Receiving 500 Server Error with Contact Form Submission.php - php

Question

I've looked through a bunch of similar issues but haven't been able to find an answer that works. I recently switched my website over to a different host and am trying to set up the contact form. I am getting a 500 error when I click submit. I've made sure the SMTP is set up correctly. I just don't know what else to try at this point. Here's my code:
HTML:
<form role="form" method="POST" action="contact-form-submission.php">
<div class="row">
<div class="form-group col-lg-4">
<label for="input1">Name</label>
<input type="text" name="contact_name" class="form-control" id="input1">
</div>
<div class="form-group col-lg-4">
<label for="input2">Email Address</label>
<input type="email" name="contact_email" class="form-control" id="input2">
</div>
<div class="form-group col-lg-4">
<label for="input3">Phone Number</label>
<input type="phone" name="contact_phone" class="form-control" id="input3">
</div>
<div class="clearfix"></div>
<div class="form-group col-lg-12">
<label for="input4">Message</label>
<textarea name="contact_message" class="form-control" rows="6" id="input4"></textarea>
</div>
<div class="form-group col-lg-12">
<input type="hidden" name="save" value="contact">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</div>
</div>
</form>
PHP:
<?php
// check for form submission - if it doesn't exist then send back to contact form
if (!isset($_POST['save']) || $_POST['save'] != 'contact') {
header('Location: contact.php'); exit;
}
// get the posted data
$name = $_POST['contact_name'];
$email_address = $_POST['contact_email'];
$phone = $_POST['contact_phone'];
$message = $_POST['contact_message'];
// check that a name was entered
if (empty($name))
$error = 'You must enter your name.';
// check that an email address was entered
elseif (empty($email_address))
$error = 'You must enter your email address.';
// check for a valid email address
elseif (!preg_match('/^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*#[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,3})$/', $email_address))
$error = 'You must enter a valid email address.';
// check that a phone number was entered
if (empty($phone))
$error = 'You must enter your phone number.';
// check that a message was entered
elseif (empty($message))
$error = 'You must enter a message.';
// check if an error was found - if there was, send the user back to the form
if (isset($error)) {
header('Location: contact.php?e='.urlencode($error)); exit;
}
$headers = "From: $email_address\r\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: $email_address\r\n";
// write the email content
$email_content = "Name: $name\n";
$email_content .= "Email Address: $email_address\n";
$email_content .= "Phone Number: $phone\n";
$email_content .= "Message:\n\n$message";
// send the email
//ENTER YOUR INFORMATION BELOW FOR THE FORM TO WORK!
mail ('EMAIL', 'Young & Company - Contact Form Submission', $email_content, $headers);
// send the user back to the form
header('Location: index.html'/*.urlencode('Thank you for your message.'*/)); exit;
?>

Answer 1

You need to look into PHP error log. Try this to show errors.
ini_set('display_errors', '1');
Post your logs here if you can't discern which logs are relevant. Most likely SMTP settings are be blamed. mail function opens a socket connection. using SMTP settings.
SMTP settings can be managed through ini or by:
ini_set('SMTP', 'smtphost');
ini_set('smtp_port', 25);
The above settings are just, for example, you need to have your own SMTP settings. For example, if you have a Gmail account, you may use it to send mail. It depends on your specific situation on which SMTP server you may want to use.
Here are the Gmail SMTP settings. Also, look at the documentation.

Answer 2

There is an error on the last line of contact-form-submission.php file.
You forget to remove the extra bracket from the below line.
Old
// send the user back to the form
header('Location: index.html'/*.urlencode('Thank you for your message.'*/)); exit;
New
// send the user back to the form
header('Location: index.html'/*.urlencode('Thank you for your message.'*/); exit;
Or include that bracket in comment tag.
// send the user back to the form
header('Location: index.html'/*.urlencode('Thank you for your message.')*/); exit;