http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=201557


in reply to Re: Checking for an existing URL
in thread Checking for an existing URL

I thing you should try HEAD instad of GET. If all you want to know is whether the URL is fine, why would you download the whole document? :-)
Because some servers have been shown to return an error for HEAD, but a real document for GET. So you have to do both. Try HEAD first, but if it fails, retry with GET.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker