The crippling of PHP’s file_get_contents()

If you have been around the PHP scene for a while now, you are probably aware of the file_get_contents() function. This function has been used in many web applications for years, but has been under increasing attack from nefarious evil doers. Due to the security issues when using this function to download URL content, many web hosts have disabled the URL functionality. Take a look at the PHP HTTP socket Client article for the TinyHttpClient, a simple yet very functional alternative which supports HTTP 1.0 GET, POST and Basic Authentication…