file_exists function not working

[gambrker]

My goal is simple. I want to check a URL for an image. If the image is there, do this. If not, do this. In its simplest form, I cannot get it to work. Any help is appreciated. Running VPS, PHP 5.1.6. The image is there, but its still saying image does not exist.

 

http://www.communitychurch.cc/if-else-test2.php

 

<?php

$filename = 'http://www.communitychurch.cc/site-uploads/about/header-image.jpg';

if (file_exists($filename)) {
   echo "The file $filename exists";
} else {
   echo "The file $filename does not exist";
}

?> 

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Your $filename isn't a filename, it's a URL. You cannot use a http URL in the file_exists function. You must use a file system path as an argument to the file_exists function.

 

Is this image located on your server or some other server?

[premiso]

Your $filename isn't a filename, it's a URL. You cannot use a http URL in the file_exists function. You must use a file system path as an argument to the file_exists function.

 

I thought this was only true if the allow_url_fopen were turned off. Just did a test, looks like you are right

 

Either or, I would do it with cURL Check here for a function that should do what you want: http://php.net/manual/en/function.file-exists.php#85246

[AyKay47]

As PFM said, this is not a file _path, its a URL.

 

Also, file_exists will return not work when used on remote severs

[PFMaBiSmAd]

file_exists uses stat to get the file information. http/https doesn't support stat.

[gambrker]

The image is located on my server, but I must use a URL because the URL will actually be generated by a system for more than 1 image.

 

I am not curl savvy (and obviously a novice PHP coder), what function should I use besides file_exists?

[premiso]

I am not curl savvy (and obviously a novice PHP coder), what function should I use besides file_exists?

 

Did you take a look at the link I posted? It is just a function that you can copy and paste and it will work.

[gambrker]

Honestly, I got a little intimidated and wasn't sure what to do with it. I gave it a try and it works like a charm. Thank you all!

 

Final Code:

 

<?php

function url_exists($url) {
    // Version 4.x supported
    $handle   = curl_init($url);
    if (false === $handle)
    {
        return false;
    }
    curl_setopt($handle, CURLOPT_HEADER, false);
    curl_setopt($handle, CURLOPT_FAILONERROR, true);  // this works
    curl_setopt($handle, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, Array("User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.15) Gecko/20080623 Firefox/2.0.0.15") ); // request as if Firefox   
    curl_setopt($handle, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true);
    curl_setopt($handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, false);
    $connectable = curl_exec($handle);
    curl_close($handle);  
    return $connectable;
}

$imageURL = 'http://www.communitychurch.cc/site-uploads/about/header-image.jpg';

if (url_exists($imageURL)) {
   echo "The file $imageURL exists";
} else {
   echo "The file $imageURL does not exist";
}

?>