Link Checker for Local Files
 Hermetic Systems

A Windows program to check for broken links
in a local copy of a website

Most link-checking programs offer to check links in files on a website, but Link Checker for Local Files is for searching for broken links in HTML and PHP files in a local folder (on your PC) and its subfolders. There are three special cases, in which the files constitute
  • the local copy of an online website
  • the contents of a CD-ROM or USB flash drive
  • an in-house intranet
Here is a typical screenshot:

'Link Checker for Local Files' screenshot

Download of this program has been temporarily suspended


Exclude subfolderss A link in an HTML or PHP file is a tag <...> which contains either href=" or src=".
Examples: <a href="home.htm">Home</a> and <img src="home.gif">

It is assumed that all the files containing links to be checked are contained in a folder, called the top folder, and its subfolders. To begin, select the top folder (see above).

A subfolder which is an immediate subfolder of the top folder is called a top subfolder. Some top subfolders may not contain any files which should be scanned. To exclude them from the scan click on the 'Exclude top subfolders' button. This brings up a panel where you can check the subfolders to be excluded (shown at right). All subfolders of an excluded top subfolder (if any) will also be excluded from the scan.

This software may not work properly for file names containing non-English letters such as ü and é. Particular files may be excluded from the scan by inserting a part of their filepath in the 'Exclude filepaths containing' textbox. For example, if the file yandex_e6bec4afa7ec.html is to be excluded then it is sufficient to put yandex in the textbox.

The program checks links in the <head> ... </head> section of an HTML file as well as in the <body> ... </body> section. External links (that is, links beginning with <a href="http:// or similar) are not checked. By default, all internal links are checked provided that the link is to a file with one of the following file extensions:

htm html shtm shtml doc docx pdf xml xmlx ppt pptx txt xml zip gif jpg jpeg bmp png odp odt ods rtf swf css

If you wish to skip checking of links to files with one or more of these extension, e.g., docx then put this (with a prepended '.') in the 'Exclude filepaths containing' textbox.

The settings can be saved for the next run, saved to a file (or both), or loaded from a file. After adjusting the settings, click on 'List files' to see which files will be scanned. Then click on 'Check links' to check for broken links. If any are found then two windows will open, showing the broken links, first the files containing broken links, then the files to which the broken links are linked, as in:

 

This example states that 5 broken links were found, but only four are displayed. That is because one of the broken links occurs twice in one file. To show all broken links, including repeated broken links, check the 'Show repeated broken links in a file' checkbox. Then the results will be as follows:

 

The results (or a selected part of a result) can be copied to the clipboard and saved to a text file, if desired.

If broken links are found then the file(s) containing them should be inspected and necessary corrections done. Then recheck the links until no broken links are reported.

Hermetic Systems Home Page