are there mechanisms, to disable file_get_contents() function working?

Question

i use file_get_contents function to grab data from sites and store the data in database. it will be very inconvenient for me, if one day the script will start not working.

Answer 1

I know, that it can start not working, if they change the structure of site, but now i'm afraid, that maybe there are mechanisms to disable the working of this function, maybe from server?

Yes, it can be disabled from php.ini with allow_url_fopen option. You have other options such as CURL extension too.

Note also that you will need to have openssl extension turned on from php.ini if you are going to use the file_get_contents function to read from a secure protocol.

So in case file_get_contents is/gets disabled, you can go for CURL extension.