Question

In one’s server, file_get_contents is disabled for security reasons. I need to retrieve xml data. So, what is the best thing to do to :

1. Verify that file_get_contents is supported by a server ?
2. Is there any subtitute methods of file_get_contents ?

Answer 1

You can check whether or not you can use url’s in file_get_contents() (and the fopen() family of functions) by checking the ini directive allow_url_fopen:

ini_get('allow_url_fopen'); 

You can get around these restrictions by using:

1. cURL
2. fsockopen()

I strongly recommend cURL. fsockopen() is a lot dirtier.