What is the difference between using fopen with a local file and a remote file in PHP?

When using fopen in PHP, there is a difference between opening a local file and a remote file. When opening a local file, you simply provide the file path as the parameter to fopen. However, when opening a remote file, you need to use a URL with the appropriate protocol (e.g., http:// or ftp://) as the parameter. Additionally, when opening a remote file, you may need to ensure that the necessary PHP settings allow for remote file access.

// Opening a local file
$localFile = fopen('path/to/local/file.txt', 'r');

// Opening a remote file
$remoteFile = fopen('http://example.com/remote/file.txt', 'r');