a simple web page scraper in PHP: very straightforward for all newbies

English Programming/Scripting
#1

I am a beginner if it comes to PHP - but here a simple web page scraper in PHP is very straightforward.

First, we define the HTTP get/post function

function http_post_content($url,$data) {
    $data = http_build_query($data);
    $aContext = array(
        'http' => array(
        'proxy' => 'proxyserver:8080',
        'request_fulluri' => True,
        'method'=>'POST',
        'header'=>
                "Content-type:  application/x-www-form-urlencoded
"
        ."Content-Length: " . strlen($data) . "
",
        'content' => $data
                ),
            );
    $cxContext = stream_context_create($aContext);
    $content = file_get_contents($url, FILE_TEXT, $cxContext);
    return $content;

    /*
    $fp = @fopen($url, 'rb', false, $cxContext);
    if (!$fp) {
        throw new Exception("Problem with $url, $php_errormsg");
    }
    $content = @stream_get_contents($fp);
    if ($content === false) {
        throw new Exception("Problem reading data
                from $url, $php_errormsg");
    }
    */
}

In the http array we can define the proxy server settings, method which can be post or get, and the content. we use file_get_contents to retrieve the web page instead of cURL, since is more powerful.

give some ideas - lemme know what you think

Try and test it Cheeers