Check if file exists on remote server using its URL

How can I check in Java if a file exists on a remote server (served by HTTP), having its URL? I don't want to download the file, just check its existence.

import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;

public static boolean exists(String URLName){
    try {
      HttpURLConnection.setFollowRedirects(false);
      // note : you may also need
      //        HttpURLConnection.setInstanceFollowRedirects(false)
      HttpURLConnection con =
         (HttpURLConnection) new URL(URLName).openConnection();
      con.setRequestMethod("HEAD");
      return (con.getResponseCode() == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK);
    }
    catch (Exception e) {
       e.printStackTrace();
       return false;
    }
  }

If the connection to a URL (made with HttpURLConnection) returns with HTTP status code 200 then the file exists.

EDIT: Note that since we only care it exists or not there is no need to request the entire document. We can just request the header using the HTTP HEAD request method to check if it exists.

Source: http://www.rgagnon.com/javadetails/java-0059.html

public static boolean exists(String URLName){
    try {
      HttpURLConnection.setFollowRedirects(false);
      // note : you may also need
      //        HttpURLConnection.setInstanceFollowRedirects(false)
      HttpURLConnection con =
         (HttpURLConnection) new URL(URLName).openConnection();
      con.setRequestMethod("HEAD");
      return (con.getResponseCode() == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK);
    }
    catch (Exception e) {
       e.printStackTrace();
       return false;
    }
  }  

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4177864/checking-a-url-exist-or-not

Check this, it works for me. Source URL: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26418486/check-if-url-exists-or-not-on-server

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);     

    String customURL = "http://www.desicomments.com/dc3/08/273858/273858.jpg";

    MyTask task = new MyTask();
    task.execute(customURL);
}


private class MyTask extends AsyncTask<String, Void, Boolean> {

    @Override
    protected void onPreExecute() {

    }

    @Override
    protected Boolean doInBackground(String... params) {

         try {
                HttpURLConnection.setFollowRedirects(false);
                HttpURLConnection con =  (HttpURLConnection) new URL(params[0]).openConnection();
                con.setRequestMethod("HEAD");
                System.out.println(con.getResponseCode()); 
                return (con.getResponseCode() == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK);
            }
            catch (Exception e) {   
                e.printStackTrace();    
                return false;
            }
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPostExecute(Boolean result) {
        boolean bResponse = result;
         if (bResponse==true)
            {
                Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "File exists!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();      
            }
            else
            {           
                Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "File does not exist!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }                  
    }           
}
}

Assuming the file is being served through http, you can send a HEAD request to the URL and check the http response code returned.

The only true way is to download it :). On some servers usually you can get away by issuing a HEAD request insted of a GET request for the same url. This will return you only the resource metadata and not the actual file content.

Update: Check org.life.java's answer for the actual technical details on how to do this.

Make a URLConnection to it. If you succeed, it exists. You may have to go so far as opening an input stream to it, but you don't have to read the contents. You can immediately close the stream.