In what ways can utilizing a mailer class in PHP improve the email sending functionality compared to the `mail()` function?

Using a mailer class in PHP can improve email sending functionality compared to the `mail()` function by providing a more object-oriented approach, better error handling, support for attachments, and easier configuration of SMTP settings. Mailer classes like PHPMailer or SwiftMailer offer a more robust and flexible solution for sending emails in PHP applications. 

// Example using PHPMailer
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer(true);

try {
    $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;

    $mail->setFrom('from@example.com', 'Your Name');
    $mail->addAddress('recipient@example.com', 'Recipient Name');
    $mail->isHTML(true);
    $mail->Subject = 'Subject';
    $mail->Body = 'Email body content';

    $mail->send();
    echo 'Email sent successfully';
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo 'Email could not be sent. Mailer Error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
}

Keywords

mailer class PHP email sending functionality mail() function

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