What is the Email library in CodeIgniter 4?
Why Interviewers Ask This
This question tests conceptual clarity. Interviewers want to hear a precise, confident definition before moving to more complex CodeIgniter topics. It also reveals how well you can explain technical ideas to non-experts.
Answer
CodeIgniter 4's Email class sends emails via SMTP, PHP's mail(), or Sendmail. Get the service: $email = \Config\Services::email(). Configure in app/Config/Email.php or at runtime. Usage: $email->setFrom("from@example.com", "My App")->setTo("to@example.com")->setSubject("Hello")->setMessage("<p>Body</p>")->setMailType("html")->send(). Attachments: $email->attach("/path/to/file.pdf"). CC and BCC: $email->setCC("cc@example.com"). For SMTP, configure $protocol = "smtp", $SMTPHost, $SMTPPort, $SMTPUser, $SMTPPass, and $SMTPCrypto = "tls". Debug email issues: $email->printDebugger(["headers", "subject", "body"]). Consider using a third-party service (Mailgun, SendGrid) with Guzzle for production reliability.
Pro Tip
Demonstrate both theoretical understanding and practical experience. Say what it is, then give an example of how you actually used it in a CodeIgniter codebase.
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