nodejs check url is exist but don't download it

Question

I found the npm packages urlExists http, they make a request and response with the body data.

like the command curl -i url

I want don't download the body data and know the url is exist.

effectively you cant know if a url exists untill you make a valid request and get the response, at l;east the headers. So there is no other way — Nikos M., May 01 '19 at 08:34
That library makes a HEAD request (as opposed to a GET) which is probably the most minimalistic way to check if a URL responds or not. I cannot see it downloading any body data. — James Hibbard, May 01 '19 at 08:38

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 01 '19 at 08:37

You can use the HEAD HTTP method:

The HEAD method is identical to GET except that the server MUST NOT return a message-body in the response.

For example:

const fetch = require('node-fetch');

const response = await fetch('https://google.com', {
    method: 'HEAD'
});

console.log(response.ok);

Of course this would rely on the web server properly implementing the RFC.

1 Answers1