How can PHP scripts access files in a protected directory controlled by htaccess?

When a directory is protected by an htaccess file, it restricts access to files within that directory. To allow PHP scripts to access files in a protected directory, you can use PHP's cURL library to make HTTP requests to the files. This way, the PHP script acts as a client requesting the files, bypassing the restrictions set by htaccess. 

<?php
$url = 'https://example.com/protected-directory/file.txt';
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$output = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

echo $output;
?>

Keywords

PHP htaccess file access authentication directory protection

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