# curl_init

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.2, PHP 5)

curl_init — Initialize a cURL session

### Description

resource curl_init ([ string `$url` ] )

Initializes a new session and return a cURL handle for use with the curl_setopt(), curl_exec(), and curl_close() functions.

### Parameters

`url`

  If provided, the `CURLOPT_URL` option will be set to its value. You can manually set this using the curl_setopt() function.

### Return Values

Returns a cURL handle on success, `FALSE` on errors.

### Examples

Example#1 Initializing a new cURL session and fetching a web page

`<?php
// create a new cURL resource
$ch = curl_init();
// set URL and other appropriate options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "http://www.example.com/");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
// grab URL and pass it to the browser
curl_exec($ch);
// close cURL resource, and free up system resources
curl_close($ch);
?>`

### See Also

- curl_close()
- curl_multi_init()