cURL to PHP Converter

Same library, different syntax

PHP’s curl extension is a binding to libcurl — the same library the curl command-line tool uses. That makes this the most faithful of all the conversions: almost every command-line flag has a matching CURLOPT_* constant, and the request PHP sends is the one curl would send. The generated code sets every option in a single curl_setopt_array call, which is easier to read and review than a long list of curl_setopt lines, then executes the request, throws a RuntimeException with curl_error() if it fails, and echoes the status code and response.

Flag to CURLOPT mapping

Headers curl adds implicitly, such as Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded for -d, are written into the header list so nothing depends on defaults. An empty header -H 'X-Empty;' keeps libcurl’s semicolon syntax.

Bodies and uploads

A -d body is passed as a string, byte for byte, which keeps JSON, XML or url-encoded data exactly as in the command; several -d flags are joined with & first. Passing a string to CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS sends a regular body, while passing an array makes libcurl build a multipart/form-data request — which is precisely what -F does, so form fields become an array. Files use new CURLFile($path, $mimeType, $postName), read from disk when the script runs.

PHP arrays cannot hold the same key twice, so a field repeated with -F keeps only its last value; a warning points this out. -T uploads use file_get_contents.

To work with a JSON response, decode it with json_decode($response, true) after checking $status; the generated script deliberately stops at printing so you can choose how to handle errors.

Notes on security and scope

Disabling peer and host verification for -k is fine against a local development server but should never reach production; consider pointing CURLOPT_CAINFO at your own CA instead. Options that only affect curl’s terminal output are dropped, and unsupported features are listed as notes. The conversion runs entirely in your browser. For framework code, the same request is straightforward to port to Guzzle or Symfony HttpClient, and the PHP formatter can tidy the result.

Examples

curl -X POST https://shop.example.com/cart \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -A 'Mozilla/5.0 (PasteKit test)' \
  -b 'session=abc123' \
  -d 'sku=KB-104&qty=2' -L --compressed

<?php

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_URL => 'https://shop.example.com/cart',
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
    CURLOPT_USERAGENT => 'Mozilla/5.0 (PasteKit test)',
    CURLOPT_COOKIE => 'session=abc123',
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        'Accept: application/json',
        'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
    ],
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => 'sku=KB-104&qty=2',
    CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
]);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
if ($response === false) {
    throw new RuntimeException(curl_error($ch));
}
$status = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_RESPONSE_CODE);

echo $status, PHP_EOL;
echo $response, PHP_EOL;

curl https://files.example.com/upload \
  -u reports:Tr0ub4dor \
  -F '[email protected];type=application/pdf' \
  -F 'folder=finance' -m 1.5

<?php

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_URL => 'https://files.example.com/upload',
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => [
        'file' => new CURLFile('q3-report.pdf', 'application/pdf', 'q3-report.pdf'),
        'folder' => 'finance',
    ],
    CURLOPT_USERPWD => 'reports:Tr0ub4dor',
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS => 1500,
]);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
if ($response === false) {
    throw new RuntimeException(curl_error($ch));
}
$status = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_RESPONSE_CODE);

echo $status, PHP_EOL;
echo $response, PHP_EOL;

Common errors and how to fix them

Related tools

• cURL to Python requests
• cURL to JavaScript fetch
• cURL to Go net/http
• cURL to Axios
• PHP formatter
• JSON formatter