How can PHP developers effectively handle data retrieval and manipulation from external APIs like Instagram?

To effectively handle data retrieval and manipulation from external APIs like Instagram, PHP developers can use cURL to make HTTP requests to the API endpoints, parse the JSON response, and manipulate the data as needed. They can also utilize libraries like Guzzle to simplify the process and handle authentication with the API. 

<?php
// Initialize cURL session
$ch = curl_init();

// Set cURL options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://api.instagram.com/v1/users/self/media/recent/?access_token=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

// Execute cURL session
$response = curl_exec($ch);

// Close cURL session
curl_close($ch);

// Parse JSON response
$data = json_decode($response, true);

// Manipulate the data as needed
foreach ($data['data'] as $post) {
    echo $post['images']['standard_resolution']['url'] . "\n";
}
?>

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