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curl_init

PHP function Edit on GitHub ✎

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.2, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

Initialize a cURL session

Description

curl_init(string|null $url = null): CurlHandle|false

Initializes a new session and returns a cURL handle.

Parameters

url: If provided, the CURLOPT_URL option will be set to its value. This can be set manually using the curl_setopt() function.
Note
The file protocol is disabled by cURL if open_basedir is set.

Return Values

Returns a cURL handle on success, false on errors.

Changelog

Version	Description
8.0.0	On success, this function returns a `CurlHandle` instance now; previously, a `resource` was returned.
8.0.0	`url` is nullable now.

Examples

Initializing a new cURL session and fetching a web page

php

<?php

// Initializes a new cURL session
$ch = curl_init();

// Set URL and other appropriate options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "http://www.example.com/");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);

// Grab URL and pass it to the browser
curl_exec($ch);

?>