How can I check if a URL exists via PHP?

Question

How do I check if a URL exists (not 404) in PHP?

Answer 1

function URLIsValid($URL)
{
    $exists = true;
    $file_headers = @get_headers($URL);
    $InvalidHeaders = array('404', '403', '500');
    foreach($InvalidHeaders as $HeaderVal)
    {
            if(strstr($file_headers[0], $HeaderVal))
            {
                    $exists = false;
                    break;
            }
    }
    return $exists;
}