PHP- How to Use Requests

In PHP, you can use the file_get_contents function or the curl extension to send HTTP requests to a server and retrieve the response.

Here is an example of how to use file_get_contents to send a GET request and retrieve the response from a server:

$url = 'http://example.com';
$response = file_get_contents($url);

You can also use the stream_context_create function to specify additional options for the request, such as the HTTP method, headers, and POST data:

$options = [
    'http' => [
        'method' => 'POST',
        'header' => 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
        'content' => http_build_query([
            'key' => 'value',
            'another_key' => 'another_value',
        ]),
    ],
];
$context = stream_context_create($options);
$response = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);

Alternatively, you can use the curl extension to send HTTP requests. The curl_init function initializes a new cURL session, and the curl_setopt function is used to set various options for the request. The curl_exec function sends the request and returns the response:

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

You can also use the curl_setopt function to set additional options for the request, such as the HTTP method, headers, and POST data.

Both file_get_contents and curl can be used to send HTTP requests in PHP, and which one you choose will depend on your specific requirements and preferences.