What is the best way to verify if a user-inputted URL points to an image file using PHP?

To verify if a user-inputted URL points to an image file using PHP, you can use the getimagesize() function. This function returns an array with image information if the URL points to an image file, or false if it does not. You can then check if the returned value is an array to determine if the URL is an image file.

$url = "https://example.com/image.jpg";

$image_info = getimagesize($url);

if ($image_info !== false) {
    echo "The URL points to an image file.";
} else {
    echo "The URL does not point to an image file.";
}