Increase your PHP code performance : Allow_url_fopen

This functionality of the php.ini file will give access the wide functions acting on files, thus allowing instead of passing a local file name to pass a remote file name to it. The functions which use it are:

• fopen: Open a local or a remote file
• file_get_contents: Read a file into a string
• fsockopen: Open an INET or Unix socket
• file: Read a file and returns its contents into an array
• readfile: Print a file

For example, if you wants to read a remote file you have the following methods: Top

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Even if these functions have characteristics (file returns a table, file_get_contents return a string, readfile posts directly the contents, fsockopen get http headers) it does not remain about it less than these functions have similar properties and than one can wonder sometimes which to choose. I thus carried out several series of tests by taking care of

• Request number
  • 2
  • 10
  • 100
• Time frequentation
  • During morning
  • During afternoon (high traffic)
  • In the evening (medium traffic)
• Traffic url
  • A personal home page (very few traffic)
  • A middle traffic url (http://www.phplibrairies.com)
  • A high traffic url (http://www.google.fr)

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Results were obtained starting from the various calculated averages.

Number of tests

All in all, the request number does not have an influence over the request duration.

Period test

In this case, it seems logical that duration is longer since the traffic is more significant..

Traffic url

In this case, the results are more contradictory: the site which has traffic most extremely is that which answers most quickly; this can be explicable by the bandwidth dedicated to it, which is quite different from that of both others :).

Generally, you can note that the use of the function fsockopen is always fastest. Slowest are the two later functions file and file_get_contents; This can be explained by it to make that these last functions made a socket and does another treatement over. It is thus better than you use the function fsockopen - which will be on average three times faster than the others - which will cost you some lines moreover, but which will ensure of better performances

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