PHP cURL curl_copy_handle() Function

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The PHP Client URL curl_copy_handle() function is used to copy a cURL handle along with all of its preferences. The copied cURL handle represents a cURL session. After the handle is copied, it can be altered separately from the original. This includes set up multiple parameters or running queries simultaneously.

Syntax

Below is the syntax of the PHP cURL curl_copy_handle() function −

resource curl_copy_handle ( resource $ch )

Parameters

This function accepts $ch parameter which is the cURL handle resource returned by curl_init().

Return Value

The curl_copy_handle() function returns a new cURL handle which is a copy of the original handle or FALSE on failure.

PHP Version

First introduced in core PHP 5, the curl_copy_handle() function continues to function easily in PHP 7, and PHP 8.

Example 1

First we will show you the basic example of the PHP cURL curl_copy_handle() function to copy the given URL.

<?php
   // Create a new cURL resource
   $ch = curl_init();

   // Set URL and other options
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'http://www.tutorialspoint.com/');
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);

   // Copy the handle
   $ch2 = curl_copy_handle($ch);

   echo "The URL handle is copied successfully." ; 

   // Get the URL and pass it to the browser
   curl_exec($ch2);

   // Close cURL resources
   curl_close($ch2);
   curl_close($ch);

Output

Here is the outcome of the following code −

The URL handle is copied successfully.

Example 2

This is an additional PHP example code that uses the curl_copy_handle() method to copy the given URL handle and display both original and copied URL in the output.

<?php
   // Initialize a cURL session
   $ch = curl_init('https://www.tutorialspoint.com');

   // Set options here
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

   // Create a copy of the cURL handle
   $ch_copy = curl_copy_handle($ch);

   // Get the URL from the original handle
   $original_url = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_EFFECTIVE_URL);

   // Get the URL from the copied handle
   $copied_url = curl_getinfo($ch_copy, CURLINFO_EFFECTIVE_URL);

   // Print both URLs
   echo "Original URL: " . $original_url . '\n';
   echo "Copied URL: " . $copied_url . "\n";

   // Close both handles when done
   curl_close($ch);
   curl_close($ch_copy);
?> 

Output

This will produce the following output −

Original URL: https://www.tutorialspoint.com
Copied URL: https://www.tutorialspoint.com

Example 3

In the below PHP code we will try to copy the URL using the curl_copy_handle() function and modify the original URL and display the data from all the URLs.

<?php
   // Initialize a cURL session
   $ch = curl_init('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1');

   // Set some common options
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);

   // Create a copy of the cURL handle
   $ch_copy1 = curl_copy_handle($ch);
   $ch_copy2 = curl_copy_handle($ch);

   // Change the URL for the copies
   curl_setopt($ch_copy1, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/2');
   curl_setopt($ch_copy2, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/3');

   // Perform the requests
   $response1 = curl_exec($ch_copy1);
   $response2 = curl_exec($ch_copy2);

   // Print the responses
   echo "Response from post 2: " . $response1 . "\n";
   echo "Response from post 3: " . $response2 . "\n";

   // Close all handles
   curl_close($ch);
   curl_close($ch_copy1);
   curl_close($ch_copy2);
?> 

Output

This will generate the below output −

Response from post 2: { "userId": 1, "id": 2, "title": "qui est esse", "body": "est rerum tempore vitae\nsequi sint nihil reprehenderit dolor beatae ea dolores neque\nfugiat blanditiis voluptate porro vel nihil molestiae ut reiciendis\nqui aperiam non debitis possimus qui neque nisi nulla" } 
Response from post 3: { "userId": 1, "id": 3, "title": "ea molestias quasi exercitationem repellat qui ipsa sit aut", "body": "et iusto sed quo iure\nvoluptatem occaecati omnis eligendi aut ad\nvoluptatem doloribus vel accusantium quis pariatur\nmolestiae porro eius odio et labore et velit aut" }

Summary

The curl_copy_handle() method is a built-in function to copy the cURL handle. This function is very helpful when you need to properly handle multiple requests at once or use the same cURL settings for multiple requests.