Bash Script to Check for a "200 ok" http reply no longer working

[expatsys]

Up until recently I used this code on Centos 5 servers as part of a more complex program to determine if a URL gives a 200 OK reply (exists) or if it doesn't...

usage: sh scriptname website

#!/bin/sh
$website=someurl
lynx -dump "$website" &> /dev/null
if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
	echo Web Page Exists
else
	echo Web Page Doesnt exist
fi

(where someurl would be a proper url)

Trying this on modern Debian 6.0 and latest Ubuntu doesn't work. It produces an output that isn't silent at all... it tries to open alternative web pages and it doesn't give a reliable response.

What options can I use with lynx to make it work like the old lynx? and if not...

What other methods can I use in bash to check if a URL gives a 200OK response or not?

Any Help or Ideas are greatly appreciated...

[rcgreen]

If lynx won't behave, try wget.

GNU Wget 1.13.4 Manual

[atreyu]

I agree, wget is great for this. This is what I typically use:

wget --timeout=1 --tries=1 --output-document=- --server-response localhost:80

Here's some others (not as reliable but also useful):

http_ping http://locahost:80
httpping http://localhost:80
nmap -n localhost -p 80