Get Redirect URL with cURL
URL redirects can be glorious or annoying depending on which side of them you are on and which side you want to be on. Redirects are helpful for vanity URLs (useful in advertising) but sometimes they're annoying in that they could potentially break your code if you encounter a redirect you weren't anticipating.
The useful and amazing cURL command line utility allows you to fetch an address and return its final destination URL:
# "/css" doesn't exist but WordPress tries to find the closest match
# and then redirects to it ("/css-animation-callback")
curl -Ls -w %{url_effective} -o /dev/null https://davidwalsh.name/css
# Outputs: https://davidwalsh.name/css-animation-callback
The url_effective variable is what we're after. The L directive tells cURL to follow redirects, the s directive tells cURL to be silent (i.e. not output the page contents). You provide the URL, cURL follows it to its endpoint -- easy!
![7 Essential JavaScript Functions]()
I remember the early days of JavaScript where you needed a simple function for just about everything because the browser vendors implemented features differently, and not just edge features, basic features, like addEventListener and attachEvent. Times have changed but there are still a few functions each developer should...
![9 Mind-Blowing WebGL Demos]()
As much as developers now loathe Flash, we're still playing a bit of catch up to natively duplicate the animation capabilities that Adobe's old technology provided us. Of course we have canvas, an awesome technology, one which I highlighted 9 mind-blowing demos. Another technology available...
![Create a Brilliant Sprited, CSS-Powered Firefox Animation]()
Mozilla recently formally announced Firefox OS and its partners at Mobile World Congress and I couldn't be more excited. Firefox OS is going to change the lives of people in developing countries, hopefully making a name for itself in the US as well. The...
![MooTools, mediaboxAdvanced, and Mexico]()
The lightbox is probably one of my favorite parts of the Web 2.0 revolution. No more having to open new windows (which can bog down your computer quite a bit) to see a larger image, video, etc. Instead, the item loads right into the...
Follow a URL using JavaScript: https://www.npmjs.com/package/linkfollower