How can testing a cURL request in the terminal help troubleshoot issues with a PHP cURL POST request?

Testing a cURL request in the terminal can help troubleshoot issues with a PHP cURL POST request by allowing you to isolate the problem to either the cURL request itself or the PHP code handling the request. By testing the cURL request in the terminal, you can verify that the request is formatted correctly and that the server is responding as expected. This can help pinpoint where the issue lies and guide your troubleshooting efforts.

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

// Set cURL options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'http://example.com/api');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query(['param1' => 'value1', 'param2' => 'value2']));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

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

// Check for errors
if(curl_errno($ch)){
    echo 'Curl error: ' . curl_error($ch);
}

// Close cURL session
curl_close($ch);

// Process response
echo $response;