What are the differences between using cUrl and fsockopen() in PHP for HTTP and HTTPS requests?

When making HTTP and HTTPS requests in PHP, cURL is generally preferred over fsockopen() due to its higher level of abstraction and ease of use. cURL supports a wide range of protocols and features, making it more versatile for handling various types of requests. Additionally, cURL provides better error handling and supports more advanced features like SSL certificate verification.

// Using cURL for HTTP/HTTPS requests
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
echo $response;