How does the use of allow_url_fopen simplify fetching a webpage in PHP compared to fsockopen?

Using allow_url_fopen simplifies fetching a webpage in PHP compared to fsockopen by allowing direct file access to URLs, eliminating the need to establish a socket connection and handle the HTTP protocol manually. This makes the code shorter, more readable, and easier to implement.

// Enable allow_url_fopen in php.ini or use ini_set
ini_set('allow_url_fopen', 1);

// Fetch a webpage using file_get_contents
$url = 'https://www.example.com';
$content = file_get_contents($url);

echo $content;