http_head.py

def http_head(url):
    import httplib
    import urlparse
    
    redirects = 0
    
    while redirects < 10:
        scheme, netloc, path, query, fragment = urlparse.urlsplit(url)
        
        if scheme == 'https':
            conn = httplib.HTTPSConnection(netloc)
        else:
            conn = httplib.HTTPConnection(netloc)
        
        conn.request("HEAD", "%s%s%s%s%s" % (path, query and "?" or "", query, 
                                             fragment and "#" or "", fragment))
        
        res = conn.getresponse()
        
        if res.status in (301, 302) and res.getheader('location'):
            url = res.getheader('location')
            redirects += 1
        else:
            break
    
    return res.status, res.reason