Emailing via php, and accessing php.ini

Question

My code is perfectly fine (but I'll include it at the end anyway) but when I use the in-built php mail() function, and it returns true, I receive no email.

I have read other answers to similar questions but I am still having difficulties with this, seeing as the output log is null and I don't have access (or rather don't know how to access) the php.ini file. According to the phpinfo() page, it is located at /etc/php55.ini.d/php.ini but I have no idea where this actually is. I have contacted my provider and they aren't blocking php from sending emails.

So it's a very novice question: how do I access the php.ini file so I can see if it is configured correctly?

PHP code:

<?php
    session_start();
    $to = "a valid email";
    $subject = "Account Verification";
    $message = "Content removed";
    $headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0" . "\r\n";
    $headers .= "Content-type:text/html;charset=UTF-8" . "\r\n";
    $headers .= 'From: <noreply@thefunnyzone.co.uk>' . "\r\n";
    $retval = mail ($to,$subject,$message,$header);
    if( $retval == true ){echo "Message sent successfully...";}
    else{echo "Message could not be sent...";}
?>

Answer 1

I would recommend using PHPMailer ( https://github.com/Synchro/PHPMailer ) . It is much easier to use and is the standard for sending emails with PHP. Visit the github page and see class features to learn more. Below is an example.

require_once("./inc/phpmailer/class.phpmailer.php");
$mail = new PHPMailer();

if (!isset($error_message)) {
    $email_body = "";
    $email_body = $email_body . "Name: " . $name . "<br>";
    $email_body = $email_body . "Email: " . $email . "<br>";
    $email_body = $email_body . "Message: " . $message;

    $mail->SetFrom($email, $name);
    $mail->AddAddress($address, "Joe User");
    $mail->Subject    = $subject . $name;
    $mail->MsgHTML($email_body); 

    // if the email is sent successfully, redirect to a thank you page;
    // otherwise, set a new error message
    if($mail->Send()) {
      //set success message
    } else {
      //set error meesage        }

}