How Do I Send a Post Request With PHP

In web development, sending data from a client to a server is a common task.

One of the ways to send data is by using a POST request.

In this tutorial, we will be discussing how to send a POST request using PHP, including examples to help you get started.

What is a POST Request?

A POST request is a type of HTTP request that is used to submit data to a server for processing.

Unlike a GET request, which is used to retrieve data from a server, a POST request is used to send data to a server for storage or further processing.

How to Send a POST Request with PHP?

Sending a POST request with PHP can be done using the built-in function called “curl.”

The curl function allows us to send a POST request to a server and receive the response.

Here’s a basic example of how to send a POST request with PHP:

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://www.example.com/api/create_user.php",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 0,
  CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => array('username' => 'John Doe', 'email' => '[email protected]'),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
    "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
  ),
));

$response = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close($curl);

In this example, we use the curl_init function to start a new cURL session.

Then, we use the curl_setopt_array function to set various options for the cURL request.

The options include the URL to send the request to, the type of request (in this case, POST), the data to send in the request (in the form of an array), and the content type of the data being sent.

Finally, we use the curl_exec function to send the request and receive the response.

We then close the cURL session using the curl_close function.