Check whether URL exists

[Sheepymot]

Is there a funstion that can check whether a url exists?

Sheeps

[grahame]

There is no general function to check any URL, but you can check an http:// URL for readability easily enough - example. The only way to test for mailto: type URLs is to send an email to the URL and see if the owner of the URL responds, and you're not going to find it very easy to check for the existance of http:// web pages within directories for which authorisation is required.

Note that testing a remote URL will cause your enquiry to be recorded in log files that the server there is probably keeping, and that you should respect the robots exclusion standard is you're doing more than a handful of tests.

[Rob]

I recall seeing a way to tentatively check if an email address exists, however although it always returns true for 'good' emails, it can occasionally return true for false emails.

I would consider it though better than nothing... My guess is that the method I remember reading about would be 80% accurate which is far better than a poke in the eye.

I'll investigate and try and recall the information.