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I need to save an image from a PHP URL to my PC. Let's say I have a page, http://example.com/image.php, holding a single "flower" image, nothing else. How can I save this image from the URL with a new name (using PHP)?

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9 Answers

up vote 326 down vote accepted

If you have allow_url_fopen set to true:

$url = 'http://example.com/image.php';
$img = '/my/folder/flower.gif';
file_put_contents($img, file_get_contents($url));

Else use cURL:

$ch = curl_init('http://example.com/image.php');
$fp = fopen('/my/folder/flower.gif', 'wb');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FILE, $fp);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
fclose($fp);
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1  
Thanks bro, your code help me to solve the problem. But could u pls help me to make the script automated .I mean when a new gif image come to the url (“example.com/image.php”) then our script automatically fetch the new image and store it to my directory? –  riad Apr 7 '09 at 8:26
14  
And how do you know, that the new image "came"? –  vartec Apr 7 '09 at 8:37
2  
I think riad means using a $_GET variable containing the URL of the image http://example.com/fetch-image.php?url=http://blabla.com/flower.jpg. In the case of this example, you could just call $_GET['url'] in your PHP script, like so: $ch = curl_init($_GET['url']);. –  Mathias Bynens Nov 29 '09 at 13:04
1  
+1 for being the only answer I've seen that includes the "b" for binary flag. –  Will Morgan Oct 17 '12 at 16:12
1  
Could you expand on this so that there is a way to compare images already downloaded? Let's say you've downloaded flower.gif in a previous attempt but need to run the script again, I imagine you'd need to compare filesizes - if they are the same, skip the download. –  Tony M Jul 19 '13 at 14:18
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up vote 32 down vote 
$content = file_get_contents('http://example.com/image.php');
file_put_contents('/my/folder/flower.jpg', $content);
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The page is holding an animated gif image. A file is stored into the folder as flower.gif .But it is blank.No image show.any solution? –  riad Apr 7 '09 at 7:07
    
Turn on error_reporting(E_ALL|E_STRICT) and check the return value of file_get_contents(), then you should get a reasonable error message. –  soulmerge Apr 7 '09 at 7:12
    
Perhaps the site admin has forbidden outside referrals. In that case you can try stream_context_create() and set the appropriate HTTP headers. us2.php.net/manual/en/function.stream-context-create.php –  Calvin Apr 7 '09 at 7:18
    
urlencode('example.com/image.php') == 'http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fimage.php', obviously not what you want. Also file is binary, proper flag needs to be set. –  vartec Apr 7 '09 at 7:19
1  
Bit of an old thread... but don't forget file permissions for the directory you are saving into. Just wasted ten minutes forgetting the obvious. –  Paul Nov 23 '10 at 9:28
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up vote 14 down vote

Here you go, the example saves the remote image to image.jpg.

function save_image($inPath,$outPath)
{ //Download images from remote server
    $in=    fopen($inPath, "rb");
    $out=   fopen($outPath, "wb");
    while ($chunk = fread($in,8192))
    {
        fwrite($out, $chunk, 8192);
    }
    fclose($in);
    fclose($out);
}

save_image('http://www.someimagesite.com/img.jpg','image.jpg');
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The guys url is example.com/image.php. Notice that it is a php generated image an not a simple jpeg. –  andrew Jan 18 '11 at 21:14
6  
How is the generation of the image or the files extension at all relevant to the question? –  Sam152 Jan 19 '11 at 10:33
    
fopen needs allow_url_fopen=1 too –  zloctb Sep 18 '13 at 12:04
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up vote 7 down vote

I wasn't able to get any of the other solutions to work, but I was able to use wget:

$tempDir = '/download/file/here';
$finalDir = '/keep/file/here';
$imageUrl = 'http://www.example.com/image.jpg';

exec("cd $tempDir && wget --quiet $imageUrl");

if (!file_exists("$tempDir/image.jpg")) {
    throw new Exception('Failed while trying to download image');
}

if (rename("$tempDir/image.jpg", "$finalDir/new-image-name.jpg") === false) {
    throw new Exception('Failed while trying to move image file from temp dir to final dir');
}
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up vote 1 down vote

Create a folder named images located in the path you are planning to place the php script you are about to create. Make sure it has write rights for everybody or the scripts won't work ( it won't be able to upload the files into the directory).

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up vote 11 down vote

Vartec's answer with cURL didn't work for me. It did, with a slight improvement due to my specific problem.

e.g.,

When there is a redirect on the server (like when you are trying to save the facebook profile image) you will need following option set:

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);

The full solution becomes:

$ch = curl_init('http://example.com/image.php');
$fp = fopen('/my/folder/flower.gif', 'wb');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FILE, $fp);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
fclose($fp);
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1  
thanks zuul, really & stoe really found helpful after more search or spend time –  Rakesh Sharma Dec 13 '12 at 11:33
    
brilliant - that has helped so much! Should be noted on the Vartecs answer too –  Nick Jan 18 at 12:15
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up vote 2 down vote 
$img_file='http://www.somedomain.com/someimage.jpg'

$img_file=file_get_contents($img_file);

$file_loc=$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/some_dir/test.jpg';

$file_handler=fopen($file_loc,'w');

if(fwrite($file_handler,$img_file)==false){
    echo 'error';
}

fclose($file_handler);
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up vote 70 down vote 
copy('http://example.com/image.php', 'local/folder/flower.jpg');
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17  
Extremely elegant (requires allow_url_fopen). –  michaelc Aug 24 '11 at 15:56
4  
This doesn't keep PNG Transparancy –  AlexMorley-Finch May 22 '12 at 11:38
    
I wasnt having a go, just adding it so if any users come to this page in the future, they will see :) It is however a very elegant solution –  AlexMorley-Finch May 22 '12 at 11:59
26  
Please ignore my comments, this function works perfectly with transparancy. I had my headers hard-coded as image/jpeg. –  AlexMorley-Finch May 22 '12 at 12:10
    
@HalilÖzgür - thank you for this simple solution –  CroiOS Nov 24 '12 at 14:42
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up vote 1 down vote

http://php.net/manual/ru/function.file.php

$url = 'http://mixednews.ru/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/0ed9320413f3ba172471860e77b15587.jpg';
$img = 'miki.png';
$file= file($url);
file_put_contents('kelli.jpg', $file)
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2  
need allow_url_fopen = On –  zloctb Sep 18 '13 at 12:12
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protected by Community♦ Mar 14 '12 at 19:18

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