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To send a Telegram bot message with PHP cURL, POST a JSON payload to the Bot API’s sendMessage endpoint, then check the result in four separate layers: cURL transport, HTTP status, JSON decoding, and Telegram’s ok field. A response body—or even a successful curl_exec()—does not by itself mean Telegram accepted the message.
Send a message and check Telegram’s response
This example sends chat_id and text as JSON. Set $token, $chatId, and $text from your application’s configuration and input.
<?php
$url = 'https://api.telegram.org/bot' . $token . '/sendMessage';
$payload = json_encode([
'chat_id' => $chatId,
'text' => $text,
], JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
CURLOPT_POST => true,
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => $payload,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['Content-Type: application/json'],
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 20,
]);
$body = curl_exec($ch);
if ($body === false) {
$errno = curl_errno($ch);
$error = curl_error($ch);
curl_close($ch);
throw new RuntimeException("cURL transport failure ($errno): $error");
}
$httpStatus = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
curl_close($ch);
try {
$response = json_decode($body, true, 512, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);
} catch (JsonException $e) {
throw new RuntimeException('Telegram response was not valid JSON', 0, $e);
}
if (!is_array($response)) {
throw new RuntimeException('Telegram response JSON was not an object');
}
if (($response['ok'] ?? false) !== true) {
$code = $response['error_code'] ?? 'unknown';
$description = $response['description'] ?? 'No description supplied';
throw new RuntimeException("Telegram API error ($code): $description; HTTP $httpStatus");
}
$message = $response['result'];The 20-second timeout is an example setting, not a Telegram requirement. Choose timeouts, handling for non-2xx HTTP responses, and any retry policy to fit your application. Telegram supports GET and POST requests, with query-string, form-encoded, JSON, or multipart data; multipart is used for file uploads. The endpoint pattern is https://api.telegram.org/bot<token>/METHOD_NAME.
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1. cURL transport result
With CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER enabled, curl_exec() returns the response body when the transfer completes, or false when cURL encounters a transport failure. Capture curl_errno() and curl_error() before closing the handle so you can diagnose connection or transfer problems.
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2. HTTP status
Read the HTTP status independently with curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) before closing the handle. An HTTP error status such as 404 does not make curl_exec() return false; cURL can complete the transfer and return an error response body. See the PHP curl_exec() manual.
Keep the status alongside the response body. It provides useful transport-level context, but it is not a substitute for decoding Telegram’s response or checking its API-level result.
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3. JSON validity and shape
Telegram normally responds with JSON, but code should not assume every body is valid JSON. Passing JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR to json_decode() makes malformed JSON raise a JsonException, which you can catch and report separately. The example also checks that the decoded value is an array before reading fields. See the PHP json_decode() manual.
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A valid JSON response still may represent an unsuccessful API request. Telegram’s response object always includes a Boolean ok field. When it is true, the method result is in result; when it is false, inspect description for the explanation. Telegram may also return error_code and optional parameters. Its documentation cautions that error_code values may change, so avoid treating a numeric mapping as permanent. See the Telegram Bot API reference.
Log enough to diagnose failures safely
For an operational log, retain the failure layer and its useful context: cURL error number and message for transport failures; HTTP status for completed transfers; and Telegram’s error_code and description when available. If JSON decoding fails, a safely bounded excerpt of the response may help investigation, subject to your data-handling rules.
The bot token appears in the endpoint URL. Do not write that URL, or other token-bearing request details, to logs. Avoid logging message text or other sensitive payload data unless your application has a clear need and appropriate safeguards.
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Choose retries based on the failure
Do not retry every failure automatically. A transport failure, an HTTP error, invalid JSON, and a Telegram response with ok: false are different situations and provide different evidence. Inspect the available status and response fields, including parameters when present, then apply a policy suited to the specific operation. The Bot API documentation does not make error_code values a permanent catalogue, so avoid relying on an assumed universal mapping.
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