What are potential reasons for receiving an empty output when trying to access source code using cURL?

When receiving an empty output when trying to access source code using cURL, it could be due to various reasons such as incorrect URL, server-side issues, or permission problems. To solve this issue, you can check the URL for any typos, ensure the server is running properly, and verify that you have the necessary permissions to access the source code.

<?php
$url = "https://example.com/source_code.php";

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$output = curl_exec($ch);

if($output === false){
    echo "Error: " . curl_error($ch);
} else {
    echo $output;
}

curl_close($ch);
?>