How do I get PHP mail function to show the proper From address

Also, you might try something more like this...

$MailSent = mail(
    $the_user, 
    $the_subject, 
    $the_body, 
    "From: Guy Davis <guy@epicsky.com>\r\nReply-To: Guy Davis <guy@epicsky.com>\r\n\r\n"
   );
                                              

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I'm not sure who the hosting company is. I do have access to the server and can look at anything in apache.

Just checking around, here is one of my "from" lines - see if that helps.  

I think you can add other fields to the "from" part (it is technically called the additional_headers), separated by those \r\n line breakers.
http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php

Best, ~Ray

$mailfrom = "From: The National Presbyterian Church <KBrinkley@NatPresCh.org>\r\n";
                                              

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Thanks Ray but I don't see a difference from the format you are suggesting to the one I am using. They are essentially identical.

Guy

I think MIME type and content type are conflicting. Though not sure.
Use the below code. It works for me.

$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";/* Do not change the headers, unless you know about MIME */
$headers .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";/* Do not change the headers, unless you know about MIME */
$headers .= "From: Guy Davis <guy@epicsky.com>\r\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: Guy Davis <guy@epicsky.com>\r\n";
$MailSent = @mail($the_user, $the_subject, $the_body, $headers);

Hi Guy,
Hope all is well with you and Tim.

 $MailSent = mail($the_user, $the_subject, $the_body, "From: Guy Davis <guy@epicsky.com>\r\nReply-To: Guy Davis <guy@epicsky.com>\r\nContent-type: text/html", "-fstories@socalnews.com");

I'm not sure if you're working on a Linux box or not, but the -f parameter really only works for sendmail, so if you're on a Windows box, or if the sendmail program has been replaced with a different SMTP daemon like Postfix or Qmail, then the -f parameter may not work exactly the same way.

Ultimately, it's probably better to use the PHPMailer v5.1 class:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpmailer/files/phpmailer%20for%20php5_6/

Basic example here:
http://phpmailer.worxware.com/index.php?pg=examplebmail

It circumvents the mail() class and handles email much better. Plus, as your email becomes more complex (if you want to add attachments, HTML-formatted email, "friendly names" for your recipients, etc), it has support for everything.

Unfortunately when I instantiate the object for PHPMailer I get "Could not instantiate mail function."

gr8gonzo... who am I speaking with?

Guy

@guy
Ah, sorry. It's Jonathan Hilgeman.

Sorry - I linked to the wrong example. The example you should try following is this:
http://phpmailer.worxware.com/index.php?pg=examplebsmtp

PHPMailer can use different methods to send mail - it can be a wrapper around the mail() function, it can try to communicate directly with sendmail, or it can just speak SMTP directly with the mail server. That error message you got was probabyl because I linked to the example that used the mail() function. You should use the SMTP example instead.

Sorry - I have been away for a while and I am just getting back to this.

"Thanks Ray but I don't see a difference from the format you are suggesting to the one I am using. They are essentially identical." -- I don't think so, or I wouldn't have posted the example that we use here.

Here is what I see as different, with more than just a distinction - different functionality.

Mine:
From: The National Presbyterian Church <KBrinkley@NatPresCh.org>\r\n

Yours :
From: Guy Davis <guy@epicsky.com>\r\n
Reply-To: Guy Davis <guy@epicsky.com>\r\n
Content-type: text/htm

If you try simplifying it to just the "From" part of the headers you may find that you're OK on that part of the email message.  Then you can try adding more fields into the headers.

HTH, ~Ray

PS: Is PHPMailer better?  It may be, depending on how many messages you expect to send.  But you will need to get the headers right for that class, too.

Just to be clear, Ray's solution SHOULD work. You should be able to use the mail() function as expected by setting the headers that way. I was simply suggesting PHPMailer since I find it to be easier to use than the mail() function.

On a separate note, the -f parameter is for the envelope header part of the mailing process (when the mailer program sends its "MAIL FROM:" command to the mail server). Usually you don't need to set this, unless you're really trying to get rid of any trace of the original mailing program.

Final note - just for kicks, try replacing your \r\n with  \n. Usually this is not necessary, but there are a few mail servers that try to "fix" your carriage returns by replacing \n with \r\n. So if you sent \r\n to begin with, they'll accidentally convert \r\n to \r\r\n, which is invalid and would break your headers.

@gr8gonzo: regarding the \r\n thing - have you ever tried this with the PHP_EOL constant?  I haven't but that might be one thing worth trying.  Just a thought, ~Ray

Nope, haven't tried that, although I think the \r\n "fix" is something that the SMTP daemon does, not PHP, and since PHP_EOL is specifix to the PHP installation... -shrug- I'm not sure. I've only come across that \r\n thing once and that was several years ago, on someone else's server. I could be all wrong about this suggestion, but I figured I'd throw it out there, just in case.

Understood - it's easy enough to test, that's for sure!

Thanks Ray and Jonathan. The SMTP thing didn't work either so I'm taking the original solution and trying to simplify the mail function and send a single header to see what happens. Will keep you all posted.

The SMTP version of the PHPMailer didn't work? That's pretty unusual, but let's see what happens with the mail() function fix first.

Hey guys... appreciate the help but it was an apache issue.

Guy

Out of curiousity, what was the issue?