How to Send mail with Multiple Attachment in PHP

In this article, we will explain to you how to send mail with multiple attachment in PHP. here we are using the simple PHP mail function.

sometimes we use to send email functionality such as send invoices to send newsletter and contact form etc.

In this example, we will create the form using the bootstrap. we have to pass the form attribute “multipart/form-data“ for the file upload. so we will take some fields to create the form and pass the form attribute “multipart/form-data“.

<?php
$recipient_email    = "admin@gmail.com"; //recepient
$from_email         = "info@xpertphp.com"; //from email using site domain.
if(isset($_POST['btnSend'])){
    
    //php validation, exit outputting json string
    if(empty($_POST["name"])){
        print 'Name is too short or empty!';
        exit;
    }
    if(!filter_var($_POST["email"], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)){ //email validation
        print 'Please enter a valid email!';
        exit;
    }
    if(empty($_POST["subject"])){ //check emtpy subject
        print 'Subject is required';
        exit;
    }
    if(empty($_POST["message"])){ //check emtpy message
        print 'Too short message! Please enter something.';
        exit;
    }
    $sender_name    = filter_var($_POST["name"], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING); //capture sender name
    $sender_email   = filter_var($_POST["email"], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING); //capture sender email
    $subject        = filter_var($_POST["subject"], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
    $message        = filter_var($_POST["message"], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING); //capture message
    $attachments = $_FILES['my_files'];
    
    $file_count = count($attachments['name']); //count total files attached
    $boundary = md5("xpertphp.com"); 
    
    //construct a message body to be sent to recipient
    $message_body =  "Message from $sender_name\n";
    $message_body .=  "------------------------------\n";
    $message_body .=  "$message\n";
    $message_body .=  "------------------------------\n";
    $message_body .=  "$sender_name\n";
    $message_body .=  "$sender_email\n";
    
    if($file_count > 0){ //if attachment exists
        //header
        $headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n"; 
        $headers .= "From:".$from_email."\r\n"; 
        $headers .= "Reply-To: ".$sender_email."" . "\r\n";
        $headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary = $boundary\r\n\r\n"; 
        
        //message text
        $body = "--$boundary\r\n";
        $body .= "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1\r\n";
        $body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n\r\n"; 
        $body .= chunk_split(base64_encode($message_body)); 
        //attachments
        for ($x = 0; $x < $file_count; $x++){       
            if(!empty($attachments['name'][$x])){
                
                if($attachments['error'][$x]>0) //exit script and output error if we encounter any
                {
                    $mymsg = array( 
                    1=>"The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive in php.ini", 
                    2=>"The uploaded file exceeds the MAX_FILE_SIZE directive that was specified in the HTML form", 
                    3=>"The uploaded file was only partially uploaded", 
                    4=>"No file was uploaded", 
                    6=>"Missing a temporary folder" ); 
                    print  $mymsg[$attachments['error'][$x]]; 
                    exit;
                }
                
                //get file info
                $file_name = $attachments['name'][$x];
                $file_size = $attachments['size'][$x];
                $file_type = $attachments['type'][$x];
                
                //read file 
                $handle = fopen($attachments['tmp_name'][$x], "r");
                $content = fread($handle, $file_size);
                fclose($handle);
                $encoded_content = chunk_split(base64_encode($content)); //split into smaller chunks (RFC 2045)
                
                $body .= "--$boundary\r\n";
                $body .="Content-Type: $file_type; name=".$file_name."\r\n";
                $body .="Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".$file_name."\r\n";
                $body .="Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";
                $body .="X-Attachment-Id: ".rand(1000,99999)."\r\n\r\n"; 
                $body .= $encoded_content; 
            }
        }
    }else{ //send plain email otherwise
       $headers = "From:".$from_email."\r\n".
        "Reply-To: ".$sender_email. "\n" .
        "X-Mailer: PHP/" . phpversion();
        $body = $message_body;
    }
        
    $sentMail = mail($recipient_email, $subject, $body, $headers);
    if($sentMail) //output success or failure messages
    {       
        print 'Thank you for your email';
        exit;
    }else{
        print 'Could not send mail! Please check your PHP mail configuration.';  
        exit;
    }
}
?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <title>How to Send mail with Multiple Attachment in PHP - XpertPhp</title>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.4.1/css/bootstrap.min.css">
  <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.5.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
  <script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.4.1/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
  <form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
  	<div class="form-group">
      <label for="name">Name:</label>
      <input type="text" class="form-control" id="name" placeholder="Enter Name" name="name">
    </div>
    <div class="form-group">
      <label for="email">Email:</label>
      <input type="email" class="form-control" id="email" placeholder="Enter email" name="email">
    </div>
    <div class="form-group">
      <label for="subject">Subject:</label>
      <input type="text" class="form-control" id="subject" placeholder="Enter Subject" name="subject">
    </div>
    <div class="form-group">
      <label for="message">Message :</label>
      <textarea class="form-control" id="message" name="message"></textarea>
    </div>
    <div class="form-group">
      <label for="attachment">Attachment :</label>
      <input type="file" class="form-control" id="attachment" name="my_files[]" multiple/>
    </div>
    <button type="submit" name="btnSend" class="btn btn-default">Send</button>
  </form>
</div>
</body>
</html>

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<?php

$recipient_email = "admin@gmail.com"; //recepient

$from_email = "info@xpertphp.com"; //from email using site domain.

if(isset($_POST['btnSend'])){

//php validation, exit outputting json string

if(empty($_POST["name"])){

print 'Name is too short or empty!';

exit;

}

if(!filter_var($_POST["email"], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)){ //email validation

print 'Please enter a valid email!';

exit;

}

if(empty($_POST["subject"])){ //check emtpy subject

print 'Subject is required';

exit;

}

if(empty($_POST["message"])){ //check emtpy message

print 'Too short message! Please enter something.';

exit;

}

$sender_name = filter_var($_POST["name"], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING); //capture sender name

$sender_email = filter_var($_POST["email"], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING); //capture sender email

$subject = filter_var($_POST["subject"], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

$message = filter_var($_POST["message"], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING); //capture message

$attachments = $_FILES['my_files'];

$file_count = count($attachments['name']); //count total files attached

$boundary = md5("xpertphp.com");

//construct a message body to be sent to recipient

$message_body = "Message from $sender_name\n";

$message_body .= "------------------------------\n";

$message_body .= "$message\n";

$message_body .= "------------------------------\n";

$message_body .= "$sender_name\n";

$message_body .= "$sender_email\n";

if($file_count > 0){ //if attachment exists

//header

$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";

$headers .= "From:".$from_email."\r\n";

$headers .= "Reply-To: ".$sender_email."" . "\r\n";

$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary = $boundary\r\n\r\n";

//message text

$body = "--$boundary\r\n";

$body .= "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1\r\n";

$body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n\r\n";

$body .= chunk_split(base64_encode($message_body));

//attachments

for ($x = 0; $x < $file_count; $x++){

if(!empty($attachments['name'][$x])){

if($attachments['error'][$x]>0) //exit script and output error if we encounter any

{

$mymsg = array(

1=>"The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive in php.ini",

2=>"The uploaded file exceeds the MAX_FILE_SIZE directive that was specified in the HTML form",

3=>"The uploaded file was only partially uploaded",

4=>"No file was uploaded",

6=>"Missing a temporary folder" );

print $mymsg[$attachments['error'][$x]];

exit;

}

//get file info

$file_name = $attachments['name'][$x];

$file_size = $attachments['size'][$x];

$file_type = $attachments['type'][$x];

//read file

$handle = fopen($attachments['tmp_name'][$x], "r");

$content = fread($handle, $file_size);

fclose($handle);

$encoded_content = chunk_split(base64_encode($content)); //split into smaller chunks (RFC 2045)

$body .= "--$boundary\r\n";

$body .="Content-Type: $file_type; name=".$file_name."\r\n";

$body .="Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".$file_name."\r\n";

$body .="Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";

$body .="X-Attachment-Id: ".rand(1000,99999)."\r\n\r\n";

$body .= $encoded_content;

}

}else{ //send plain email otherwise

$headers = "From:".$from_email."\r\n".

"Reply-To: ".$sender_email. "\n" .

"X-Mailer: PHP/" . phpversion();

$body = $message_body;

}

$sentMail = mail($recipient_email, $subject, $body, $headers);

if($sentMail) //output success or failure messages

{

print 'Thank you for your email';

exit;

}else{

print 'Could not send mail! Please check your PHP mail configuration.';

exit;

}

<!DOCTYPE html>

<head>

<title>How to Send mail with Multiple Attachment in PHP - XpertPhp</title>

</head>

<body>

</div>

<label for="email">Email:</label>

</div>

<label for="subject">Subject:</label>

</div>

<label for="message">Message :</label>

</div>

<label for="attachment">Attachment :</label>

</div>

</form>

</div>

</body>

</html>