My PHP code is not picking up the variables when using the mail function

Question

My PHP code is not picking up the variables in $message, when $message is sent to an email address using the mail function the variables are missing. Not sure what I am doing wrong.

    <?php

    $to = '[email protected]';
    $subject = 'Booking';

    $name = $_post['name'];
    $email = $_post['email'];
    $pickup = $_post['pickup'];
    $destination = $_post['destination'];

    $message = <<<Email
    Hi,
    Please pick up $name from $pickup and drop to $destination
    Email;

    $header = $email;


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

    echo "Message Sent";

    ?>

The html code is provided below, not sure why $_POST is not pulling through.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Sign Up</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/style.css">
</head>
<body>

    <form action="form.php" method="POST">
        <fieldset>
            <legend>Book your Journey</legend>
            <label for ="name">Name:</label>
            <input type="text" id="name" name="name">
            <label for="email">Email:</label>
            <input type="email" id="email" name="email">
            <label for="pickup"> Pick Up Location</label>
            <input type="text" id="pickup" name="pickup">
            <label>Time:</label>
            <select>
                <option>--HR--</option>
                <option value="1">01</option>
                <option value="2">02</option>
                <option value="3">03</option>
                <option value="4">04</option>
                <option value="5">05</option>
                <option value="6">06</option>
                <option value="7">07</option>
                <option value="8">08</option>
                <option value="9">09</option>
                <option value="10">10</option>
                <option value="11">11</option>
                <option value="12">12</option>
            </select>
            <label>:</label>
            <select>
                <option>--MIN--</option>
                <option value="00">00</option>
                <option value="15">15</option>
                <option value="30">30</option>
                <option value="45">45</option>
            </select>
            <select>
                <option value="am">am</option>
                <option value="pm">pm</option>
            </select>
            </fieldset>
            <fieldset>
            <label for="destination"> Destination Postal Code</label>
            <input type="text" id="destination" name="destination">
        </fieldset>
        <button>Submit</button>
    </form>

</body>
</html>

Does your email say Hi, Please pick up $name from $pickup and drop to $destination or Hi, Please pick up from and drop to? — Lee Kowalkowski
– Lee Kowalkowski, Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 19:59
I might be making something up right now, but I'm pretty sure it's $_POST and not $_post — Jhecht
– Jhecht, Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 20:00
why the line $header = $email; ? The header should have something like From or Reply-To have before a mail address — Ivo P
– Ivo P, Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 0:49

Alessio Cantarella · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-04 21:26:48Z

4

The problem isn't necessarily that $message isn't picking up the variables. Rather, the problem is that $name, $email, etc. are all blank values.

PHP's variables are case sensitive, and $_POST should be all upper case.

You can do a test by outputting your $email, $name, etc. and you'll see that they're blank.

To fix it, all you need to do is capitalize $_POST:

$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$pickup = $_POST['pickup'];
$destination = $_POST['destination'];

edited Jul 4, 2017 at 21:26

Alessio Cantarella

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answered Jul 4, 2017 at 20:01

RToyo

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3 Comments

RToyo Over a year ago

@YasserHussain Perhaps the form element name has a typo in it, or something along those lines. Can you output $_POST (eg print '<pre>'.print_r($_POST, true).'</pre>';), to make sure that the key (pickup) is being passed to your script from your form? If you don't see an obvious problem from the output of your $_POST, can you post that output here for us to take a look at? Also, I would suggest editing out your email address when posting online.

Yasser Hussain Over a year ago

it couldn't find location using $_POST['location'], i have added the html code to the original question, to me it looks fine :|

RToyo Over a year ago

@YasserHussain Thanks for sharing your html. I just tested it, and I was able to get a result in $_POST['pickup'] without a problem. Do you mind posting your print_r($_POST) result here?

Yasser Hussain · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-05 06:07:01Z

1

Case sensitive ...

I also recommend using:filter_input_array();

You can use it as follows:

<?php
$input = filter_input_array(INPUT_POST);

$to      = '[email protected]';
$subject = 'Booking';

$name        = $input['name'];
$email       = $input['email'];
$pickup      = $input['pickup'];
$destination = $input['destination'];

You can also use it with the GET method as follows:

filter_input_array (INPUT_GET);

The use of ?> is not necessary.

edited Jul 5, 2017 at 6:07

Yasser Hussain

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answered Jul 4, 2017 at 20:11

php_boy

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Comments

Andrew · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-04 20:05:49Z

0

post always in upper case.$_POST['variable name'] then try it.

try this after $_POST implementation not working:

$message = <<<EOD
    Hi,
    Please pick up {$name}from {pickup} and drop to {$destination}
    EOD;

answered Jul 4, 2017 at 20:05

Andrew

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