SMTP error for php emailer

Question

I am trying to set up a php script that would send an email to selected users, I looked on the internet and found out how but can't run the script cos I get the following error:

Warning: mail() [function.mail]: "sendmail_from" not set in php.ini or custom "From:" header missing in E:\Program Files\xampp\phpMyAdmin\emailer.php on line 10

Here is the code of the script I designed following examples:

<?php
    $recipient = "<ismael.srcyber@gmail.com>";
    $subject = "Flight Status";
    $body = "Flight has just landed.";

    $host = "ssl://smtp.gmail.com";
    $port = "465";


    if(mail($recipient, $subject, $body))
    {
        echo("<p>Message successfully sent</p>");
    }
    else
    {
        echo("<p>Message Delivery failed </p>");
    }
?>

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

As the error suggest you must add the default "from" field (who sends the mail) in php.ini:

SMTP = localhost


sendmail_from = me@localhost.com

And then restart apache

Otherwise you can set it dinamically as the fourth parameter as stated in the php manual (look http://php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php)

Note:

When sending mail, the mail must contain a From header. This can be set with the additional_headers parameter, or a default can be set in php.ini.

Failing to do this will result in an error message similar to Warning: mail(): "sendmail_from" not set in php.ini or custom "From:" header missing. The From header sets also Return-Path under Windows.

Example:

<?php
$to      = 'nobody@example.com';
$subject = 'the subject';
$message = 'hello';
$headers = 'From: webmaster@example.com' . "\r\n" .
    'Reply-To: webmaster@example.com' . "\r\n" .
    'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();

mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);