curl - transfer a URL


SYNOPSIS

       curl [options] [URL...]


DESCRIPTION

       curl is a tool to transfer data from or to a server, using
       one of the supported protocols (HTTP,  HTTPS,  FTP,  FTPS,
       GOPHER,  DICT,  TELNET,  LDAP  or  FILE).  The  command is
       designed to work without user interaction.

       curl offers a busload of useful tricks like proxy support,
       user  authentication,  ftp upload, HTTP post, SSL (https:)
       connections, cookies, file transfer resume  and  more.  As
       you  will see below, the amount of features will make your
       head spin!

       curl is powered by libcurl for all  transfer-related  fea-
       tures. See libcurl(3) for details.


URL

       The  URL  syntax  is  protocol  dependent.  You'll  find a
       detailed description in RFC 2396.

       You can specify multiple URLs or parts of URLs by  writing
       part sets within braces as in:

        http://site.{one,two,three}.com

       or  you  can get sequences of alphanumeric series by using
       [] as in:

        ftp://ftp.numericals.com/file[1-100].txt
        ftp://ftp.numericals.com/file[001-100].txt    (with lead-
       ing zeros)
        ftp://ftp.letters.com/file[a-z].txt

       It  is  possible  to  specify up to 9 sets or series for a
       URL, but no nesting is supported at the moment:

        http://www.any.org/archive[1996-1999]/vol-
       ume[1-4]part{a,b,c,index}.html

       You  can  specify  any amount of URLs on the command line.
       They will be fetched in a sequential manner in the  speci-
       fied order.

       Curl  will attempt to re-use connections for multiple file
       transfers, so that getting many files from the same server
       will  not do multiple connects / handshakes. This improves
       speed. Of course this is only done on files specified on a
       single  command  line  and cannot be used between separate
       -a/--append
              (FTP) When used in an FTP upload,  this  will  tell
              curl  to append to the target file instead of over-
              writing it. If the file doesn't exist, it  will  be
              created.

              If  this  option is used twice, the second one will
              disable append mode again.

       -A/--user-agent <agent string>
              (HTTP) Specify the User-Agent string to send to the
              HTTP  server.  Some badly done CGIs fail if its not
              set to "Mozilla/4.0".   To  encode  blanks  in  the
              string,  surround  the  string  with  single  quote
              marks.  This can also be set with  the  -H/--header
              flag of course.

              If  this option is set more than once, the last one
              will be the one that's used.

       --anyauth
              (HTTP) Tells  curl  to  figure  out  authentication
              method  by  itself, and use the most secure one the
              remote site claims it supports.  This  is  done  by
              first  doing  a  request and checking the response-
              headers, thus inducing an extra network round-trip.
              This  is used instead of setting a specific authen-
              tication method, which you can  do  with  --digest,
              --ntlm, and --negotiate. (Added in 7.10.6)

              If this option is used several times, the following
              occurrences make no difference.

       -b/--cookie <name=data>
              (HTTP) Pass the  data  to  the  HTTP  server  as  a
              cookie.   It  is  supposedly  the  data  previously
              received from the server in a  "Set-Cookie:"  line.
              The  data  should  be  in the format "NAME1=VALUE1;
              NAME2=VALUE2".

              If no '=' letter is used in the line, it is treated
              as  a  filename  to  use  to read previously stored
              cookie lines from, which should  be  used  in  this
              session if they match. Using this method also acti-
              vates the "cookie  parser"  which  will  make  curl
              record  incoming cookies too, which may be handy if
              you're  using  this   in   combination   with   the
              -L/--location  option.  The file format of the file
              to read cookies from should be plain  HTTP  headers
              or the Netscape/Mozilla cookie file format.

              NOTE  that  the  file specified with -b/--cookie is
              to a file using -D/--dump-header!

              If this option is set more than once, the last  one
              will be the one that's used.

       -B/--use-ascii
              Use ASCII transfer when getting an FTP file or LDAP
              info. For FTP, this can also be enforced  by  using
              an URL that ends with ";type=A". This option causes
              data sent to stdout to be in text  mode  for  win32
              systems.

              If  this  option is used twice, the second one will
              disable ASCII usage.

       --basic
              (HTTP) Tells curl to use HTTP Basic authentication.
              This  is  the  default  and  this option is usually
              pointless, unless you use it to override  a  previ-
              ously  set option that sets a different authentica-
              tion method (such as --ntlm, --digest and --negoti-
              ate). (Added in 7.10.6)

              If this option is used several times, the following
              occurrences make no difference.

       --ciphers <list of ciphers>
              (SSL) Specifies which ciphers to use in the connec-
              tion.  The  list  of  ciphers  must  be using valid
              ciphers. Read up on SSL cipher list details on this
              URL: http://www.openssl.org/docs/apps/ciphers.html

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will override the others.

       --compressed
              (HTTP) Request a compressed response using  one  of
              the  algorithms  libcurl  supports,  and return the
              uncompressed document.  If this option is used  and
              the server sends an unsupported encoding, Curl will
              report an error.

              If this option is used several times,  each  occur-
              rence will toggle it on/off.

       --connect-timeout <seconds>
              Maximum  time in seconds that you allow the connec-
              tion to the server to take.  This only  limits  the
              connection  phase,  once  curl  has  connected this
              option is of no more use. See also  the  --max-time
              option.


       -c/--cookie-jar <file name>
              Specify to which file you want curl  to  write  all
              cookies  after  a  completed operation. Curl writes
              all cookies previously read from a  specified  file
              as   well  as  all  cookies  received  from  remote
              server(s). If no cookies are known, no file will be
              written.   The  file  will  be  written  using  the
              Netscape cookie file format. If you  set  the  file
              name  to  a  single  dash, "-", the cookies will be
              written to stdout.

              NOTE If the cookie jar can't be created or  written
              to,  the  whole  curl  operation won't fail or even
              report an error clearly. Using -v will get a  warn-
              ing  displayed,  but that is the only visible feed-
              back you get about this possibly lethal  situation.

              If  this  option  is  used  several times, the last
              specfied file name will be used.

       -C/--continue-at <offset>
              Continue/Resume a previous  file  transfer  at  the
              given  offset. The given offset is the exact number
              of bytes that will  be  skipped  counted  from  the
              beginning  of  the  source file before it is trans-
              fered to the destination.  If  used  with  uploads,
              the  ftp  server  command  SIZE will not be used by
              curl.

              Use "-C -" to tell curl to automatically  find  out
              where/how  to resume the transfer. It then uses the
              given output/input files to figure that out.

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used.

       --create-dirs
              When  used  in conjunction with the -o option, curl
              will create the necessary local directory hierarchy
              as needed.

       --crlf (FTP)  Convert LF to CRLF in upload. Useful for MVS
              (OS/390).

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable crlf converting.

       -d/--data <data>
              (HTTP)  Sends  the specified data in a POST request
              to the HTTP server, in a way that can emulate as if
              a  user  has  filled in a HTML form and pressed the
              newlines cut off).  The  data  is  expected  to  be
              "url-encoded".  This  will  cause  curl to pass the
              data to the server using the content-type  applica-
              tion/x-www-form-urlencoded.  Compare to -F. If more
              than one -d/--data option is used on the same  com-
              mand line, the data pieces specified will be merged
              together with a separating  &-letter.  Thus,  using
              '-d  name=daniel  -d  skill=lousy' would generate a
              post       chunk       that       looks        like
              'name=daniel&skill=lousy'.

              If  you  start the data with the letter @, the rest
              should be a file name to read the data from,  or  -
              if  you want curl to read the data from stdin.  The
              contents of the file must already  be  url-encoded.
              Multiple  files can also be specified. Posting data
              from a file named 'foobar' would thus be done  with
              "--data @foobar".

              To  post data purely binary, you should instead use
              the --data-binary option.

              -d/--data is the same as --data-ascii.

              If this option is used several times, the ones fol-
              lowing the first will append data.

       --data-ascii <data>
              (HTTP) This is an alias for the -d/--data option.

              If this option is used several times, the ones fol-
              lowing the first will append data.

       --data-binary <data>
              (HTTP) This posts  data  in  a  similar  manner  as
              --data-ascii  does, although when using this option
              the entire context of the posted data is  kept  as-
              is.  If  you want to post a binary file without the
              strip-newlines feature of the --data-ascii  option,
              this is for you.

              If this option is used several times, the ones fol-
              lowing the first will append data.

       --digest
              (HTTP) Enables HTTP Digest authentication. This  is
              a  authentication  that  prevents the password from
              being sent over the wire in clear text. Use this in
              combination with the normal -u/--user option to set
              user name and password. See also --ntlm,  --negoti-
              ate  and  --anyauth  for related options. (Added in
              curl 7.10.6)
              occurrences make no difference.

       --disable-eprt
              (FTP)  Tell curl to disable the use of the EPRT and
              LPRT commands when doing active FTP transfers. Curl
              will  normally  always  first  attempt to use EPRT,
              then LPRT before using PORT, but with this  option,
              it  will  use  PORT  right  away. EPRT and LPRT are
              extensions to the original FTP  protocol,  may  not
              work  on  all servers but enable more functionality
              in a better way than the traditional PORT  command.
              (Aded in 7.10.5)

              If  this  option is used several times, each occur-
              rence will toggle this on/off.

       --disable-epsv
              (FTP) Tell curl to disable the use of the EPSV com-
              mand  when  doing  passive FTP transfers. Curl will
              normally always first attempt to  use  EPSV  before
              PASV,  but  with this option, it will not try using
              EPSV.

              If this option is used several times,  each  occur-
              rence will toggle this on/off.

       -D/--dump-header <file>
              Write the protocol headers to the specified file.

              This  option is handy to use when you want to store
              the cookies that a HTTP  site  sends  to  you.  The
              cookies  could then be read in a second curl invoke
              by using the -b/--cookie option!

              When used on FTP, the ftp server response lines are
              considered  being  "headers"  and  thus  are  saved
              there.

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used.

       -e/--referer <URL>
              (HTTP)  Sends the "Referer Page" information to the
              HTTP  server.  This  can  also  be  set  with   the
              -H/--header   flag   of  course.   When  used  with
              -L/--location you can append ";auto" to the referer
              URL to make curl automatically set the previous URL
              when it follows a  Location:  header.  The  ";auto"
              string  can be used alone, even if you don't set an
              initial referer.

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              (RISC  OS  ONLY)  Sets a range of environment vari-
              ables, using the names the -w option  supports,  to
              easier allow extraction of useful information after
              having run curl.

              If this option is used several times,  each  occur-
              rence will toggle this on/off.

       --egd-file <file>
              (HTTPS)  Specify the path name to the Entropy Gath-
              ering Daemon socket. The socket is used to seed the
              random  engine  for  SSL  connections. See also the
              --random-file option.

       -E/--cert <certificate[:password]>
              (HTTPS) Tells curl to use the specified certificate
              file  when  getting a file with HTTPS. The certifi-
              cate must be in PEM format.  If the optional  pass-
              word isn't specified, it will be queried for on the
              terminal. Note that this certificate is the private
              key and the private certificate concatenated!

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will be used.

       --cacert <CA certificate>
              (HTTPS) Tells curl to use the specified certificate
              file  to verify the peer. The file may contain mul-
              tiple CA certificates. The certificate(s)  must  be
              in PEM format.

              curl  recognizes  the  environment  variable  named
              'CURL_CA_BUNDLE' if that is set, and uses the given
              path  as  a  path  to a CA cert bundle. This option
              overrides that variable.

              The windows version of curl will automatically look
              for  a  CA  certs  file named 'curl-ca-bundle.crt',
              either in the same directory as curl.exe, or in the
              Current  Working  Directory, or in any folder along
              your PATH.

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used.

       --capath <CA certificate directory>
              (HTTPS) Tells curl to use the specified certificate
              directory to verify the peer. The certificates must
              be  in PEM format, and the directory must have been
              processed using the c_rehash utility supplied  with
              openssl.  Using  --capath  can  allow  curl to make
              https connections much more efficiently than  using

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used.

       -f/--fail
              (HTTP)  Fail  silently (no output at all) on server
              errors. This is mostly done  like  this  to  better
              enable  scripts  etc  to  better  deal  with failed
              attempts. In normal cases when a HTTP server  fails
              to  deliver  a document, it returns a HTML document
              stating so (which  often  also  describes  why  and
              more).  This flag will prevent curl from outputting
              that and fail silently instead.

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable silent failure.

       --ftp-create-dirs
              (FTP)  When  an  FTP URL/operation uses a path that
              doesn't currently exist on the server, the standard
              behaviour  of  curl  is to fail. Using this option,
              curl will instead attempt to create missing  direc-
              tories. (Added in 7.10.7)

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable silent failure.

       -F/--form <name=content>
              (HTTP) This lets curl emulate a filled in  form  in
              which  a  user  has pressed the submit button. This
              causes curl to POST  data  using  the  content-type
              multipart/form-data   according  to  RFC1867.  This
              enables uploading of binary files etc. To force the
              'content'  part  to  be  be a file, prefix the file
              name with an @ sign. To just get the  content  part
              from  a  file, prefix the file name with the letter
              <. The difference between @ and < is  then  that  @
              makes  a  file  get  attached in the post as a file
              upload, while the < makes a text field and just get
              the contents for that text field from a file.

              Example,  to send your password file to the server,
              where 'password' is the name of the  form-field  to
              which /etc/passwd will be the input:

              curl -F password=@/etc/passwd www.mypasswords.com

              To  read  the file's content from stdin insted of a
              file, use - where the  file  name  should've  been.
              This goes for both @ and < constructs.

              You can also tell curl what Content-Type to use for

              curl -F "web=@index.html;type=text/html" url.com

              See further examples and details in the MANUAL.

              This option can be used multiple times.

       -g/--globoff
              This option switches off the "URL globbing parser".
              When you set this option, you can specify URLs that
              contain  the letters {}[] without having them being
              interpreted by curl itself. Note that these letters
              are  not  normal legal URL contents but they should
              be encoded according to the URI standard.

       -G/--get
              When used, this option will make all data specified
              with  -d/--data  or  --data-binary  to be used in a
              HTTP GET request instead of the POST  request  that
              otherwise  would be used. The data will be appended
              to the URL with a '?'  separator.

              If used in combination with -I, the POST data  will
              instead be appended to the URL with a HEAD request.

              If used multiple times, nothing special happens.

       -h/--help
              Usage help.

       -H/--header <header>
              (HTTP) Extra header to use when getting a web page.
              You  may  specify any number of extra headers. Note
              that if you should add a custom header that has the
              same  name  as  one of the internal ones curl would
              use,  your  externally  set  header  will  be  used
              instead  of  the  internal  one. This allows you to
              make even trickier stuff than curl  would  normally
              do.  You  should not replace internally set headers
              without knowing perfectly well what  you're  doing.
              Replacing  an internal header with one without con-
              tent on the right side of the  colon  will  prevent
              that header from appearing.

              This   option   can   be  used  multiple  times  to
              add/replace/remove multiple headers.

       -i/--include
              (HTTP) Include the HTTP-header in the  output.  The
              HTTP-header  includes things like server-name, date
              of the document, HTTP-version and more...


       --interface <name>
              Perform  an  operation using a specified interface.
              You can enter interface name, IP  address  or  host
              name. An example could look like:

              curl --interface eth0:1 http://www.netscape.com/

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will be used.

       -I/--head
              (HTTP/FTP) Fetch the HTTP-header only! HTTP-servers
              feature  the  command  HEAD  which this uses to get
              nothing but the header of a document. When used  on
              a FTP file, curl displays the file size only.

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable header only.

       -j/--junk-session-cookies
              (HTTP) When curl is told to  read  cookies  from  a
              given  file,  this  option will make it discard all
              "session cookies". This will basicly have the  same
              effect  as  if  a  new  session is started. Typical
              browsers  always  discard  session   cookies   when
              they're closed down. (Added in 7.9.7)

              If  this  option is used several times, each occur-
              rence will toggle this on/off.

       -k/--insecure
              (SSL) This option explicitly allows curl to perform
              "insecure"  SSL connections and transfers. Starting
              with  curl  7.10,  all  SSL  connections  will   be
              attempted  to  be  made secure by using the CA cer-
              tificate bundle installed by  default.  This  makes
              all   connections  considered  "insecure"  to  fail
              unless -k/--insecure is used.

              This option is ignored if --cacert or  --capath  is
              used!

              If  this option is used twice, the second time will
              again disable it.

       --krb4 <level>
              (FTP) Enable kerberos4 authentication and use.  The
              level must be entered and should be one of 'clear',
              'safe', 'confidential' or 'private'. Should you use
              a  level  that  is not one of these, 'private' will
              instead be used.
              will be used.

       -K/--config <config file>
              Specify  which  config  file to read curl arguments
              from. The config file is a text file in which  com-
              mand  line arguments can be written which then will
              be used as if they were written on the actual  com-
              mand  line.  Options  and  their parameters must be
              specified on the same  config  file  line.  If  the
              parameter is to contain white spaces, the parameter
              must be inclosed within quotes.  If the first  col-
              umn  of  a config line is a '#' character, the rest
              of the line will be treated as a comment.

              Specify the filename as '-' to make curl  read  the
              file from stdin.

              Note that to be able to specify a URL in the config
              file, you  need  to  specify  it  using  the  --url
              option,  and  not  by simply writing the URL on its
              own line. So, it could look similar to this:

              url = "http://curl.haxx.se/docs/"

              This option can be used multiple times.

       --limit-rate <speed>
              Specify the maximum transfer rate you want curl  to
              use.  This  feature is useful if you have a limited
              pipe and you'd like  your  transfer  not  use  your
              entire bandwidth.

              The given speed is measured in bytes/second, unless
              a suffix is appended. Appending  'k'  or  'K'  will
              count  the  number as kilobytes, 'm' or M' makes it
              megabytes while 'g'  or  'G'  makes  it  gigabytes.
              Examples: 200K, 3m and 1G.

              This option was introduced in curl 7.10.

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will be used.

       -l/--list-only
              (FTP) When listing an FTP  directory,  this  switch
              forces  a name-only view.  Especially useful if you
              want to machine-parse the contents of an FTP direc-
              tory  since the normal directory view doesn't use a
              standard look or format.

              This option causes an FTP NLST command to be  sent.
              Some  FTP servers list only files in their response

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable list only.

       -L/--location
              (HTTP/HTTPS)  If  the  server  reports   that   the
              requested  page has a different location (indicated
              with the header line Location:) this flag will  let
              curl attempt to reattempt the get on the new place.
              If used together with -i or -I,  headers  from  all
              requested pages will be shown. If authentication is
              used, curl will only send its  credentials  to  the
              initial host, so if a redirect takes curl to a dif-
              ferent host, it won't intercept the  user+password.
              See  also --location-trusted on how to change this.

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable location following.

       --location-trusted
              (HTTP/HTTPS)  Like --location, but will allow send-
              ing the name + password to all hosts that the  site
              may  redirect  to.  This may or may not introduce a
              security breach if the site redirects you do a site
              to  which  you'll  send  your  authentication  info
              (which is plaintext  in  the  case  of  HTTP  Basic
              authentication).

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable location following.

       -m/--max-time <seconds>
              Maximum time in seconds that you  allow  the  whole
              operation  to  take.  This is useful for preventing
              your batch jobs from hanging for hours due to  slow
              networks  or  links  going down.  This doesn't work
              fully in win32 systems.  See  also  the  --connect-
              timeout option.

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will be used.

       -M/--manual
              Manual. Display the huge help text.

       -n/--netrc
              Makes curl scan the .netrc file in the user's  home
              directory for login name and password. This is typ-
              ically used for ftp on unix.  If  used  with  http,
              curl  will enable user authentication. See netrc(4)
              or ftp(1) for details on the file format. Curl will
              not  complain if that file hasn't the right permis-
              home directory.

              A quick and very simple example of how to  setup  a
              .netrc   to  allow  curl  to  ftp  to  the  machine
              host.domain.com with user name 'myself'  and  pass-
              word 'secret' should look similar to:

              machine   host.domain.com   login  myself  password
              secret

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable netrc usage.

       --negotiate
              (HTTP)  Enables  GSS-Negotiate  authentication. The
              GSS-Negotiate method was designed by Microsoft  and
              is  used  in their web aplications. It is primarily
              meant as a support for Kerberos5 authentication but
              may  be also used along with another authentication
              methods. For more information see IETF draft draft-
              brezak-spnego-http-04.txt. (Added in 7.10.6)

              NOTE  that  this  option requiures that the library
              was built with GSSAPI support.  This  is  not  very
              common.  Use  curl --version to see if your version
              supports GSS-Negotiate.

              If this option is used several times, the following
              occurrences make no difference.

       -N/--no-buffer
              Disables  the  buffering  of  the output stream. In
              normal work situations, curl will  use  a  standard
              buffered  output  stream  that will have the effect
              that it will output the data in chunks, not  neces-
              sarily  exactly  when the data arrives.  Using this
              option will disable that buffering.

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              switch on buffering.

       --ntlm (HTTP)   Enables   NTLM  authentication.  The  NTLM
              authentication method was designed by Microsoft and
              is  used  by  IIS  web servers. It is a proprietary
              protocol, reversed engineered by clever people  and
              implemented  in  curl  based on their efforts. This
              kind of behavior should not be endorsed, you should
              encourage  everyone  who  uses  NTLM to switch to a
              public   and   documented   authentication   method
              instead. Such as Digest. (Added in 7.10.6)

              NOTE  that  this  option requiures that the library

              If this option is used several times, the following
              occurrences make no difference.

       -o/--output <file>
              Write output to <file> instead of  stdout.  If  you
              are using {} or [] to fetch multiple documents, you
              can use '#' followed by  a  number  in  the  <file>
              specifier.  That variable will be replaced with the
              current string for the URL being fetched. Like in:

                curl http://{one,two}.site.com -o "file_#1.txt"

              or use several variables like:

                curl http://{site,host}.host[1-5].com -o "#1_#2"

              You may use this option as many times as  you  have
              number of URLs.

              See  also  the  --create-dirs  option to create the
              local directories dynamically.

       -O/--remote-name
              Write output to a local file named like the  remote
              file we get. (Only the file part of the remote file
              is used, the path is cut off.)

              You may use this option as many times as  you  have
              number of URLs.

       -p/--proxytunnel
              When  an HTTP proxy is used, this option will cause
              non-HTTP protocols to attempt to tunnel through the
              proxy  instead  of  merely using it to do HTTP-like
              operations. The tunnel approach is  made  with  the
              HTTP  proxy  CONNECT  request and requires that the
              proxy allows direct connect to the remote port num-
              ber curl wants to tunnel through to.

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable proxy tunnel.

       -P/--ftpport <address>
              (FTP) Reverses the  initiator/listener  roles  when
              connecting with ftp. This switch makes Curl use the
              PORT command instead of  PASV.  In  practice,  PORT
              tells  the server to connect to the client's speci-
              fied address and port, while PASV asks  the  server
              for an ip address and port to connect to. <address>
              should be one of:


              IP address  i.e "192.168.10.1" to specify exact  IP
                          number

              host name   i.e "my.host.domain" to specify machine

              -           (any single-letter string) to  make  it
                          pick the machine's default

       If this option is used several times, the last one will be
       used.

       -q     If used as the first parameter on the command line,
              the $HOME/.curlrc file will not be read and used as
              a config file.

       -Q/--quote <comand>
              (FTP) Send an arbitrary command to the  remote  FTP
              server,  by  using the QUOTE command of the server.
              Not all servers support this command, and  the  set
              of  QUOTE  commands are server specific! Quote com-
              mands are sent BEFORE the transfer is taking place.
              To  make  commands  take  place  after a successful
              transfer, prefix them with  a  dash  '-'.  You  may
              specify any amount of commands to be run before and
              after the transfer. If the server  returns  failure
              for  one of the commands, the entire operation will
              be aborted.

              This option can be used multiple times.

       --random-file <file>
              (HTTPS) Specify the path name  to  file  containing
              what will be considered as random data. The data is
              used to seed the random engine for SSL connections.
              See also the --edg-file option.

       -r/--range <range>
              (HTTP/FTP)  Retrieve  a  byte  range (i.e a partial
              document) from a HTTP/1.1 or FTP server. Ranges can
              be specified in a number of ways.

              0-499     specifies the first 500 bytes

              500-999   specifies the second 500 bytes

              -500      specifies the last 500 bytes

              9500      specifies  the bytes from offset 9500 and
                        forward

              0-0,-1    specifies  the  first   and   last   byte
                        specifies 300 bytes from offset 500(H)

              100-199,500-599
                        specifies    two   separate   100   bytes
                        ranges(*)(H)

       (*) = NOTE that this will cause the server to reply with a
       multipart response!

       You should also be aware that many HTTP/1.1 servers do not
       have this feature enabled, so that when you attempt to get
       a range, you'll instead get the whole document.

       FTP range downloads only support the simple syntax 'start-
       stop' (optionally with one of  the  numbers  omitted).  It
       depends on the non-RFC command SIZE.

       If this option is used several times, the last one will be
       used.

       -R/--remote-time
              When used, this will make libcurl attempt to figure
              out  the  timestamp of the remote file, and if that
              is available make the  local  file  get  that  same
              timestamp.

              If  this option is used twice, the second time dis-
              ables this again.

       -s/--silent
              Silent mode. Don't show  progress  meter  or  error
              messages.  Makes Curl mute.

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable mute.

       -S/--show-error
              When used with -s it makes curl show error  message
              if it fails.

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable show error.

       --stderr <file>
              Redirect all writes to stderr to the specified file
              instead.  If  the  file  name is a plain '-', it is
              instead written to stdout. This option has no point
              when  you're  using a shell with decent redirecting
              capabilities.

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used.
              Pass  options  to  the  telnet  protocol. Supported
              options are:

              TTYPE=<term> Sets the terminal type.

              XDISPLOC=<X display> Sets the X display location.

              NEW_ENV=<var,val> Sets an environment variable.

       -T/--upload-file <file>
              This transfers the  specified  local  file  to  the
              remote  URL. If there is no file part in the speci-
              fied URL, Curl will append  the  local  file  name.
              NOTE  that  you  must  use a trailing / on the last
              directory to really prove to Curl that there is  no
              file  name or curl will think that your last direc-
              tory name is the remote file name to use. That will
              most  likely cause the upload operation to fail. If
              this is used on a http(s) server, the  PUT  command
              will be used.

              Use  the file name "-" (a single dash) to use stdin
              instead of a given file.

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used.

       --trace <file>
              Enables  a full trace dump of all incoming and out-
              going data, including descriptive  information,  to
              the  given output file. Use "-" as filename to have
              the output sent to stdout.

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used. (Added in 7.9.7)

       --trace-ascii <file>
              Enables  a full trace dump of all incoming and out-
              going data, including descriptive  information,  to
              the  given output file. Use "-" as filename to have
              the output sent to stdout.

              This is very similar to --trace, but leaves out the
              hex part and only shows the ASCII part of the dump.
              It makes smaller output that  might  be  easier  to
              read for untrained humans.

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will be used. (Added in 7.9.7)

       -u/--user <user:password>
              Specify user and password  to  use  when  fetching.
              for it interactively.

              You  can  also  use  the  --digest option to enable
              Digest authentication when communicating with  HTTP
              1.1 servers.

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will be used.

       -U/--proxy-user <user:password>
              Specify user and password to use for Proxy  authen-
              tication.  If  no  password is specified, curl will
              ask for it interactively.

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used.

       --url <URL>
              Specify a URL to fetch. This option is mostly handy
              when you want to specify URL(s) in a config file.

              This option may be used any  number  of  times.  To
              control  where  this  URL is written, use the -o or
              the -O options.

       -v/--verbose
              Makes the fetching more  verbose/talkative.  Mostly
              usable for debugging. Lines starting with '>' means
              data sent by curl, '<' means data received by  curl
              that  is  hidden in normal cases and lines starting
              with '*' means additional info provided by curl.

              Note that if you want to see HTTP  headers  in  the
              output, -i/--include might be option you're looking
              for.

              If you think this option  still  doesn't  give  you
              enough  details, consider using --trace or --trace-
              ascii instead.

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable verbose.

       -V/--version
              Displays  information  about  curl  and the libcurl
              version it uses.

              The first line includes the full version  of  curl,
              libcurl  and  other 3rd party libraries linked with
              the executable.

              The second line (starts  with  "Protocols:")  shows
              cific features libcurl reports to offer.


       -w/--write-out <format>
              Defines what to display after a completed and  suc-
              cessful  operation. The format is a string that may
              contain plain text mixed with any number  of  vari-
              ables.  The string can be specified as "string", to
              get read from a  particular  file  you  specify  it
              "@filename"  and  to  tell  curl to read the format
              from stdin you write "@-".

              The variables present in the output format will  be
              substituted  by  the value or text that curl thinks
              fit, as described below. All variables  are  speci-
              fied like %{variable_name} and to output a normal %
              you just write them like %%. You can output a  new-
              line  by  using \n, a carriage return with \r and a
              tab space with \t.

              NOTE: The %-letter  is  a  special  letter  in  the
              win32-environment,  where all occurrences of % must
              be doubled when using this option.

              Available variables are at this point:

              url_effective  The URL that was fetched last.  This
                             is  mostly meaningful if you've told
                             curl to follow location: headers.

              http_code      The numerical code that was found in
                             the last retrieved HTTP(S) page.

              time_total     The total time, in seconds, that the
                             full operation lasted. The time will
                             be  displayed with millisecond reso-
                             lution.

              time_namelookup
                             The time, in seconds, it  took  from
                             the  start  until the name resolving
                             was completed.

              time_connect   The time, in seconds, it  took  from
                             the  start  until the connect to the
                             remote  host  (or  proxy)  was  com-
                             pleted.

              time_pretransfer
                             The  time,  in seconds, it took from
                             the start until the file transfer is
                             just  about  to begin. This includes
                             the particular protocol(s) involved.

              time_starttransfer
                             The  time,  in seconds, it took from
                             the start until the  first  byte  is
                             just  about  to  be transfered. This
                             includes time_pretransfer  and  also
                             the  time the server needs to calcu-
                             late the result.

              size_download  The total amount of bytes that  were
                             downloaded.

              size_upload    The  total amount of bytes that were
                             uploaded.

              size_header    The total amount  of  bytes  of  the
                             downloaded headers.

              size_request   The  total amount of bytes that were
                             sent in the HTTP request.

              speed_download The average download speed that curl
                             measured  for the complete download.

              speed_upload   The average upload speed  that  curl
                             measured for the complete upload.

              content_type   The  Content-Type  of  the requested
                             document, if there was  any.  (Added
                             in 7.9.5)

       If this option is used several times, the last one will be
       used.

       -x/--proxy <proxyhost[:port]>
              Use specified HTTP proxy. If the port number is not
              specified, it is assumed at port 1080.

              This  option  overrides  existing environment vari-
              ables that sets proxy to use. If there's  an  envi-
              ronment variable setting a proxy, you can set proxy
              to "" to override it.

              Note that all operations that are performed over  a
              HTTP proxy will transparantly be converted to HTTP.
              It means that certain protocol specific  operations
              might not be available. This is not the case if you
              can tunnel through the  proxy,  as  done  with  the
              -p/--proxytunnel option.

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              (HTTP) Specifies a custom request to use when  com-
              municating  with  the  HTTP  server.  The specified
              request will be used instead of the  standard  GET.
              Read  the  HTTP  1.1  specification for details and
              explanations.

              (FTP) Specifies a custom FTP command to use instead
              of LIST when doing file lists with ftp.

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will be used.

       -y/--speed-time <time>
              If a download is slower than speed-limit bytes  per
              second  during  a  speed-time  period, the download
              gets aborted. If speed-time is  used,  the  default
              speed-limit will be 1 unless set with -y.

              This  option  controls  transfers and thus will not
              affect slow connects etc. If this is a concern  for
              you, try the --connect-timeout option.

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will be used.

       -Y/--speed-limit <speed>
              If a download is slower than this given  speed,  in
              bytes  per  second,  for speed-time seconds it gets
              aborted. speed-time is set with -Y and is 30 if not
              set.

              If  this option is used several times, the last one
              will be used.

       -z/--time-cond <date expression>
              (HTTP) Request to get a file that has been modified
              later than the given time and date, or one that has
              been modified before that time. The date expression
              can  be  all sorts of date strings or if it doesn't
              match any internal ones, it tries to get  the  time
              from a given file name instead! See the GNU date(1)
              or curl_getdate(3) man pages  for  date  expression
              details.

              Start  the  date expression with a dash (-) to make
              it request for a document that is  older  than  the
              given  date/time,  default  is  a  document that is
              newer than the specified date/time.

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used.

              Set   maximum   number   of  redirection-followings
              allowed. If -L/--location is used, this option  can
              be used to prevent curl from following redirections
              "in absurdum".

              If this option is used several times, the last  one
              will be used.

       -3/--sslv3
              (HTTPS) Forces curl to use SSL version 3 when nego-
              tiating with a remote SSL server.

       -2/--sslv2
              (HTTPS) Forces curl to use SSL version 2 when nego-
              tiating with a remote SSL server.

       -0/--http1.0
              (HTTP) Forces curl to issue its requests using HTTP
              1.0 instead of using its internally preferred: HTTP
              1.1.

       -#/--progress-bar
              Make   curl   display  progress  information  as  a
              progress bar instead of the default statistics.

              If this option is used twice, the second will again
              disable the progress bar.


FILES

       ~/.curlrc
              Default config file.



ENVIRONMENT

       http_proxy [protocol://]<host>[:port]
              Sets proxy server to use for HTTP.

       HTTPS_PROXY [protocol://]<host>[:port]
              Sets proxy server to use for HTTPS.

       FTP_PROXY [protocol://]<host>[:port]
              Sets proxy server to use for FTP.

       GOPHER_PROXY [protocol://]<host>[:port]
              Sets proxy server to use for GOPHER.

       ALL_PROXY [protocol://]<host>[:port]
              Sets  proxy  server  to use if no protocol-specific
              proxy is set.

       NO_PROXY <comma-separated list of hosts>
              list of host names that shouldn't  go  through  any

       There  exists  a  bunch of different error codes and their
       corresponding error messages that may  appear  during  bad
       conditions.  At  the  time of this writing, the exit codes
       are:

       1      Unsupported protocol. This build  of  curl  has  no
              support for this protocol.

       2      Failed to initialize.

       3      URL malformat. The syntax was not correct.

       4      URL  user  malformatted.  The  user-part of the URL
              syntax was not correct.

       5      Couldn't resolve proxy. The given proxy host  could
              not be resolved.

       6      Couldn't  resolve  host.  The given remote host was
              not resolved.

       7      Failed to connect to host.

       8      FTP weird server reply. The server sent  data  curl
              couldn't parse.

       9      FTP access denied. The server denied login.

       10     FTP  user/password  incorrect.  Either  one or both
              were not accepted by the server.

       11     FTP weird PASS reply. Curl couldn't parse the reply
              sent to the PASS request.

       12     FTP weird USER reply. Curl couldn't parse the reply
              sent to the USER request.

       13     FTP weird PASV reply, Curl couldn't parse the reply
              sent to the PASV request.

       14     FTP  weird  227  format.  Curl  couldn't  parse the
              227-line the server sent.

       15     FTP can't get host. Couldn't resolve the host IP we
              got in the 227-line.

       16     FTP  can't  reconnect. Couldn't connect to the host
              we got in the 227-line.

       17     FTP couldn't set binary. Couldn't  change  transfer
              method to binary.


       19     FTP couldn't download/access the  given  file,  the
              RETR (or similar) command failed.

       20     FTP  write  error. The transfer was reported bad by
              the server.

       21     FTP quote error. A  quote  command  returned  error
              from the server.

       22     HTTP  page not retrieved. The requested url was not
              found or returned another error with the HTTP error
              code  being  400  or  above.  This return code only
              appears if --fail is used.

       23     Write error. Curl couldn't write data  to  a  local
              filesystem or similar.

       24     Malformat user. User name badly specified.

       25     FTP  couldn't STOR file. The server denied the STOR
              operation.

       26     Read error. Various reading problems.

       27     Out of memory. A memory allocation request  failed.

       28     Operation  timeout.  The  specified time-out period
              was reached according to the conditions.

       29     FTP couldn't set  ASCII.  The  server  returned  an
              unknown reply.

       30     FTP PORT failed. The PORT command failed.

       31     FTP couldn't use REST. The REST command failed.

       32     FTP couldn't use SIZE. The SIZE command failed. The
              command is an extension to the  original  FTP  spec
              RFC 959.

       33     HTTP  range error. The range "command" didn't work.

       34     HTTP post error. Internal  post-request  generation
              error.

       35     SSL connect error. The SSL handshaking failed.

       36     FTP  bad download resume. Couldn't continue an ear-
              lier aborted download.

       37     FILE couldn't read file. Failed to open  the  file.

       39     LDAP search failed.

       40     Library  not found. The LDAP library was not found.

       41     Function not found. A required  LDAP  function  was
              not found.

       42     Aborted  by  callback.  An application told curl to
              abort the operation.

       43     Internal error. A function was called  with  a  bad
              parameter.

       44     Internal  error.  A  function  was  called in a bad
              order.

       45     Interface error.  A  specified  outgoing  interface
              could not be used.

       46     Bad  password  entered.  An error was signaled when
              the password was entered.

       47     Too many redirects. When following redirects,  curl
              hit the maximum amount.

       48     Unknown TELNET option specified.

       49     Malformed telnet option.

       51     The remote peer's SSL certificate wasn't ok

       52     The  server  didn't  reply  anything, which here is
              considered an error.

       53     SSL crypto engine not found

       54     Cannot set SSL crypto engine as default

       55     Failed sending network data

       56     Failure in receiving network data

       57     Share is in use (internal error)

       58     Problem with the local certificate

       59     Couldn't use specified SSL cipher

       60     Problem with the CA cert (path? permission?)

       61     Unrecognized transfer encoding
              releases.  The  existing  ones  are  meant to never
              change.


AUTHORS / CONTRIBUTORS

       Daniel Stenberg is the main author, but the whole list  of
       contributors is found in the separate THANKS file.


WWW

       http://curl.haxx.se


FTP

       ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/www/utilities/curl/


SEE ALSO

       ftp(1), wget(1), snarf(1)






































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