<?php

  $url = 'http://w...content-available-to-author-only...e.com/files/2012/10/image001.png';

  echo 'URL Parts:' . PHP_EOL;
  var_dump(parse_url($url));

  echo PHP_EOL . 'And specific to path:' . PHP_EOL;
  echo parse_url($url, PHP_URL_PATH);