fsockopen() to remote URL: what if remote URL "times out"?

I have a question about the usage of fsockopen() to open and "scrape" the contents of a remote URL: if the contents take a very long time to load on the remote URL either due to server or coding issues, is there a way for the socket on the PHP end to time out, that is, quit trying to "scrape" contents from the remote site and post a default message instead? Just wondering Thanx Phil