  brand-font">Email</label>
            <div class="col-12">
              <input type="email" class="form-control  brand-font--standard" name="email" id="email">
            </div>
          </div>
          <div class="form-group">
            <label for="phone" class="col-12  control-label  brand  brand-font">Telephone</label>
            <div class="col-12">
              <input type="tel" class="form-control  brand-font--standard" name="phone" id="phone">
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>

        <div class="col-12  col-md-offset-1  col-md-5  col-lg-offset-1  col-lg-5  contact--right">
          <div class="form-group">
            <label for="message" class="col-12  control-label  brand  brand-font">Message</label>
            <div class="col-12">
              <textarea class="form-control  brand-font--standard" rows="6" name="message" id="message"></textarea>
            </div>
          </div>
          <div class="form-group">
            <div class="col-12">&nbsp;</div>
            <div class="col-12">
              <button type="submit" class="btn  btn-block  btn--orange  brand-font">Submit</button>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>

      </fieldset>
    </form>

...and the send-email.php file looks like this:

<?php
if(isset($_POST['email'])) {

    // EDIT THE 2 LINES BELOW AS REQUIRED
    $email_to = "contact@designbydarren.com";
    $email_subject = "Your email subject line";


    function died($error) {
        // your error code can go here
        echo "We are very sorry, but there were error(s) found with the form you submitted. ";
        echo "These errors appear below.<br /><br />";
        echo $error."<br /><br />";
        echo "Please go back and fix these errors.<br /><br />";
        die();
    }

    // validation expected data exists
    if(!isset($_POST['name']) ||
        !isset($_POST['email']) ||
        !isset($_POST['phone']) ||
        !isset($_POST['message'])) {
        died('We are sorry, but there appears to be a problem with the form you submitted.');       
    }

    $name = $_POST['name']; // required
    $email_from = $_POST['email']; // required
    $phone = $_POST['phone']; // required
    $message = $_POST['message']; // required

    $error_message = "";
    $email_exp = '/^[A-Za-z0-9._%-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,4}$/';
  if(!preg_match($email_exp,$email)) {
    $error_message .= 'The Email Address you entered does not appear to be valid.<br />';
  }
    $string_exp = "/^[A-Za-z .'-]+$/";
  if(!preg_match($string_exp,$name)) {
    $error_message .= 'The name you entered does not appear to be valid.<br />';
  }
  if(strlen($message) < 2) {
    $error_message .= 'The message you entered do not appear to be valid.<br />';
  }
  if(strlen($error_message) > 0) {
    died($error_message);
  }
    $email_message = "Form details below.\n\n";

    function clean_string($string) {
      $bad = array("content-type","bcc:","to:","cc:","href");
      return str_replace($bad,"",$string);
    }

    $email_message .= "Name: ".clean_string($name)."\n";
    $email_message .= "Email: ".clean_string($email_from)."\n";
    $email_message .= "Telephone: ".clean_string($phone)."\n";
    $email_message .= "Message: ".clean_string($message)."\n";


// create email headers
$headers = 'From: '.$email_from."\r\n".
'Reply-To: '.$email_from."\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();
@mail($email_to, $email_subject, $email_message, $headers);  
?>

<!-- include your own success html here -->

Thank you for contacting us. We will be in touch with you very soon.

<?php
}
?>

I've tried using a few other examples i've found on the web but not got anything to stick yet. Apologies for the noob esque question but i'm more of a front-ender so have little idea about this type of thing (however basic it may seem to you guys)

Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

You have to change the parameter in the following line of send-email.php

if(!preg_match($email_exp,$email_from)){

As you had already taken $_POST['email'] in $email_from

And while using default PHP mail function change your SMTP settings in php.ini file

Hope it Helps!!!

Answer 2

You've defined the visitor's email address as follows:

$email_from = $_POST['email']; // required

But in line 33, you're trying to use $email, which is undefined:

if(!preg_match($email_exp,$email)) {

Change it to:

if(!preg_match($email_exp,$email_from)) {

That should fix the issue, and your form should work.

Unrelated sidenote: PHP's mail() function is a bad choice. I'd recommend switching to PHPMailer or SwiftMailer, as they give you better control and is more robust.