PHP: Check if URL is available

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//check if url is available
function is_available($url, $timeout = 30) {
        $ch = curl_init(); // get cURL handle

        // set cURL options
        $opts = array(CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true, // do not output to browser
                                  CURLOPT_URL => $url,            // set URL
                                  CURLOPT_NOBODY => true,                 // do a HEAD request only
                                  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => $timeout);   // set timeout
        curl_setopt_array($ch, $opts); 

        curl_exec($ch); // do it!

        $retval = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) == 200; // check if HTTP OK

        curl_close($ch); // close handle

        return $retval;
}