PHP Functions Essential Reference

fsockopen

mixed fsockopen(string host, int port, [reference error_number], 
 [reference error_string], [double timeout]) 

host	Hostname or IP address
port	Port number
error_number	Reference to a variable that will store the system-level error number if the function fails
error_string	Reference to a variable that will store the system-level error message if the function fails
timeout	Number of seconds before the connect system call times out

Opens a connection to a socket.

Returns:

File pointer identifying the open socket; FALSE on failure

Description:

fsockopen() attempts to open a network socket connection to the specified host and port. TCP connections are assumed by default, but UDP connections can be specified by placing udp:// at the ...