Why is it recommended to use established mailer classes like PHPMailer instead of implementing email functionality using the mail() function in PHP?

Using established mailer classes like PHPMailer is recommended over using the mail() function in PHP because mailer classes provide more features, better error handling, and improved security. PHPMailer, for example, offers support for SMTP authentication, HTML emails, attachments, and more, making it a more robust and reliable option for sending emails. 

// Example of sending an email 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 = 'yourpassword';
    $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 sent successfully';
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo 'Message could not be sent. Mailer Error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
}

Keywords

PHP PHPMailer mail() email functionality established mailer classes

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