How does the PHP version and server configuration impact the use of file_get_contents with URLs?

The PHP version and server configuration can impact the use of file_get_contents with URLs due to different security settings and protocols. To ensure compatibility and prevent issues, it is recommended to use the curl extension in PHP to fetch URLs instead of relying solely on file_get_contents.

// Using curl to fetch URLs instead of file_get_contents
function fetch_url_contents($url) {
    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    $data = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);
    return $data;
}

// Example usage
$url = "https://example.com";
$content = fetch_url_contents($url);
echo $content;