What are the advantages of using a secure and tested mailer class over a custom email sending solution in PHP?

Using a secure and tested mailer class in PHP provides several advantages over a custom email sending solution. A secure mailer class will have built-in security measures to prevent common email vulnerabilities, such as injection attacks. Additionally, a tested mailer class will have been thoroughly vetted for bugs and compatibility issues, reducing the likelihood of errors in your email sending functionality. Finally, a mailer class typically comes with built-in features for handling attachments, HTML emails, and other advanced email functionalities, saving you time and effort in implementing these features yourself.

// Example of using PHPMailer library for secure email sending
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

$mail = new PHPMailer(true);

try {
    //Server settings
    $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;

    //Recipients
    $mail->setFrom('from@example.com', 'Your Name');
    $mail->addAddress('recipient@example.com', 'Recipient Name');

    //Content
    $mail->isHTML(true);
    $mail->Subject = 'Subject';
    $mail->Body = 'This is the HTML message body';

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