[php] file_get_contents() how to fix error "Failed to open stream", "No such file"

just to extend Shankars and amals answers with simple unit testing:

/**
 *
 * workaround HTTPS problems with file_get_contents
 *
 * @param $url
 * @return boolean|string
 */
function curl_get_contents($url)
{
    $data = FALSE;
    if (filter_var($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL))
    {
        $ch = curl_init($url);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
        $data = curl_exec($ch);
        curl_close($ch);
    }
    return $data;
}
// then in the unit tests:
public function test_curl_get_contents()
{
    $this->assertFalse(curl_get_contents(NULL));
    $this->assertFalse(curl_get_contents('foo'));
    $this->assertTrue(strlen(curl_get_contents('https://www.google.com')) > 0);
}