How do I include an external file in PHP?

Question

I need to include and external file that is on another url. For example google.com. I have tested the include using local files, so that much works, but if I try and use 127.0.0.1/filetoinclude.txt Nothing happens. I don't get an error, I just get a blank page. So how am I supposed to include http://google.com in my page?

Answer 1

You'll need to use file_get_contents:

$data = file_get_contents('http://google.com'); //will block

Or fopen:

$fp = fopen('http://google.com', 'r');
$data = '';
while(!feof($fp)) 
   $data .= fread($fp, 4092); 
fclose($fp); 

echo $data;

Answer 2

I have no idea why you'd want to do this, but you could most certainly try something like:

<?php
    $google_page = file_get_contents('http://www.google.com');
    echo $google_page;
?>