Why is my PHP file_get_contents() Failing to Load External URLs?

How to Enable External URL Loading for PHP file_get_contents()

The PHP function file_get_contents() allows us to retrieve the contents of a file or URL. However, sometimes it may fail to fetch external URLs, resulting in an empty response. This issue typically arises due to specific PHP.ini configuration settings.

Investigating the PHP.ini Configuration

To identify the problematic configuration, you can check the following settings:

1. allow_url_fopen: This setting controls whether PHP is allowed to access external URLs. Verify that it is set to "On."
2. file_get_contents.allow_http: This setting restricts file_get_contents() to only access HTTP URLs. Make sure it is set to "On."
3. file_get_contents.readfile_disable: This setting disables the ability of file_get_contents() to access local files on the server. If you intend to access both local and external URLs, set it to "Off."

Alternative Methods for Loading External URLs

If adjusting the PHP.ini settings does not resolve the issue, you can consider using alternative methods to load external URLs in PHP:

1. cURL: CURL is a library that provides a more robust way to send and retrieve data from URLs. The snippet below demonstrates how to use cURL to fetch the contents of an external URL:

function get_content($URL) {
    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $URL);
    $data = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);
    return $data;
}

echo get_content('http://example.com');

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