curl_init

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

curl_init — Initialize a cURL session

Description

curl_init(?string $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

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

Examples

Example #1 Initializing a new cURL session and fetching a web page

<?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);

?>

See Also