How do PHP's imap_* functions compare to other methods for email retrieval and display, especially in terms of compatibility with different hosting environments?

PHP's imap_* functions provide a powerful way to retrieve and display emails from an IMAP server. They offer a wide range of functionality for managing emails, such as fetching messages, marking them as read, and deleting them. These functions are widely supported across different hosting environments, making them a reliable choice for email retrieval tasks.

// Connect to the IMAP server
$mailbox = '{imap.example.com:993/imap/ssl}INBOX';
$username = 'your_email@example.com';
$password = 'your_password';
$inbox = imap_open($mailbox, $username, $password);

// Check if the connection was successful
if (!$inbox) {
    die('Cannot connect to the IMAP server.');
}

// Fetch emails and display them
$emails = imap_search($inbox, 'ALL');
if ($emails) {
    foreach ($emails as $email_number) {
        $email_header = imap_headerinfo($inbox, $email_number);
        echo 'From: ' . $email_header->fromaddress . '<br>';
        echo 'Subject: ' . $email_header->subject . '<br>';
        echo 'Date: ' . $email_header->date . '<br>';
        echo '<br>';
    }
}

// Close the connection
imap_close($inbox);