file() with https

[Kilo]

I can use the php function file() fine to grab the html from any web site. However, I need to access a site which is only available over https. When I try to grab this, I get:

"failed to open stream: No such file or directory"

I get this if I attempt to grab anything over https. My questions are:

1) Is this usual.
2) Is there a way around it?

Thanks in advance.

[bubblenut]

I guess you'd need to open a socket and then pass it the required http requests. Check out the socket functions.