Mail() is eating my bcc: header

Dear all

I have a script (below) that for a long time has been sending out to an
opt-in distribution list, about 100 members. Today it has stopped working
and I am not quite sure what I have changed. This is the smallest version
that still demonstrates the problem (addresses obviously changed from the
real ones):

$subject = 'Small test';

$sender = 'mailings@example.com';

$contents = "This is a short test message";


$recips = "1@example.com";
$recips .= ",\r\n 2@example.com";
$recips .= ",\r\n 3@example.com";
$recips .= ",\r\n 4@example.com";

$header='From: ' . $sender . "\r\nX-mailer: php mail()" .
"\r\nbcc: " . $recips;

echo("<h4>Header string:</h4><pre>$header</pre>");

$success = mail($sender, $subject, $contents, $header);


The symptom is that the entire "bcc: 1@example.com" line disappears,
leaving the other three addresses tacked onto the X-mailer header. Prior
to putting in that dummy line, they were attached to the To: header,
which is not much use.

If I change the Bcc: to cc: (i.e. remove just one character) then it
formats and sends perfectly as expected -- but of course, all the
addresses are visible.

I don't think it is the ISP (Linux, shared web hosting) because it
happens on my own Windows test server. Looking at my server's firewall
log, the mangling has already happened on the way out to the smtp server.

I have tried all the ways I can think of to create the $header string,
but all with the same outcome. There is no function or variable called
Bcc that could be causing substituting.

I can't think of anything I've done. Help please?

Tim F

Have you also tried to make a simple test header string without any string
concanations and variables?
Because often we can be so sure, that our variable is something that it is
not.

Options imho:

a) your string is not want you think it is
b) the way you believe that string should be build for mail()-function is
wrong
c) more mysterious server reason

"P Pulkkinen" <perttu.POISTATAMA.pulkkinen@POISTATAMA.elisanet.f iwrote
in news:jU0rh.5289$Fd3.2713@reader1.news.saunalahti.f i:
Yes: I can send it with all the bcc addresses on a single line and it goes
out correctly to all four addresses.
That is the reason for the echo("<pre>$header</pre>"); line.
Possible, but I can't see what else it could be.
As far as I can tell, it's RFC conformant. There is no way I can put all
100 addresses on one line.
My server reports that this one file is encoded as UTF-8 rather than ISO-
8859-1 (which all the other pages on the same site are) but I don't know if
I am now chasing ghosts.

Thanks anyway

Tim F