How can allow_url_fopen affect the ability to retrieve content from external URLs in PHP?

When allow_url_fopen is disabled in PHP, it prevents the ability to retrieve content from external URLs using functions like file_get_contents(). To solve this issue, you can use cURL, a library that allows you to make HTTP requests in PHP.

// Initialize cURL session
$ch = curl_init();

// Set the URL to fetch
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://example.com');

// Return the transfer as a string
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

// Execute the request
$response = curl_exec($ch);

// Close cURL session
curl_close($ch);

// Output the response
echo $response;