PHP cURL Basics - Send HTTP Requests with PHP

🔗 PHP cURL Basics – Send HTTP Requests with PHP

cURL is a powerful tool in PHP used for making HTTP requests. You can use it to fetch data from APIs, send POST requests, and even interact with websites programmatically. 🚀

PHP provides the cURL library for handling HTTP requests effortlessly.

🛠️ Enabling cURL in PHP

Before using cURL, ensure it’s enabled in your PHP installation.

For Windows: Uncomment extension=curl in php.ini
For Linux/Mac: cURL is usually enabled by default
To check if cURL is available, run: phpinfo();

🌍 Fetching Data with GET Request

The simplest way to use cURL is by fetching data from a URL.

✅ Example: Basic cURL GET Request

Let’s fetch data from an API.

<?php
$url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1"; 

$ch = curl_init($url); // Initialize cURL
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); // Get response as a string
$response = curl_exec($ch); // Execute request
curl_close($ch); // Close cURL

echo $response; // Display fetched data
?>

Try It Now

🔍 Output: JSON response from the API.

📨 Sending Data with POST Request

You can send data using a POST request with cURL.

✅ Example: Sending Data via POST

Let’s send a new post request to an API.

<?php
$url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts";

$data = array(
    "title" => "Hello World",
    "body" => "This is a test post.",
    "userId" => 1
);

$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($data));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("Content-Type: application/json"));

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

echo $response;
?>

Try It Now

🔍 Output: JSON response confirming the post was created.

🔄 Sending Headers with cURL

Sometimes, APIs require headers (e.g., authentication tokens). Here’s how to add them.

✅ Example: Sending Headers in a cURL Request

<?php
$url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1"; 

$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array(
    "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
));

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

echo $response;
?>

Try It Now

🔍 Output: API response with authentication.

📝 Handling cURL Errors

To handle errors, use curl_error().

✅ Example: Detecting cURL Errors

<?php
$url = "https://invalid-url.com";

$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$response = curl_exec($ch);

if ($response === false) {
    echo "❌ cURL Error: " . curl_error($ch);
} else {
    echo $response;
}

curl_close($ch);
?>

Try It Now

🔍 Output: Displays an error message if the request fails.

🎯 Summary

✅ Use curl_init() to start a cURL session.
✅ Use curl_setopt() to configure requests.
✅ Use curl_exec() to execute the request.
✅ Use curl_close() to free resources.
✅ Always handle errors with curl_error().

🚀 Next Steps

Now that you know PHP cURL basics, try making requests to real APIs like weather services, payment gateways, or social media APIs! 🌍