PHP to check file exist on external server using file_get_contents()

Question

Checking file exists on external server using file_get_contents() method, does this method will work properly?

$url_file = "http://website.com/dir/filename.php";
$contents = file_get_contents($url_file);

if($contents){
echo "File Exists!";
} else {
echo "File Doesn't Exists!";
}

Answer 1

I think best method for me is using this script:

$file = "http://website.com/dir/filename.php";
$file_headers = get_headers($file);

If file not exists output for $file_headers[0] is: HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found or HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found

Use strpos method to check 404 string if file doesn't exists:

if(strpos($file_headers[0], '404') !== false){
echo "File Doesn't Exists!";
} else {
echo "File Exists!";
}

Thanks for all help :)