HTTP requests with file_get_contents, getting the response code

Question

I'm trying to use file_get_contents together with stream_context_create to make POST requests. My code so far:

    $options = array('http' => array(
        'method'  => 'POST',
        'content' => $data,
        'header'  => 
            "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n" .
            "Content-Length: " . strlen($data) . "\r\n"
    ));
    $context  = stream_context_create($options);
    $response = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);

It works fine, however, when an HTTP error occurs, it spits out a warning:

file_get_contents(...): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request

and returns false. Is there a way to:

• suppress a warning (I'm planning to throw my own exception in case of failure)
• obtain the error information (at least, the response code) from the stream

Answer 1

http://php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.httpresponseheader.php

$context = stream_context_create(['http' => ['ignore_errors' => true]]);
$result = file_get_contents("http://example.com", false, $context);
var_dump($http_response_header);

Answer 2

None of the answers (including the one accepted by OP) actually satisfy the two requirements:

• suppress a warning (I'm planning to throw my own exception in case of failure)
• obtain the error information (at least, the response code) from the stream

Here's my take:

function fetch(string $method, string $url, string $body, array $headers = []) {
    $context = stream_context_create([
        "http" => [
            // http://docs.php.net/manual/en/context.http.php
            "method"        => $method,
            "header"        => implode("\r\n", $headers),
            "content"       => $body,
            "ignore_errors" => true,
        ],
    ]);

    $response = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);

    /**
     * @var array $http_response_header materializes out of thin air
     */

    $status_line = $http_response_header[0];

    preg_match('{HTTP\/\S*\s(\d{3})}', $status_line, $match);

    $status = $match[1];

    if ($status !== "200") {
        throw new RuntimeException("unexpected response status: {$status_line}\n" . $response);
    }

    return $response;
}

This will throw for a non-200 response, but you can easily work from there, e.g. add a simple Response class and return new Response((int) $status, $response); if that fits your use-case better.

For example, to do a JSON POST to an API endpoint:

$response = fetch(
    "POST",
    "http://example.com/",
    json_encode([
        "foo" => "bar",
    ]),
    [
        "Content-Type: application/json",
        "X-API-Key: 123456789",
    ]
);

Note the use of "ignore_errors" => true in the http context map - this will prevent the function from throwing errors for non-2xx status codes.

This is most likely the "right" amount of error-suppression for most use-cases - I do not recommend using the @ error-suppression operator, as this will also suppress errors like simply passing the wrong arguments, which could inadvertently hide a bug in calling code.

Answer 3

Adding few more lines to the accepted response to get the http code

function getHttpCode($http_response_header)
{
    if(is_array($http_response_header))
    {
        $parts=explode(' ',$http_response_header[0]);
        if(count($parts)>1) //HTTP/1.0 <code> <text>
            return intval($parts[1]); //Get code
    }
    return 0;
}

@file_get_contents("http://example.com");
$code=getHttpCode($http_response_header);

to hide the error output both comments are ok, ignore_errors = true or @ (I prefer @)

Answer 4

To capture the error message when file_get_contents returns FALSE, write a function which uses ob_start and ob_get_contents to capture the error message that file_get_contents writes to stderr.

function fileGetContents( $fileName )
{
  $errmsg = '' ;
  ob_start( ) ;
  $contents = file_get_contents( $fileName );
  if ( $contents === FALSE )
  {
    $errmsg = ob_get_contents( ) ;
    $errmsg .= "\nfile name:$fileName";
    $contents = '' ;
  }
  ob_end_clean( ) ;
  return (object)[ 'errmsg' => $errmsg, 'contents' => $contents ];
}

Answer 5

I go to this page with kind of a different issue, so posting my answer. My problem was that I was just trying to suppress the warning notification and display a customized warning message for the user, so this simple and obvious fix helped me:

// Suppress the warning messages
error_reporting(0);

$contents = file_get_contents($url);
if ($contents === false) {
  print 'My warning message';
}

And if needed, turn back error reporting after that:

// Enable warning messages again
error_reporting(-1);

Answer 6

@file_get_contents and ignore_errors = true are not the same: the first doesn't return anything; the second suppresses error messages, but returns server response (e.g. 400 Bad request).

I use a function like this:

$result = file_get_contents(
  $url_of_API, 
  false, 
  stream_context_create([
    'http' => [
      'content' => json_encode(['value1' => $value1, 'value2' => $value2]), 
      'header' => 'Authorization: Basic XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX', 
      'ignore_errors' => 1, 
      'method' => 'POST', 
      'timeout' => 10
    ]
  ])
);

return json_decode($result)->status;

It returns 200 (Ok) or 400 (Bad request).

It works perfectly and it's easier than cURL.