Using PHP CURL to download a file

Question

I am trying to download a .exe file using PHP CURL from the web server to the PC, using CURL to make the webserver login automatic. The problem I'm having is that the file is being written to the browser window instead of asking the user to save or run the file. I'm using the code below, how can I fix this to make it work like I want?

$username = "myuser";
$password = "mypassword";
$url="http://www.mywebsite.com/files/softwaredownload/myfile.exe";
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "$username:$password");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_BASIC);
curl_exec ($ch);
curl_close($ch);

dif · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-06 11:35:38Z

3

You should set the headers so the browser knows it has to display the save dialog.

Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=<file name.ext>

Also, bear in mind that Content-Type header should be before Content-Disposition.

edited Mar 6, 2012 at 11:35

dif

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answered Mar 5, 2012 at 21:52

Josep Valls

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1 Comment

user988750 Over a year ago

Thank you, adding the Content-Disposition header worked perfectly.

raina77ow · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-05 21:50:08Z

2

Add to your code these lines:

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_BINARYTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

... and replace curl_exec($ch) with $response = curl_exec($ch);, so $response content might be saved into a local file with file_put_contents() of fwrite() methods.

answered Mar 5, 2012 at 21:50

raina77ow

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