Using curl_close() to Properly Close cURL Sessions in PHP

cURL (Client URL Library) is a PHP extension for sending and receiving HTTP requests, offering features such as POST/GET, custom headers, and cookie handling.

The curl_close() function is used to close a cURL session and release associated resources.

Syntax: curl_close(resource $ch): void, where $ch is a cURL handle created by curl_init().

Example usage:

// Create a cURL handle
$ch = curl_init();

// Set options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://www.example.com");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

// Execute request
$result = curl_exec($ch);

// Close the session
curl_close($ch);

Closing the session saves resources, improves performance, and frees memory; after closing, the handle cannot be reused without reinitialization.

In summary, curl_close() should be called after each request to ensure robust and efficient PHP applications.