How can the use of PHP Mailer classes improve the reliability of email delivery compared to using the basic mail() function?

Using PHP Mailer classes can improve the reliability of email delivery compared to the basic mail() function by providing more advanced features such as SMTP authentication, error handling, HTML email support, and better handling of attachments. PHP Mailer classes also have better support for sending emails through external SMTP servers, which can help prevent emails from being marked as spam.

<?php
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;

// Include PHPMailer classes
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

// Create a new PHPMailer instance
$mail = new PHPMailer();

// Set up the necessary parameters for sending the email
$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'smtp.example.com';
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'your@example.com';
$mail->Password = 'your_password';
$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
$mail->Port = 587;

// Set the email content
$mail->setFrom('from@example.com', 'Your Name');
$mail->addAddress('recipient@example.com', 'Recipient Name');
$mail->Subject = 'Subject of the email';
$mail->Body = 'This is the body of the email';

// Send the email
if($mail->send()) {
    echo 'Email sent successfully';
} else {
    echo 'Error sending email: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
}
?>