GitHub repository<\/a> or install it via Composer:<\/p>\ncomposer require phpmailer\/phpmailer<\/pre>\nNote:<\/b> All the required PHPMailer files are already included in our ready-to-download source code ZIP package. You don’t need to download or install it separately.<\/u><\/p>\nStep 1: Create Database and Table<\/h2>\n
Create a MySQL database (e.g., user_auth_db<\/code>) and a users<\/code> table to store user information, including email, password, and created_at timestamp. <\/p>\nCREATE<\/span> TABLE<\/span> users<\/span> (\r\n id<\/span> INT<\/span> AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY<\/span>,\r\n email VARCHAR<\/span>(255<\/span>) NOT<\/span> NULL<\/span> UNIQUE<\/span>,\r\n password<\/span> VARCHAR<\/span>(255<\/span>) NOT<\/span> NULL<\/span>,\r\n created_at TIMESTAMP<\/span> DEFAULT<\/span> CURRENT_TIMESTAMP<\/span>\r\n);<\/pre>\nStep 2: Configure Database and SMTP Settings<\/h2>\n
Create a config.php<\/code> file to store database connection and SMTP email settings.<\/p>\n\n- Update the database configuration variables (
$dbHost<\/code>, $dbUsername<\/code>, $dbPassword<\/code>, $dbName<\/code>) with your database credentials.<\/li>\n- Set the SMTP email configuration variables (
$smtpHost<\/code>, $smtpUsername<\/code>, $smtpPassword<\/code>, $smtpPort<\/code>, $smtpFromEmail<\/code>, $smtpFromName<\/code>) with your SMTP server details.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<?php
<\/span>\/\/ Database configuration
<\/span>$dbHost <\/span>= <\/span>\"localhost\"<\/span>;
<\/span>$dbUsername <\/span>= <\/span>\"root\"<\/span>;
<\/span>$dbPassword <\/span>= <\/span>\"root_pass\"<\/span>;
<\/span>$dbName <\/span>= <\/span>\"user_auth_db\"<\/span>;
<\/span>\/\/ Create database connection
<\/span>$conn <\/span>= new <\/span>mysqli<\/span>(<\/span>$dbHost<\/span>, <\/span>$dbUsername<\/span>, <\/span>$dbPassword<\/span>, <\/span>$dbName<\/span>);
<\/span>\/\/ Check connection
<\/span>if (<\/span>$conn<\/span>-><\/span>connect_error<\/span>) {
die(<\/span>\"Connection failed: \" <\/span>. <\/span>$conn<\/span>-><\/span>connect_error<\/span>);
}
<\/span>\/\/ Email configuration
<\/span>$smtpHost <\/span>= <\/span>'your.smtp.server'<\/span>;
<\/span>$smtpUsername <\/span>= <\/span>'your@email.com'<\/span>;
<\/span>$smtpPassword <\/span>= <\/span>'your-smtp-password'<\/span>;
<\/span>$smtpPort <\/span>= <\/span>587<\/span>;
<\/span>$smtpFromEmail <\/span>= <\/span>'noreply@yourdomain.com'<\/span>;
<\/span>$smtpFromName <\/span>= <\/span>'Your App'<\/span>;
<\/span>\/\/ Start session
<\/span>if(<\/span>session_status<\/span>() == <\/span>PHP_SESSION_NONE<\/span>){
<\/span>session_start<\/span>();
}
<\/span>?><\/span><\/pre>\nStep 3: Create Forgot Password Form<\/h2>\n
Create a forgot-password.php<\/code> file with a form to collect the user’s email address.<\/p>\nThe PHP code at the top of the file handles the following:<\/p>\n
\n- Includes the configuration file.<\/li>\n
- Imports PHPMailer classes.<\/li>\n
- Handles form submission to check if the email exists in the database, generates an OTP, stores it in the session, and sends the OTP email.<\/li>\n
- Redirects to the OTP verification page (
verify-otp.php<\/code>) upon successful email sending.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<?php
<\/span>\/\/ Include configuration file
<\/span>require_once <\/span>'config.php'<\/span>;
<\/span>\/\/ Import PHPMailer classes into the global namespace
<\/span>use <\/span>PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\PHPMailer<\/span>;
use <\/span>PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\Exception<\/span>;
require <\/span>'PHPMailer\/Exception.php'<\/span>;
require <\/span>'PHPMailer\/PHPMailer.php'<\/span>;
require <\/span>'PHPMailer\/SMTP.php'<\/span>;
<\/span>\/\/ Handle form submission
<\/span>if (<\/span>$_SERVER<\/span>[<\/span>\"REQUEST_METHOD\"<\/span>] == <\/span>\"POST\"<\/span>) {
<\/span>$email <\/span>= <\/span>$_POST<\/span>[<\/span>'email'<\/span>];
<\/span>\/\/ Check if email exists in database
<\/span>$stmt <\/span>= <\/span>$conn<\/span>-><\/span>prepare<\/span>(<\/span>\"SELECT id FROM users WHERE email = ?\"<\/span>);
<\/span>$stmt<\/span>-><\/span>bind_param<\/span>(<\/span>\"s\"<\/span>, <\/span>$email<\/span>);
<\/span>$stmt<\/span>-><\/span>execute<\/span>();
<\/span>$result <\/span>= <\/span>$stmt<\/span>-><\/span>get_result<\/span>();
if (<\/span>$result<\/span>-><\/span>num_rows <\/span>> <\/span>0<\/span>) {
<\/span>\/\/ Generate OTP
<\/span>$otp <\/span>= <\/span>rand<\/span>(<\/span>100000<\/span>, <\/span>999999<\/span>);
<\/span>$_SESSION<\/span>[<\/span>'reset_otp'<\/span>] = <\/span>$otp<\/span>;
<\/span>$_SESSION<\/span>[<\/span>'reset_email'<\/span>] = <\/span>$email<\/span>;
<\/span>$_SESSION<\/span>[<\/span>'otp_time'<\/span>] = <\/span>time<\/span>();
<\/span>\/\/ Create a new PHPMailer instance
<\/span>$mail <\/span>= new <\/span>PHPMailer<\/span>(<\/span>true<\/span>);
try {
<\/span>\/\/ Server settings
<\/span>$mail<\/span>-><\/span>isSMTP<\/span>();
<\/span>$mail<\/span>-><\/span>Host <\/span>= <\/span>$smtpHost<\/span>;
<\/span>$mail<\/span>-><\/span>SMTPAuth <\/span>= <\/span>true<\/span>;
<\/span>$mail<\/span>-><\/span>Username <\/span>