Joomla Email Test CLI Tool

A command-line utility for testing email functionality in Joomla sites. This tool sends a test email using your Joomla's configured email settings, allowing administrators to verify that their email configuration is working correctly.

Features

• ✅ Multi-version support: Compatible with Joomla 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x
• ✅ Native integration: Uses Joomla's built-in email configuration
• ✅ Command-line interface: Perfect for automation and server management
• ✅ Customizable content: Set custom email subject and body
• ✅ Zero configuration: Uses your existing Joomla email settings
• ✅ Configuration display: Shows current email transport settings
• ✅ SMTP connectivity test: Verifies SMTP server reachability and handshake before sending
• ✅ Send verification: Detects Joomla 3's JException truthy-object trap and PHPMailer silent failures
• ✅ Multiple mail methods: Supports SMTP, sendmail, PHPMailer, and all Joomla mail options

Requirements

• PHP 7.4 or newer
• Joomla 3.0 or newer (tested with Joomla 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x)
• CLI environment (command line access)
• Must be run from Joomla root directory

Installation

1. Download the script email-test.php
2. Upload it to the root directory of your Joomla installation

Usage

php email-test.php email-recipient [email-subject] [email-body]

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
email-recipient	Required	Email address to send the test email to	-
email-subject	Optional	Custom email subject	"Test email from Joomla"
email-body	Optional	Custom email body (plain text)	"This is a test email from Joomla."

Examples

Basic usage:

php email-test.php user@example.org

With custom subject:

php email-test.php user@example.org "My Test Subject"

With custom subject and body:

php email-test.php user@example.org "Server Test" "Testing email functionality from production server."

Sample Output

user@server:/var/www/joomla# php email-test.php test@example.com
Detected PHP 8.2.12
Detected Joomla 5.0.3
Email recipient: test@example.com
Email subject: Test email from Joomla
Email body: This is a test email from Joomla.

Email configuration:
Mail online: Yes
Sender name: Site Admin
Sender email: admin@example.com
Mailer: Smtp
SMTP host: mail.example.com
SMTP port: 587
SMTP security: tls
SMTP authentication: Yes
SMTP username: admin@example.com

--- SMTP Connectivity Test ---
Testing connection to mail.example.com:587...
  Connection: OK (120 ms)
  Handshake: OK (EHLO/HELO accepted)
  Server: mail.example.com ESMTP Postfix
--- End SMTP Test ---

--- Sending Email ---
Email sent successfully.
SMTP server accepted the message for delivery.
Check the recipient mailbox for delivery.

Testing Email Deliverability

For comprehensive email testing, we recommend using:

• Mail Tester - Tests spam score and deliverability
• MailHog - Local email testing for development

Example with Mail Tester:

php email-test.php test-abc123@srv1.mail-tester.com "Production Test" "Testing from live server"