Get file in PHP which is generated when visiting URL - php

Question

In PHP, how do I get a file that is generated when you visit a URL. To explain this, if you visit this Google Drive URL:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZUqkdVQZqpHhE25m-5wxhN1uzK7EvoZ81bmrwiwk3CY/export?format=doc
Download will start. How do I grab that download file in PHP?

Answer 1

Though in theory file_get_contents should have worked for this situation it did not for me. I'm behind proxy.
To get more control I had to use curl
I left proxy configuration as a part of code but commented it out.
<?php
$url = "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZUqkdVQZqpHhE25m-5wxhN1uzK7EvoZ81bmrwiwk3CY/export?format=doc";
$fileToSave = dirname(__FILE__) . '/localfile.doc';
// $proxy = "127.0.0.1:8080";
set_time_limit(0);
//This is the file where we save the information
$fp = fopen ($fileToSave, 'w+');
//Here is the file we are downloading.
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 50);
// write curl response to file
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FILE, $fp);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
// Proxy stuff if you need it
// curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_PROXY, $proxy);
// ssl config here
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 2);
// get curl response
if(curl_exec($ch) === false) {
echo 'Curl error: ' . curl_error($ch);
} else {
echo 'Done';
}
curl_close($ch);
fclose($fp);

Answer 2

$data=file_get_contents("https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZUqkdVQZqpHhE25m-5wxhN1uzK7EvoZ81bmrwiwk3CY/export?format=doc") ;
Use this method to get the file content, I have used this method on a url that returned a CSV file upon hitting.