Question

    $fileSource = "http://google.com";
    $ch = curl_init($fileSource);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true);
    curl_exec($ch);
    $retcode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);

    if ($retcode != 200) {
        $error .= "The source specified is not a valid URL.";
    }
    curl_close($ch);

Here’s my issue. When I use the above and set $fileSource = "http://google.com"; it does not work, whereas if I set it to $fileSource = "http://www.google.com/"; it works.

What’s the issue?

Answer 1

One permanently redirects (301) to the www. domain, while the other one just replies OK (200).

Why are you only considering only the 200 status code as valid? Let CURL handle that for you:

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FAILONERROR, true);

From the manual:

TRUE to fail silently if the HTTP code returned is greater than or
equal to 400. The default behavior is to return the page normally,
ignoring the code.