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    stream_context_create

    (PHP 4 >= 4.3.0, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    stream_context_create — Creates a stream context

    Description

    stream_context_create(?array $options = null, ?array $params = null): resource

    Creates and returns a stream context with any options supplied in options preset.

    Parameters

    options

    Must be an associative array of associative arrays in the format $arr['wrapper']['option'] = $value, or null. Refer to context options for a list of available wrappers and options.

    Defaults to null.

    params

    Must be an associative array in the format $arr['parameter'] = $value, or null. Refer to context parameters for a listing of standard stream parameters.

    Return Values

    A stream context resource.

    Changelog

    Version Description
    8.0.0 options and params are now nullable.

    Examples

    Example #1 Using stream_context_create()

    <?php
    $opts     = array(
    'http'=>array(
    'method'=>"GET",
    'header'=>"Accept-language: en\r\n" .
    "Cookie: foo=bar\r\n"
    )
    );

    $context = stream_context_create($opts);

    /* Sends an http request to www.example.com
    with additional headers shown above */
    $fp = fopen('http://www.example.com', 'r', false, $context);
    fpassthru($fp);
    fclose($fp);
    ?>

    See Also

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    User Contributed Notes 15 notes

    up
    99
    jrubenstein at gmail dot com
    17 years ago
    Something to keep in mind when creating SSL streams (using https://):

    <?php
    $context     = context_create_stream($context_options)
    $fp = fopen('https://url', 'r', false, $context);
    ?>

    One would think - the proper way to create a stream options array, would be as follows:

    <?php
    $context_options     = array (
                'https' => array (
                    'method' => 'POST',
                    'header'=> "Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n"
                        . "Content-Length: " . strlen($data) . "\r\n",
                    'content' => $data
                    )
            );
    ?>

    THAT IS THE WRONG WAY!!!
    Take notice to the 3rd line: 'https' => array (

    The CORRECT way, is as follows:

    <?php
    $context_options     = array (
                'http' => array (
                    'method' => 'POST',
                    'header'=> "Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n"
                        . "Content-Length: " . strlen($data) . "\r\n",
                    'content' => $data
                    )
            );
    ?>

    Notice, the NEW 3rd line: 'http' => array (

    Now - keep this in mind - I spent several hours trying to trouble shoot my issue, when I finally stumbled upon this non-documented issue.

    The complete code to post to a secure page is as follows:

    <?php
    $data     = array ('foo' => 'bar', 'bar' => 'baz');
    $data = http_build_query($data);

    $context_options = array (
                'http' => array (
                    'method' => 'POST',
                    'header'=> "Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n"
                        . "Content-Length: " . strlen($data) . "\r\n",
                    'content' => $data
                    )
            );

    $context = context_create_stream($context_options)
    $fp = fopen('https://url', 'r', false, $context);
    ?>
    up
    25
    contact (at) thepointsolution.com
    14 years ago
    I big NOTE that i hope will help some one. Something that is not mentioned in the documentation, is that when php is compiled --with-curlwrappers,

    So, instead of:

    <?php
    $opts     = array(
          'http'=>array(
            'method'=>"GET",
            'header'=>"Accept-language: en\r\n" .
                      "Cookie: foo=bar\r\n"
          )
    );

    $context = stream_context_create($opts);
    ?>

    You would setup the header this way:

    <?php
    $opts     = array(
          'http'=>array(
            'method'=>"GET",
            'header'=>array("Accept-language: en",
                                   "Cookie: foo=bar",
                                   "Custom-Header: value")
      )
    );

    $context = stream_context_create($opts);
    ?>

    This will work.
    up
    16
    Ben J
    11 years ago
    I spent a good five hours trying to figure this out, so hopefully it will save someone else some time.

    When you are trying to download a file via ftp through an HTTP proxy note that the following will not be enough:
    <?php
    $opts     = array('ftp' => array(
            'proxy' => 'tcp://vbinprst10:8080',
            'request_fulluri'=>true,
            'header' => array(
                "Proxy-Authorization: Basic $auth"
                )
        )
    );
    $context = stream_context_create($opts);
    $s = file_get_contents("ftp://anonymous:anonymous@ftp.example.org",false,$context);
    ?>

    Your proxy will respond that authentication is required. You may scratch your head and think "but I'm providing authentication!"

    The issue is that the 'header' value is only applicable to http connections. So to authenticate on a proxy, you first have to pull a file from HTTP, before the context is valid for using on FTP.
    <?php
    $opts     = array('ftp' => array(
            'proxy' => 'tcp://vbinprst10:8080',
            'request_fulluri'=>true,
            'header' => array(
                "Proxy-Authorization: Basic $auth"
                )
        ),
            'http' => array(
            'proxy' => 'tcp://vbinprst10:8080',
            'request_fulluri'=>true,
            'header' => array(
                "Proxy-Authorization: Basic $auth"
                )
        )
    );
    $context = stream_context_create($opts);
    $s = file_get_contents("http://www.example.com",false,$context);
    $s = file_get_contents("ftp://anonymous:anonymous@ftp.example.org",false,$context);
    ?>

    It's a bit roundabout, but it works. Note that the 'header' val in the ftp array is redundant, but I kept it in anyway.
    up
    10
    davep at atomicdroplet dot com
    17 years ago
    In addition to the context options mentioned above (appendix N), lower down context options for sockets can be found in appendix P - http://www.php.net/manual/en/transports.php
    up
    5
    net_navard at yahoo dot com
    19 years ago
    Hi,you can create an array of parameters(what it's called a stream context),which can be transmitted each time you read or write a stream through a socket.In the below example:

    $opts =array('http'=>arra('method'=>"GET",
    'header'=>"Accept-language:en\r\n"."Cookie: foo=bar\r\n");

    What you're actually doing is create a set of parameters(the protocol to be used,the request method,additional http headers and a cookie) which will be used each time you open a socket connection to request www.example.com.This saves a lot of time if you want to use these parameters (called a stream context) whenever you include them when making a request to www.example.com,instead of having to specify them over and over again.
    Using the previous example,say you want to create a stream context,which sends a "Content-Type" http header and utilize it when making a request to www.example.com.Take a look:

    $opts = array('http'=>array('method'=>"GET",
    'header'=>"Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8");

    $context = stream_context_create($opts);
    $fp = fopen('http://www.example.com','r',false,$context);
    fpassthru($fp);
    fclose($fp);

    Now,when you make a request to www.example.com,the above http header will be included within the socket and transmitted to the server.Best of luck for you friends,Hossein
    up
    12
    louis dot huppenbauer at gmail dot com
    12 years ago
    When using the https protocol you'll have to make sure to set the right context options to use the full "power" of the ssl/tls encryption.

    <?php
    $url     = 'https://secure.example.com/test/1';
    $contextOptions = array(
            'ssl' => array(
                'verify_peer'   => true,
                'cafile'        => __DIR__ . '/cacert.pem',
                'verify_depth'  => 5,
                'CN_match'      => 'secure.example.com'
            )
    );
    $sslContext = stream_context_create($contextOptions);
    $result = file_get_contents($url, NULL, $sslContext);
    ?>

    More information about those context options can be found at http://php.net/manual/en/context.ssl.php
    up
    2
    LANGE.LUDO
    3 years ago
    To open HTTPS stream I could only work it out using both HTTP and SSL context options…

    Thus something like:
    <?php
    $postdata     = http_build_query(
        array(
                'var1' => 'some content',
                'var2' => 'doh'
            )
    );

    $opts = array(
            'ssl' => array(
                'verify_peer' => false,
                'verify_peername' => false
                // Ideally use instead
            // 'cafile' => 'path Certificate Authority file on local filesystem'
            ),
            'http' => array(
                'method' => 'POST',
                'header' =>
                    'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded'."\r\n".
                    ''
            'content'     => $postdata
            )
    );

    $context = stream_context_create($opts);

    $result = file_get_contents('https://example.com/submit.php', false, $context);

    // A good friend when it fails:
    var_dump($http_response_header);

    ?>
    up
    15
    rlintern at gmail dot com
    15 years ago
    I found the following code worked for me for POSTing some binary data to a remote server. I am putting it here since I could not find a quick solution to this by 'googling' or looking through this documentation.

    Disclaimer:  I have no idea if this a 'good' solution, since I'm new to PHP, but it may just suit your needs as it did mine.  I am assuming bad things will happen with very large files since the entire file is read into $fileContents.

    I am using PHP 5.2.8.

       $fileHandle = fopen("someImage.jpg", "rb");
       $fileContents = stream_get_contents($fileHandle);
       fclose($fileHandle);

       $params = array(
          'http' => array
          (
              'method' => 'POST',
              'header'=>"Content-Type: multipart/form-data\r\n",
              'content' => $fileContents
          )
       );
       $url = "http://somesite.somecompany.com?someParam=someValue";
       $ctx = stream_context_create($params);
       $fp = fopen($url, 'rb', false, $ctx);

       $response = stream_get_contents($fp);
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    5
    Brian Gottier
    15 years ago
    In some cases, set a header option as an array, and not a string, depending on server configuration.

    <?php
    $opts     = array(
          'http'=> array(
            'method'=>   "GET",
            'header'=>    array( "Cookie: foo="bar"l ),
        'user_agent'=>        $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']
      )
    );
    ?>
    up
    3
    Andi
    9 years ago
    Don't try to re-use the ressource returned by stream_context_create. It seems not to work when connecting to different domains using https.
    up
    2
    chris dot vigelius at gmx dot net
    17 years ago
    It seems that the authorization example given below by"php at charlesconsulting dot com" does NOT work with PHP 5.2.1, since the 'header' option will be simply ignored if it is not an array (but a string).

    The following works:
    $url = 'http://protectedstuff.com';
    $auth = base64_encode('user:password');
    $header = array("Authorization: Basic $auth");
    $opts = array( 'http' => array ('method'=>'GET',
                                               'header'=>$header));
    $ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
    file_get_contents($url,false,$ctx);

    See also http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=41051
    up
    3
    mathieu dot laurent at gmail dot com
    15 years ago
    Connection via Proxy

    <?php

    $opts     = array('http' => array('proxy' => 'tcp://127.0.0.1:8080', 'request_fulluri' => true));
    $context = stream_context_create($opts);

    $data = file_get_contents('http://www.php.net', false, $context);

    echo     $data;

    ?>
    up
    2
    sp0n9e at gmail dot com
    18 years ago
    Here's a very simple way to do posts easily without need of cURL or writing an http request by hand using the tcp:// wrapper.  I like using contexts just because of their ubiquity and the lack of an optional library such as cURL (though one of the more popular libraries).

    <?php

    $options     = array(
          'http'=>array(
            'method'=>"POST",
            'header'=>
              "Accept-language: en\r\n".
              "Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n",
            'content'=>http_build_query(array('foo'=>'bar'))
    ));

    $context = stream_context_create($options);

    fopen('http://www.example.com/',false,$context);

    ?>
    up
    -3
    Anonymous
    14 years ago
    If you are trying to set a custom http header on php 5.2.x, try this:

    <?php
    // build header and set it the usual way
    $authenticationHeader = $headername . ': ' . $headervalue;
    $opts = array(
            'http' => array(
                'header'  => $authenticationHeader
            )
    );
    // workaround for php bug where http headers don't get sent in php 5.2
    if(version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.3.0') == -1){
            ini_set('user_agent', 'PHP-SOAP/' . PHP_VERSION . "\r\n" . $authenticationHeader);
    }

    $context  = stream_context_create($opts);

    // now use context for soap call or whatever...
    ?>

    this is the only option that worked for me.
    up
    -5
    php at charlesconsulting dot com
    17 years ago
    Here's an example of retrieving a page which requests a username and password using the basic authorization scheme.  This calls the w3.org web page validator for a password protected page.
    //$fileurl contains page to validate
    $validateurl="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=$fileurl";

    $cred = sprintf('Authorization: Basic %s',
        base64_encode('username:password') );
    $opts = array(
        'http'=>array(
        'method'=>'GET',
        'header'=>$cred)
    );
    $ctx = stream_context_create($opts);

    $validate=file_get_contents($validateurl,false,$ctx);
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