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I dont understand the PHP cURL function curl_multi_exec(). 

int curl_multi_exec(handle h, int running)

I went through the PHP manual http://www.php.net but don't understand what the variable running does.

Searched a lot on Google but didn't find the explanation. Can somebody explain?

Jakub Hampl
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lovesh
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1 Answers1

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Every time you call it, that variable is assigned to tell you whether the op is still running:

curl_multi_exec($ch, $running);

After that, $running is non-zero if the operations are still running. If so, you will have to call it again (normally in a loop).

Matthew Flaschen
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  • does this operation takes too long? why do i need to put in a loop? – lovesh Apr 07 '11 at 17:15
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    @lovesh, yes, `curl_multi_exec` is commonly used when you're running multiple curl jobs in parallel. They can take a while to finish, so you call `curl_multi_exec` repeatedly so curl can update you with the status. You can also call [`curl_multi_select`](http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.curl-multi-select.php) if you want to block until one of the requests has made progress. – Matthew Flaschen Apr 07 '11 at 17:29
  • It doesn't just tell you if there are operations running, it reports the number of operations which are currently active (not completed). And you should have a blocking call to sleep()/usleep() or curl_multi_select() inside the same loop to avoid slowing your system down too much. – symcbean Mar 02 '15 at 15:16