PHP/cURL curl_exec() error?

Question

This is my first time using cURL so it might be a silly error on my part but the following code:

    $ch = curl_init($url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    $output = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);
    echo $output;

Prints "1". It is my understanding that CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER should ensure that curl_exec returns either 0 or the content but here it's behaving as if CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER hasn't been set to true. Am I missing something obvious?

Thanks!

Your code is correct for doing what you describe as the desired result, it sounds like the server at $url returns 1 in the body of the response - what do you get if you load it in a browser? What is in $url? What does var_dump($output); (instead of echo) show? — DaveRandom
– DaveRandom, Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 21:19
@DaveRandom Huh. var_dump($output); shows bool(true)...implying that the content of the page isn't 1 and it really is the function returning true, yes? The $url is facebook.com/feeds/… (a feed from a facebook fan page which I am hoping to turn into a simple XML object). Thank you! — user1492165
– user1492165, Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 21:35
...and $xml = simplexml_load_file($url); not an option? Although your code should work, can you show your full actual code (minus passwords etc)? — DaveRandom
– DaveRandom, Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 22:11
@miqbal That is actually where I got the idea from in the first place; it didn't work with that exact code either. — user1492165
– user1492165, Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 22:34

Richard Ginsberg · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-29 22:01:09Z

1

Code appears to be correct, try curl_getinfo()

$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$output = curl_exec($ch);
$outputInfo = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_CONTENT_LENGTH_DOWNLOAD);
curl_close($ch);
echo $output . PHP_EOL;
echo $outputInfo;

It maybe possible that the resource is literally returning a body with "1"

answered Jun 29, 2012 at 22:01

Richard Ginsberg

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APC · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-05 22:38:18Z

1

I had a similar problem which I resolved by using

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FAILONERROR, TRUE);

The problem was that the server gave back a custom error page, which cURL interpreted as success. By using this option the custom error page header code of 404 was detected correctly and the URL failure was detected.

OP refers to using facebook as their target, so I suspect a custom error message was used as well by the target url.

edited Feb 5, 2013 at 22:38

APC

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answered Feb 5, 2013 at 22:20

larry

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Lusitanian · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-29 21:38:41Z

-1

I'd use Guzzle, which is an OOP wrapper around cURL. (Though since you're just using a GET request, file_get_contents($url); would work fine). There's no real issue with your code, though. Are you sure the URL is valid?

Also, check to make sure that curl_setopt is returning true for each call to it, and try setting the CURLOPT_URL using that function.

answered Jun 29, 2012 at 21:38

Lusitanian

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2 Comments

user1492165 Over a year ago

`$output = file_get_contents($url); echo $output;' doesn't print anything. Slash it must cause some sort of error because no php after it executes. But you're right, I feel like I should just be able to use that function...

user1492165 Over a year ago

Neither of those things seems to be on and I don't have access to the php.ini file...however I tried file_get_contents() on a different server and it worked just fine so I bet this is just some weird setting from the PHP configuration on the other server. Thanks for your help!

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