Why is my php contact form sending blank emails?

Question

I'm a PHP newbie and wondering if there is someone out there with skills who can help me with this? It's sending blank emails to my inbox once the information is submitted by a user (me in this case). Also, no subject is showing. I believe my question is different because of it's specific code with the added radio feature, which helps me understand it better and learn from my mistakes. Thanks in advance.

My PHP Code:

<?php

if(!isset($_POST['submit'])) {
    //This page should not be accessed directly. Need to submit the form.
    echo "error; you need to submit the form!";
}

$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$tel = $_POST['tel'];
$message = $_POST['message'];
$email_from = '[email protected]'; //<== update the email address
$email_subject = "New Form submission";
$email_body =   "You have received a new message from the user $name.\n" 
                . "Here is the message:\n $message".

$to = "[email protected]"; //<== update the email address
$headers = "From: $email_from \r\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: $visitor_email \r\n";

//Send the email!
mail($to, $subject, $body, $from, $tel);

//done. redirect to thank-you page.
header('Location: thank-you.html');


// Function to validate against any email injection attempts
function IsInjected($str) {

    $injections = array('
        (\n+)',
        '(\r+)',
        '(\t+)',
        '(%0A+)',
        '(%0D+)',
        '(%08+)',
        '(%09+)'
    );

    $inject = join('|', $injections);
    $inject = "/$inject/i";
    if(preg_match($inject,$str)) {
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

My HTML:

<label>Name</label>
<input name="name" placeholder="Type Here">

<label>Email</label>
<input name="email" type="email" placeholder="Type Here">

<label>Phone Number</label>
<input name="tel" type="phone" placeholder="Type Here">

<label>Message/Comments/Questions</label>
<textarea name="message" placeholder="Type Here"></textarea>



<label>Are you retired?</label> <br>

<div id="button">
<input type="radio" name="retired" value="yes"> Yes.
<input type="radio" name="retired" value="no"> No. 
<input type="radio" name="retired" value="na"> Does not apply.<br><br>
</div>


<label>Are you a veteran?</label> <br>
<div id="button">
<input type="radio" name="vet" value="yes"> Yes.
<input type="radio" name="vet" value="no"> No. 
<input type="radio" name="vet" value="na"> Does not apply.<br><br>

</div>


<label>Military Family Member?</label> <br>
<div id="button">
<input type="radio" name="family" value="yes"> Yes.
<input type="radio" name="family" value="no"> No. 
<input type="radio" name="family" value="na"> Does not apply.<br>
</div>

<label> Do You Have A Copy of Your DD214?</label> <br>
<div id="button">
<input type="radio" name="dd" value="yes"> Yes.
<input type="radio" name="dd" value="no"> No. 
<input type="radio" name="dd" value="na"> Does not apply.<br>
</div>

<input type="submit" name='submit' value="submit">


</form>       

Answer 1

Change your mail() call to this:

mail($to, $email_subject, $email_body, $headers);

You had incorrect variable references.

Additionally, you were passing a fifth argument to mail(). Although that's valid, I believe you may have been mistaken in your execution. The fifth argument is meant to pass additional flags to the sendmail process.

See the PHP Docs for more info.