What is the purpose of PHP file_get_contents?

file_get_contents() is a built-in function in PHP that is used to read content from a specified file or URL and return it as a string.

Its main functions include the following aspects:

1. Reading local files: You can use the file_get_contents() function to read files on your local computer and return their content as a string. This is very useful when you need to read text files, configuration files, log files, and so on.

2. Accessing content from remote files: The file_get_contents() function can also retrieve content from files on remote servers by specifying a URL. This allows for easily obtaining data from the internet, such as API responses, HTML source code from web pages, and more.

Reading binary files: In addition to text files, the file_get_contents() function can also be used to read the contents of binary files, such as images, audio, videos, and other types of files. It reads the file content as a byte stream, which can then be manipulated or stored.

Handling HTTP requests: When calling the file_get_contents() function with a URL as a parameter, it automatically executes an HTTP request and returns the content of the server’s response. This allows the function to be used to send simple HTTP GET requests, thus achieving some basic client functionality.

It should be noted that the file_get_contents() function by default loads the entire content of a file into memory and returns it as a single string. Therefore, for very large files, this could result in high memory usage issues. When handling large files, it’s recommended to consider using other appropriate methods to read or process file content in chunks.