What are the advantages of using cURL over file_get_contents in PHP for retrieving data from external sources?

When retrieving data from external sources in PHP, using cURL over file_get_contents offers several advantages. cURL provides more options and flexibility for making HTTP requests, such as setting custom headers, handling redirects, and supporting various protocols. Additionally, cURL is generally faster and more efficient for handling multiple requests simultaneously. Overall, cURL is a more robust and versatile solution for retrieving data from external sources in PHP. 

// Using cURL to retrieve data from an external source
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://example.com/api/data');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$response = curl_exec($ch);

if($response === false){
    echo 'cURL error: ' . curl_error($ch);
}

curl_close($ch);

// Process the response data as needed

Keywords

cURL file_get_contents PHP retrieving data external sources

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