How can I unshorten a URL?

Question

I want to be able to take a shortened or non-shortened URL and return its un-shortened form. How can I make a python program to do this?

Additional Clarification:

Answer 1

Here a src code that takes into account almost of the useful corner cases:

• set a custom Timeout.
• set a custom User Agent.
• check whether we have to use an http or https connection.
• resolve recursively the input url and prevent ending within a loop.

The src code is on github @ https://github.com/amirkrifa/UnShortenUrl

comments are welcome ...

import logging
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)

TIMEOUT = 10
class UnShortenUrl:
    def process(self, url, previous_url=None):
        logging.info('Init url: %s'%url)
        import urlparse
        import httplib
        try:
            parsed = urlparse.urlparse(url)
            if parsed.scheme == 'https':
                h = httplib.HTTPSConnection(parsed.netloc, timeout=TIMEOUT)
            else:
                h = httplib.HTTPConnection(parsed.netloc, timeout=TIMEOUT)
            resource = parsed.path
            if parsed.query != "": 
                resource += "?" + parsed.query
            try:
                h.request('HEAD', 
                          resource, 
                          headers={'User-Agent': 'curl/7.38.0'}
                                   }
                          )
                response = h.getresponse()
            except:
                import traceback
                traceback.print_exec()
                return url

            logging.info('Response status: %d'%response.status)
            if response.status/100 == 3 and response.getheader('Location'):
                red_url = response.getheader('Location')
                logging.info('Red, previous: %s, %s'%(red_url, previous_url))
                if red_url == previous_url:
                    return red_url
                return self.process(red_url, previous_url=url) 
            else:
                return url 
        except:
            import traceback
            traceback.print_exc()
            return None