How can a PHP developer improve the accuracy and reliability of checking the availability of external files by understanding HTTP requests and responses?

To improve the accuracy and reliability of checking the availability of external files, a PHP developer should understand HTTP requests and responses. By utilizing proper error handling and status code checking, developers can ensure that the file exists and is accessible before attempting to use it in their code. 

$url = 'https://www.example.com/file.txt';
$headers = get_headers($url);

if(strpos($headers[0], '200') !== false) {
    // File is available
    echo 'File is available';
} else {
    // File is not available
    echo 'File is not available';
}

Keywords

HTTP requests HTTP responses file availability PHP developer reliability.

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