I need to check whether a css file is available or - if not - load a local fallback file. What's the fastest way in php? Check if File Exists. FileExists method does not work if you have a wild card in your remote path file name. PHP: How to check if image file exists? Ask Question. How can one check to see if a remote file exists using PHP? Is_file or file_exists in PHP. I am having roblems with locating a PHP script to allow me to obtain the contents of a txt file on a remote server, then output to a variable. Outputting something to.
Using remote files As long as allow_url_fopen is enabled in php.ini, you can use HTTP and FTP URLs with most of the functions that take a filename as a parameter. In addition, URLs can be used with the,, and statements (since PHP 5.2.0, allow_url_include must be enabled for these). See for more information about the protocols supported by PHP. For example, you can use this to open a file on a remote web server, parse the output for the data you want, and then use that data in a database query, or simply to output it in a style matching the rest of your website.
The previous post is part right, part wrong. It's part right because it's true that the php script will run on the remote server, if it's capable of interpreting php scripts. You can see this by creating this script on a remote machine: Then include that in a php file on your local machine. When you view it in a browser, you'll see the hostname of the remote machine.
However, that does not mean there are no security worries here. Just try replacing the previous script with this one: ';? The Wonder Years 9th Wonder Zip on this page. >I'm guessing you can figure out what that's gonna do. So yes, remote includes can be a major security problem.
@AD7six: I was assuming setting up cURL in memory would cause overload, I did some testing comparing the two methods and you're right: if you have the cURL library loaded it's consistently faster to use the accepted method compared to get_headers. I compared all 3 mentioned methods: cURL is the fastest, then get_headers, then getimagesize with the added downside getimagesize will only tell you if an image exists.
It is what was asked, so it's still a valid answer here, but it's not very versatile. – Jul 6 '15 at 15:19 •.