file_get_contents behind a proxy? - php

Question

At work we have to use a proxy to basically access port 80 for example, we have our own custom logins for each user.
My temporary workaround is using curl to basically login as myself through a proxy and access the external data I need.
Is there some sort of advanced php setting I can set so that internally whenever it tries to invoke something like file_get_contents() it always goes through a proxy? I'm on Windows ATM so it'd be a pain to recompile if that's the only way.
The reason my workaround is temporary is because I need a solution that's generic and works for multiple users instead of using one user's credentials ( Ive considered requesting a separate user account solely to do this but passwords change often and this technique needs to be deployed throughout a dozen or more sites ). I don't want to hard-code credentials basically to use the curl workaround.

Answer 1

To use file_get_contents() over/through a proxy that doesn't require authentication, something like this should do :
(I'm not able to test this one : my proxy requires an authentication)
$aContext = array(
'http' => array(
'proxy' => 'tcp://192.168.0.2:3128',
'request_fulluri' => true,
),
);
$cxContext = stream_context_create($aContext);
$sFile = file_get_contents("http://www.google.com", False, $cxContext);
echo $sFile;
Of course, replacing the IP and port of my proxy by those which are OK for yours ;-)
If you're getting that kind of error :
Warning: file_get_contents(http://www.google.com) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 407 Proxy Authentication Required
It means your proxy requires an authentication.
If the proxy requires an authentication, you'll have to add a couple of lines, like this :
$auth = base64_encode('LOGIN:PASSWORD');
$aContext = array(
'http' => array(
'proxy' => 'tcp://192.168.0.2:3128',
'request_fulluri' => true,
'header' => "Proxy-Authorization: Basic $auth",
),
);
$cxContext = stream_context_create($aContext);
$sFile = file_get_contents("http://www.google.com", False, $cxContext);
echo $sFile;
Same thing about IP and port, and, this time, also LOGIN and PASSWORD ;-) Check out all valid http options.
Now, you are passing an Proxy-Authorization header to the proxy, containing your login and password.
And... The page should be displayed ;-)

Answer 2

Use stream_context_set_default function. It is much easier to use as you can directly use file_get_contents or similar functions without passing any additional parameters
This blog post explains how to use it. Here is the code from that page.
<?php
// Edit the four values below
$PROXY_HOST = "proxy.example.com"; // Proxy server address
$PROXY_PORT = "1234"; // Proxy server port
$PROXY_USER = "LOGIN"; // Username
$PROXY_PASS = "PASSWORD"; // Password
// Username and Password are required only if your proxy server needs basic authentication
$auth = base64_encode("$PROXY_USER:$PROXY_PASS");
stream_context_set_default(
array(
'http' => array(
'proxy' => "tcp://$PROXY_HOST:$PROXY_PORT",
'request_fulluri' => true,
'header' => "Proxy-Authorization: Basic $auth"
// Remove the 'header' option if proxy authentication is not required
)
)
);
$url = "http://www.pirob.com/";
print_r( get_headers($url) );
echo file_get_contents($url);
?>

Answer 3

Depending on how the proxy login works stream_context_set_default might help you.
$context = stream_context_set_default(
array(
'http'=>array(
'header'=>'Authorization: Basic ' . base64_encode('username'.':'.'userpass')
)
)
);
$result = file_get_contents('http://..../...');

Answer 4

There's a similar post here: http://techpad.co.uk/content.php?sid=137 which explains how to do it.
function file_get_contents_proxy($url,$proxy){
// Create context stream
$context_array = array('http'=>array('proxy'=>$proxy,'request_fulluri'=>true));
$context = stream_context_create($context_array);
// Use context stream with file_get_contents
$data = file_get_contents($url,false,$context);
// Return data via proxy
return $data;
}