What are the potential reasons for a "mail()" function being blocked on a web server and what are the alternatives for sending emails in PHP?

The "mail()" function may be blocked on a web server due to security concerns or limitations set by the hosting provider. To send emails in PHP when the "mail()" function is blocked, an alternative approach is to use a third-party email service provider such as SendGrid, Mailgun, or SMTP. 

// Example using SMTP to send email
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';

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

Keywords

mail function web server blocked alternatives sending emails

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