Convert file_get_contents into $_FILES - php

Question

I have a functionality which will get user input and file input in a form and sent it as an email. I am using this code to capture those files:
$attachments_array = NULL;
foreach($_FILES as $userfile){
// store the file information to variables for easier access
$tmp_name = $userfile['tmp_name'];
$type = $userfile['type'];
$name = $userfile['name'];
$size = $userfile['size'];
if($tmp_name != ""){
$data=array(
'tmpfname' => $tmp_name,
'filename' => $name,
'type' => $type,
);
$attachments_array[] = $data;
}
}
So I am getting the user file input and putting it into $attachments_array . But what if I have a fixed file located somewhere like in:
https://www.myurl.com/A_Beginners_Guide_to_Outsourcing.pdf
How do I pass that into the attachments array? I am trying:
$attachments_array[] = file_get_contents('https://www.myurl.com/A_Beginners_Guide_to_Outsourcing.pdf');
But seems not working. I would like to pass it in the attachment array like the $data variable.

Answer 1

file_get_contents only gets the actual content of a file and returns it.
You would need to create an associative array and fill all used parameters by yourself, and perhaps save the file somewhere locally, depending on what are the further steps in your file processing.
$row = array();
$row['filename'] = 'A_Beginners_Guide_to_Outsourcing.pdf';
$row['type'] = "application/pdf"; // you might need some other method of getting a file type.
$tmp_path = "/my/tmp/path/".$row['filename'];
$body = file_get_contents('https://www.myurl.com/A_Beginners_Guide_to_Outsourcing.pdf');
file_put_contents($tmp_path, $body); // btw, be careful of what you save on your server..
$row['tmpfname'] = $tmp_path;
$attachments_array[] = $row;