using curl and storing cookie as a variable - php

Question

i have a curl function that visits a website, logs in to said website, stores the cookie file, then can later read the cookie file to visit a page that would normally require a login.
problem i am faced with is i want to save and retrieve the cookie file using a php variable but cant seem to get it to work.
$username = "myusername";
function getUrl($url, $method='', $vars='') {
$ch = curl_init();
if ($method == 'post') {
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $vars);
}
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookies/$username.txt");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookies/$username.txt");
$buffer = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
return $buffer;
}
i assume the syntax is wrong, and not that curl cant handle a variable as a location?

Answer 1

The problem is the scope of the $username variable. Because it's outside the function, it's not available inside the function. You should either add the username as a parameter of the function or use the global keyword so that it's accessible inside the function.
See http://ca2.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.scope.php for more information.