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<title>Initialize a cURL session</title>
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<h1 class="refname">curl_init</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4 >= 4.0.2, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">curl_init</span> — <span class="dc-title">Initialize a cURL session</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.curl-init-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">resource</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>curl_init</strong></span>
([ <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">string</span> <code class="parameter">$url</code><span class="initializer"> = <strong><code>NULL</code></strong></span></span>
] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
Initializes a new session and return a cURL handle for use with the
<span class="function"><a href="function.curl-setopt.html" class="function">curl_setopt()</a></span>, <span class="function"><a href="function.curl-exec.html" class="function">curl_exec()</a></span>,
and <span class="function"><a href="function.curl-close.html" class="function">curl_close()</a></span> functions.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.curl-init-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">url</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
If provided, the <strong><code>CURLOPT_URL</code></strong> option will be set
to its value. You can manually set this using the
<span class="function"><a href="function.curl-setopt.html" class="function">curl_setopt()</a></span> function.
</p>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
The <em>file</em> protocol is disabled by cURL if
<a href="ini.core.html#ini.open-basedir" class="link">open_basedir</a> is set.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.curl-init-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns a cURL handle on success, <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> on errors.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.curl-init-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-4215">
<p><strong>Example #1
Initializing a new cURL session and fetching a web page
</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// create a new cURL resource<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ch </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">curl_init</span><span style="color: #007700">();<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// set URL and other appropriate options<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">curl_setopt</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ch</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">CURLOPT_URL</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"http://www.example.com/"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">curl_setopt</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ch</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">CURLOPT_HEADER</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// grab URL and pass it to the browser<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">curl_exec</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ch</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// close cURL resource, and free up system resources<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">curl_close</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ch</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.curl-init-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.curl-close.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">curl_close()</a> - Close a cURL session</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.curl-multi-init.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">curl_multi_init()</a> - Returns a new cURL multi handle</span></li>
</ul>
</p>
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