I'm trying very simple in PHP and not very sure what to search here or on google.
Problem is -
In PHP function I want to call/get a URL
and like to read the return value (body) at this URL (which may contain "Your Name is MyNameIsX")
I tried
$data = file_get_contents($url)
This is timing out; although I'm able to open the $url in the browser.
Yes, file_get_contents normal use for files on this server and base on support and setting this perhaps is not allow.
See PHP CUrl http://php.net/manual/en/curl.examples.php or example http://php.net/manual/en/curl.examples.php, http://php.net/manual/en/curl.examples-basic.php
Yes the above answers is right. some hosting providers disable it for security purpose. You may also try fopen(php) if you are not looking for Curl way. Read documentation here http://php.net/manual/en/function.fopen.php
It sounds like you need to enable loopback calls on the server (self-calls). It would be better to get the data on the backend if you need it on the same server. Via a PHP API or calls to a database.
You could use cUrl as suggested by FIG-GHD742 but I find the HTTP extension a lot easier to use. It's newer and has a neat OOP api.
Another method is that you can actually do an include/require with these, but it's generally a bad idea to do so if you don't control the source from which the data is coming