URL Tracing in PHP

SurgeProto

I have a list of URLs that, when loaded in a browser, forward to another URL. I was wondering how, in PHP, I could take each URL and determine where it forwards to. I tried using fopen to see what it loaded, but it just loads the contents of the URL where it's being forwarded to. Has anyone tackled this before that could point me in the right direction?

Weedpacket

Use [man]fsockopen[/man] to send a request and see if the response is a redirect.

SurgeProto

Thanks for the reply.

I tried doing that, but apparently you can only put the hostname in fsockopen() and that doesn't help me since the URL's are all going to the same host, just a different page and/or querystring. If I use the full url, even without the http, it can't connect. Any ideas?

Weedpacket

Yes, now read the page and see what you can do once you've connected. (Tip: you don't need a GET, only a HEAD).

MarkR

You can use fopen(), with a stream context, then use the stream metadata to fetch the headers, including any redirects.

Mark

Weedpacket

MarkR wrote:
use fopen(), with a stream context,

That's in PHP 5, note.

SurgeProto

The problem is I CANNOT connect to the full URL. Only the host. As I mentioned, most of these URL's have the same host, so that doesn't help.

Weedpacket

SurgeProto wrote:
The problem is I CANNOT connect to the full URL. Only the host.

Well, duh. You don't connect to URLs anyway, you connect to hosts and then send them URLs in requests.

Read the page again, or explain just why it can't do what you want.