function getFavicon($url){
# make the URL simpler
$elems = parse_url($url);
$url = $elems['scheme'].'://'.$elems['host'];
# load site
$output = file_get_contents($url);
# look for the shortcut icon inside the loaded page
$regex_pattern = "/rel="shortcut icon" (?:href=['"]([^'"]+)['"])?/";
preg_match_all($regex_pattern, $output, $matches);
if(isset($matches[1][0])){
$favicon = $matches[1][0];
# check if absolute url or relative path
$favicon_elems = parse_url($favicon);
# if relative
if(!isset($favicon_elems['host'])){
$favicon = $url . '/' . $favicon;
}
return $favicon;
}
return false;
}