Question

Php check if file exists (on a given url)

Asked by: rares_dumitrescu

Hello
How can i check with php if a file exists on a given url ?
ie: www.myurl/file.mp3
I want the check to be fast!

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Asked On
2009-11-03 at 08:51:16ID24867779
Tags

php

,

file exists

Topic

Programming Languages

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
11

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Answers

 

by: fsouzabrasilPosted on 2009-11-03 at 08:54:06ID: 25730942

use curl for this purpose.

http://php.net/manual/en/book.curl.php

 

by: PsyberionPosted on 2009-11-03 at 09:36:02ID: 25731386

If the file is local on the machine or available via a network path you can just use the bool file_exists  ( string $filename  ) function:

If (file_exists("\\server\path\file.ext")) ...

But if you want to check the existance of a file on the internet at some URL then file_exists won't work, but you could use fopen instead. If fopen fails then the file is not accessible, otherwise it will open the file successfully. Eg.

if (fopen("www.myurl/file.mp3", "r")) {
    // File exists.
}
else {
    // File is not accessible.
}

regards,
Psyberion.

 

by: rares_dumitrescuPosted on 2009-11-03 at 12:00:12ID: 25732906

Yes, this could be a good solution, but it's not
If i put an echo "File does not exist" the script does not do the echo

It just shows me this error, with out even entering in else {}
Warning: fopen(www.myurl/file.mp3): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/scobee/test.php on line 3

 

by: PsyberionPosted on 2009-11-03 at 12:09:59ID: 25732998

Indeed, but you can use the @ operator to supress the error message:

if (@fopen("www.myurl/file.mp3", "r")) { ...

 

by: rares_dumitrescuPosted on 2009-11-03 at 12:27:47ID: 25733209

this would be ok, but another problem appeared:
for http://s1.fisierulmeu.ro:32681/dwn3/hd2/598623FYX2RN/name/Nicolae & Nicoleta Guta - Suparari, bucurii (Originala)(NecKerM4nn www.Mp3alese.com ).mp3

if just stays a lot of time to check, although the url does not work ..
can i do something about that ?

 

by: PsyberionPosted on 2009-11-03 at 12:35:31ID: 25733299

You want to reduce the timeout? You can temporarily reduce it and set it back to it's original value with...

$timeout = 3;
$oldTimeout = ini_set('default_socket_timeout', $timeout);
if (@fopen("www.myurl/file.mp3", "r")) {...
...}
ini_set('default_socket_timeout', $oldTimeout);

This doesn't work in safe mode though.

 

by: rares_dumitrescuPosted on 2009-11-03 at 12:55:48ID: 25733511

and how long would it take for an existing file (of any dimension - could be 3 mb, 100mb etc) to be found by fopen ?
... so that i set the timeout properly

 

by: PsyberionPosted on 2009-11-03 at 13:07:49ID: 25733658

Alternatively, if you do have cURL at your disposal in php then you could try creating the following function to wrap the cURL stuff up:

function URLFileExists($url) {
    $c = curl_init($url);
    //Only read the http header, not the content
    curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true);
    $response = curl_exec($c);
    $retVal = false;
    if ($response !== false) {
        if (curl_getinfo($c, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) == 200) {
            $retVal = true;  
        }
    }
    curl_close($c);
    return $retVal;
}

if (URLFileExists("www.myurl/file.mp3")) {
    // File exists
}
else {
    // File is not accessible
}

Again you may have an issue with timeout, so you should set the timeout of the cURL request to a length you are comfortable with.

To set timeout for connection to the server:
curl_setopt($c,CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT,2);

To set timeout of the transfer operation:
curl_setopt($c,CURLOPT_TTIMEOUT,2);

These should just be inserted after the curl_setopt in the above URLFileExists function. You might want to change the duration to something other than 2 seconds.

 

by: rares_dumitrescuPosted on 2009-11-03 at 13:13:15ID: 25733726

what do you think its the optimum time to set the timeout ?

 

by: PsyberionPosted on 2009-11-03 at 13:18:30ID: 25733796

There's no real answer to that when you are talking about requests over the internet. Somedays a URL will return immediately, at other times the same URL may take a over a minute. So unless you have a reliable direct connection to the server holding the file, I'd suggest setting it to the longest you are confortable for your needs and accept that if it takes longer and the file does exist your script will think it doesn't.

Also the size of the file should not affect the length of time, since you are not actually requesting the contents of the file. This goes for both the fopen and cURL examples I've given.

 

by: rares_dumitrescuPosted on 2009-11-03 at 13:24:35ID: 25733891

Okay, great! Thank you!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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