PHP ini file_get_contents external url

I use following PHP function:

file_get_contents('http://example.com');

Whenever I do this on a certain server, the result is empty. When I do it anywhere else, the result is whatever the page's content may be. When I however, on the server where the result is empty, use the function locally - without accessing an external URL (file_get_contents('../simple/internal/path.html');), it does work.

Now, I am pretty sure it has something to do with a certain php.ini configuration. What I am however not sure about is, which one. Please help.

The setting you are looking for is allow_url_fopen.

You have two ways of getting around it without changing php.ini, one of them is to use fsockopen(), and the other is to use cURL.

I recommend using cURL over file_get_contents() anyways, since it was built for this.

Complementing Aillyn's answer, you could use a function like the one below to mimic the behavior of file_get_contents:

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');

The is related to the ini configuration setting allow_url_fopen.

You should be aware that enable that option may make some bugs in your code exploitable.

For instance, this failure to validate input may turn into a full-fledged remote code execution vulnerability:

copy($_GET["file"], ".");

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "http://www.your_external_website.com");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE);
$result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

is best for http url, But how to open https url help me

PHP ini file_get_contents external url

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