Make HTTP Requests with Error Handling using Curl

#!/bin/bash

# Target URL for the HTTP GET request
URL="https://example.com/api/health"

# Function to make an HTTP request and check status
check_url () {
  local url="$1"
  echo "Checking $url..."

  # Use curl to get the HTTP status code and the response body
  # -s: Silent mode, don't show progress meter or error messages
  # -o /dev/null: Discard the response body
  # -w "%{{http_code}}": Output only the HTTP status code
  # -L: Follow redirects
  HTTP_STATUS=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{{http_code}}" -L "$url")
  CURL_EXIT_CODE=$?

  if [ "$CURL_EXIT_CODE" -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "Error: curl failed with exit code $CURL_EXIT_CODE."
    echo "Possible network issue or invalid URL."
    return 1 # Indicate failure
  fi

  echo "HTTP Status Code: $HTTP_STATUS"

  # Check for success (2xx status codes)
  if [[ "$HTTP_STATUS" -ge 200 && "$HTTP_STATUS" -le 299 ]]; then
    echo "✅ Success: URL is reachable and responded with a 2xx status."
    return 0 # Indicate success
  elif [[ "$HTTP_STATUS" -ge 300 && "$HTTP_STATUS" -le 399 ]]; then
    echo "⚠️ Warning: URL responded with a 3xx redirect status. Check the final destination."
    return 0 # Indicate success for redirect, but with warning
  else
    echo "❌ Failure: URL responded with status code $HTTP_STATUS."
    return 1 # Indicate failure
  fi
}

# Example usage:
check_url "$URL"

if check_url "https://api.github.com/zen"; then
  echo "GitHub Zen API is up!"
else
  echo "GitHub Zen API might be down or unreachable."
fi