What are the advantages of using a mailer class like PHPMailer over the built-in mail() function in PHP?

Using a mailer class like PHPMailer over the built-in mail() function in PHP offers several advantages such as better error handling, support for various email protocols (SMTP, sendmail, etc.), easier attachment handling, and improved security features like SMTP authentication and SSL encryption. 

// Using PHPMailer to send an email
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

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

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

// Set up the SMTP settings
$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'smtp.example.com';
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'your@example.com';
$mail->Password = 'your_password';
$mail->SMTPSecure = 'ssl';
$mail->Port = 465;

// Set the email content
$mail->setFrom('from@example.com', 'Your Name');
$mail->addAddress('recipient@example.com', 'Recipient Name');
$mail->Subject = 'Test Email';
$mail->Body = 'This is a test email sent using PHPMailer';

// Send the email
if (!$mail->send()) {
    echo 'Message could not be sent.';
    echo 'Mailer Error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
} else {
    echo 'Message has been sent';
}

Keywords

PHPMailer mail() function advantages email sending SMTP.

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