Novice question

Hi I'm afraid I've fallen a little out of touch with PHP dev, so a stupid question for you. I want to write a script that requests a URL and then reads that website .. I'm interested to map web structures. My web host is saying I'll need URL file access enabled but that it's a) a security risk and b) deprecated. So .. what's the good / proper / acceptable / secure way of reading in URLs in PHP or .. isn't there one? Cheers J -- 01723 376477 Cost-free marketing: http://www.flowmarketing.co.uk/ Affordable marketing guidance for small businesses: http://www.amilliontweaks.co.uk/ Effective marketing services for SMEs: coming soon at http://www.surgemarketing.co.uk Professional Internet marketing consultancy: http://www.johnallsopp.co.uk