cURL or file_get_contents

[Michael]

What's the difference & when's it best to use one over another?

[Charles Stover]

Depends. file_get_contents is faster (I think) and doesn't require the cURL library (a lot of free servers have cURL disabled). However, cURL allows POST data, custom headers, custom everything, etc. cURL is practically the tools behind the browser, allowing you to modify anything and everything a browser can alter. file_get_contents is just the address bar.

[Michael]

Can't file_get_contents be blocked also? So that it won't work? Can cURL be blocked?

[Charles Stover]

file_get_contents isn't generally blocked. cURL is often blocked on free servers, but not always. I imagine file_get_contents would be blocked from external URLs if safe mode is enabled, but I don't recall a way to disable it other than that. cURL has its own series of functions that can all be disabled at once, by simply not including their library.
Unless you're asking if it can be blocked by the website to which you're attempting to connect, in which case the answer is no, because the website won't know you're using cURL or file_get_contents.