check if file exists in php

Question

if (!(file_exists(http://mysite.com/images/thumbnail_1286954822.jpg))) {   
$filefound = \'0\';                         
}

why won\'t this work?

Answer 1

You can also use PHP get_headers() function.

Example:

function check_file_exists_here($url){
   $result=get_headers($url);
   return stripos($result[0],"200 OK")?true:false; //check if $result[0] has 200 OK
}

if(check_file_exists_here("http://www.mywebsite.com/file.pdf"))
   echo "This file exists";
else
   echo "This file does not exist";