Send HTTP request from PHP

send_http.php

// send HTTP POST request
function send_http($url, $params = null, $type = 'GET')
{
    $type = strtoupper($type); // request type
    if (!preg_match('/^(GET|POST)$/', $type)) {
        die("Unsupported method type: '$type'");
    }
    
    /* generate POST string */
    $query_string = '';
    
    if ($params){
        foreach($params as $key => $value)
        {
            $query_string.= $key.'='.$value.'&';
        }
        $query_string = rtrim($query_string, '&'); // trim trailing ampersand
    }

    if (count($params)){
        $url = $url . '?' . $query_string;
    }

    // cURL
    $ch = curl_init();  // open cURL handler

    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, '3');
    
    if ($type == 'POST') {
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, count($params));
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $url);
    } 

    $response = trim(curl_exec($ch)); // send request
    curl_close($ch);                  // close handler
    return ($response);
}