How to get file_get_contents() to work with HTTPS?

Question

I'm working on setting up credit card processing and needed to use a workaround for CURL. The following code worked fine when I was using the test server (which wasn't calling an SSL URL), but now when I am testing it on the working server with HTTPS, it's failing with the error message "failed to open stream".

function send($packet, $url) {
  $ctx = stream_context_create(
    array(
      'http'=>array(
        'header'=>"Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
        'method'=>'POST',
        'content'=>$packet
      )
    )
  );
  return file_get_contents($url, 0, $ctx);
}

Answer 1

Try the following script to see if there is an https wrapper available for your php scripts.

$w = stream_get_wrappers();
echo 'openssl: ',  extension_loaded  ('openssl') ? 'yes':'no', "\n";
echo 'http wrapper: ', in_array('http', $w) ? 'yes':'no', "\n";
echo 'https wrapper: ', in_array('https', $w) ? 'yes':'no', "\n";
echo 'wrappers: ', var_export($w);

the output should be something like

openssl: yes
http wrapper: yes
https wrapper: yes
wrappers: array(11) {
  [...]
}

Answer 2

To allow https wrapper:

• the php_openssl extension must exist and be enabled
• allow_url_fopen must be set to on

In the php.ini file you should add this lines if not exists:

extension=php_openssl.dll

allow_url_fopen = On

Answer 3

Try the following.

function getSslPage($url) {
    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, false);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_REFERER, $url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE);
    $result = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);
    return $result;
}

Note: This disables SSL verification, meaning the security offered by HTTPS is lost. Only use this code for testing / local development, never on the internet or other public-facing networks. If this code works, it means the SSL certificate isn't trusted or can't be verified, which you should look into fixing as a separate issue.

Answer 4

$url= 'https://example.com';

$arrContextOptions=array(
      "ssl"=>array(
            "verify_peer"=>false,
            "verify_peer_name"=>false,
        ),
    );  

$response = file_get_contents($url, false, stream_context_create($arrContextOptions));

This will allow you to get the content from the url whether it is a HTTPS

Answer 5

This is probably due to your target server not having a valid SSL certificate.

Answer 6

Just add two lines in your php.ini file.

extension=php_openssl.dll

allow_url_include = On

its working for me.

Answer 7

I had the same error. Setting allow_url_include = On in php.ini fixed it for me.

Answer 8

HTTPS is supported starting from PHP 4.3.0, if you have compiled in support for OpenSSL. Also, make sure the target server has a valid certificate, the firewall allows outbound connections and allow_url_fopen in php.ini is set to true.

Answer 9

In my case, the issue was due to WAMP using a different php.ini for CLI than Apache, so your settings made through the WAMP menu don't apply to CLI. Just modify the CLI php.ini and it works.

Answer 10

Sometimes a server will choose not to respond based on what it sees or doesn't see in the http request headers (such as an appropriate user agent). If you can connect with a browser, grab the headers it sends and mimic them in your stream context.

Answer 11

TO CHECK IF AN URL IS UP OR NOT

The code in your question can be rewritten as to a working version:

function send($packet=NULL, $url) {
// Do whatever you wanted to do with $packet
// The below two lines of code will let you know if https url is up or not
$command = 'curl -k '.$url;
return exec($command, $output, $retValue);
}