@HazardTWOct 01.2007 — #send_email() is a user created function as opposed to built-in PHP function, inside that function they would use the built-in PHP function email() to send the mail.
email() is the built-in PHP function for sending email.
@email() is the same as above except that the leading @ suppresses the output of error reporting, if the mail function fails to send the mail, it will fail silently.