Remove all the \n characters, their is no need as when you have something like:-


Hello
welcome
goodbye


PHP adds a newline character for each line break like above so using \n aswell is why you get that problem.


James

Hi James,

I know what you mean with the \n characters, but there are none in $Message.
The problem occurs only inside the two lines: (whether I leave out the "\n" in the rest or not)

 ---------------------
 Just testing...



Testing.

Testing...



Testing

More testing
 ---------------------

ive never seen this before, try the following code as a test

fill in the blanks :)

<?php

$to = '';
$from = '';
$subject = 'just a test!';
$message = "

Hello

Goodbye

";

mail($to, $subject, $message, $from);

?>


Please post the email body you get back into here, tis should help diagnose a little easier if its related to the form or not.


BTW, what operating system?

also, are you using sendmail or SMTP or what?

James

>> Please post the email body you get back into here

I received the e-mail in both Outlook Express and Thunderbird...
The results were slightly different:
Thunderbird removed the first line and added 2 or three at the end of message.
Outlook Express added 2 at the beginning and 1 or 2 at the end.

=OUTLOOK EXPRESS=========
>
>
>
> Hello
>
> Goodbye
>
>
>
=======================

=THUNDERBIRD=============
> Hello
> 
> Goodbye
> 
> 
> 
> 
=======================

>> what operating system?
Debian Sarge /GNU Linux, PHP 5.x, Apache 1.3

>> also, are you using sendmail or SMTP or what?
Pretty sure it's sendmail

>> $message = str_replace(array("\r\n","\r"), array("\n","\n"), $message);
I will test this and get back... Thanks!

Hi James,

Your str_replace() method seems to work...
The issue only seems to occur with text received from a textarea, so this could be applied to that...

Have you any idea if there is also a server-side configuration that can solve this issue?
I can apply your method no problem when I'm developing on PHP but there are a lot of e-mails that are sent automatically by software on my server - for example the control panel and the billing system. It would be a lot easier to configure server-side... Maybe php.ini?

Thanks,
Julian

not that im aware of, on php.net it states that the message body should always contain a \n rather than \r\n or \r, perhaps you could drop a note to those applications, strange thing is ive never ever heard of this before on the php mailing list or anywhere else so must be specific to your setup or something!


James

Yes, that's what I thought... I've done a lot of digging and searching on the net but didn't find anything...
Some people may not notice the extra line breaks because most e-mail clients compensate for extra line breaks by removing them from the message. My guess is that that's why the messages looked normal in Outlook Express.

If you have access to a server with PHP do you think maybe you could try uploading a test page that will submit the text from a textarea to my email address?
You don't have to do this... Only if you have time and wish to do so... If you can't just let me know and I will close the question...

I have written the php and uploaded in txt format to my server just in case. It includes my e-mail address.
http://www.netlink.ie/testing/phpmail.php.txt

Thanks,
- Julian

just sent it !

Thanks, got it...

You're right, the e-mail you sent me was formatted without extra line breaks:

==============
> first line
> 
> third line
> 
> fifth line
> 
> 
>
==============

wherea mine looks like:

==============
> first line
> 
> 
> 
> third line
> 
> 
> 
> fifth line
> 
> 
>
==============

So it must be a server issue...
Very strange... Or would it be a PHP version issue?

Hi James,

Haven't really resolved this issue yet, but will keep trying.
If all fails I will just use the str_replace method you suggested...

I appreciate all your help!! Thanks!!

- Julian.

its certainly a strange one, let us know how you get on!



James

Hi James,

I don't know if you're still subscribed to this question...but I've made a very interesting discovery :-) ...

I've examined the e-mails as they come into Thunderbird and then compared them to the way they *should* be formatted...

This is what I found:

Every line in the e-mail that ends with a colon ":" is proceeded by 1 or 2 extra line break...
(It only happens when the ":" is at the end of a line, not if it's proceeded by text like
example: example)

Example: if this is the text for a plain-text e-mail -
============================================
Dear %%FULLNAME%%,

Your new hosting account has been created!
You should receive login details for your new account shortly.

If you are using an existing domain with your new account
you may need to change the nameserver information.
Our nameservers are:
NS1.EXAMPLE.COM
NS2.EXAMPLE.COM

If you wish to use your own nameservers you must setup
A-records and MX-records (for mail) to this IP address:
%%IPADDRESS%%

Your billing information can be accessed using following details:
%%USERLOGINURL%%
Username: %%EMAIL%%
Password: %%CLIENT_REAL_PASS%%
________________________________________________
Please contact us if you have any questions about your account.
============================================


Then this would be the e-mail when it arrives in the inbox:
============================================
Dear Name,

Your new hosting account has been created!
You should receive login details for your new account shortly.

If you are using an existing domain with your new account
you may need to change the nameserver information.
Our nameservers are:


NS1.EXAMPLE.COM
NS2.EXAMPLE.COM

If you
wish to use your own nameservers you must setup
A-records and MX-records (for mail) to this IP address:


195.137.213.66

Your billing information can be accessed using following details:


https://url
Username: username
Password: passwd
________________________________________________

Please contact us if you have any questions about your account.
============================================

thats very strange, are your using thunderbird on windows and using the latest version direct from mozilla.com ?

Yes, Windows XP and Thunderbird version 1.5 (20051201)...
But I don't think it's an issue with Thunderbird because I had a copy of the same message sent to Outlook Express and I looked at the message's source code there and it's the exact same... My guess is that Outlook Express just removes the extra line breaks automatically when displayed...

Also, this only happens with plain-text, HTML mail seems fine...