Using PHP stream_context_create to Configure HTTP Options and Send Requests

The stream_context_create function creates and returns a stream context resource that contains the options and parameters you specify, allowing you to customize HTTP requests.

Signature:

resource stream_context_create([array $options [, array $params]])

Parameters:

options : a two‑dimensional associative array in the form $arr['wrapper']['option'] = $value. Default is an empty array.

params : an associative array in the form $arr['parameter'] = $value.

Return value: a stream context resource of type resource.

Example 1 (GET request with custom headers):

<?php
$opts = array(
    'http' => array(
        'method'  => "GET",
        'header'  => "Accept-language: en
".
                    "Cookie: foo=bar
"
    )
);
$context = stream_context_create($opts);
$fp = fopen('http://www.example.com', 'r', false, $context);
fpassthru($fp);
fclose($fp);
?>

Example 2 (POST request with form data):

<?php
$data = array(
    'name'   => 'zhangsan',
    'gender' => 'male',
    'age'    => 25
);
$query_string = http_build_query($data);
$option = array(
    'http' => array(
        'method'  => 'POST',
        'header'  => "Content-type:application/x-www-form-urlencoded
".
                    "Content-length:" . strlen($query_string) . "
",
        'content' => $query_string
    )
);
$context = stream_context_create($option);
$url = 'http://localhost/test.php';
$content = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);
echo $content;
?>

Sample output from Example 2:

Array ( [name] => zhangsan [gender] => male [age] => 25 )