# curl_exec

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.2, PHP 5, PHP 7)

curl_exec — Perform a cURL session

### Description

curl_exec ( resource `$ch` ) : mixed

Execute the given cURL session.

This function should be called after initializing a cURL session and all the options for the session are set.

### Parameters

`ch`

  A cURL handle returned by curl_init().

### Return Values

Returns `TRUE` on success or `FALSE` on failure. However, if the `CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER` option is set, it will return the result on success, `FALSE` on failure.

Warning

This function may return Boolean `FALSE`, but may also return a non-Boolean value which evaluates to `FALSE`. Please read the section on Booleans for more information. Use the === operator for testing the return value of this function.

> Note:

> Note that response status codes which indicate errors (such as `404 Not found`) are not regarded as failure. curl_getinfo() can be used to check for these.

### Examples

Example #1 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_multi_exec() - Run the sub-connections of the current cURL handle