How to check for a valid URL in Java?

Question

What is the best way to check if a URL is valid in Java?

If tried to call new URL(urlString) and catch a MalformedURLException, but it seems to be happy with anything that begins with http://.

I'm not concerned about establishing a connection, just validity. Is there a method for this? An annotation in Hibernate Validator? Should I use a regex?

Edit: Some examples of accepted URLs are http://*** and http://my favorite site!.

Answer 1

Consider using the Apache Commons UrlValidator class

UrlValidator urlValidator = new UrlValidator(); urlValidator.isValid("http://my favorite site!"); 

There are several properties that you can set to control how this class behaves, by default http, https, and ftp are accepted.