.\" * | (__| |_| | _ <| |___
.\" * \___|\___/|_| \_\_____|
.\" *
-.\" * Copyright (C) 1998 - 2012, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
+.\" * Copyright (C) 1998 - 2015, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
.\" *
.\" * This software is licensed as described in the file COPYING, which
.\" * you should have received as part of this distribution. The terms
.\" *
.\" **************************************************************************
.\"
-.TH curl 1 "27 July 2012" "Curl 7.27.0" "Curl Manual"
+.TH curl 1 "30 Nov 2014" "Curl 7.40.0" "Curl Manual"
.SH NAME
curl \- transfer a URL
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B curl
is a tool to transfer data from or to a server, using one of the supported
protocols (DICT, FILE, FTP, FTPS, GOPHER, HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP, IMAPS, LDAP,
-LDAPS, POP3, POP3S, RTMP, RTSP, SCP, SFTP, SMTP, SMTPS, TELNET and TFTP). The
-command is designed to work without user interaction.
+LDAPS, POP3, POP3S, RTMP, RTSP, SCP, SFTP, SMB, SMBS, SMTP, SMTPS, TELNET
+and TFTP). 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 connections, cookies, file transfer
You can specify multiple URLs or parts of URLs by writing part sets within
braces as in:
- http://site.{one,two,three}.com
+ 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 leading zeros)
- ftp://ftp.letters.com/file[a-z].txt
+ ftp://ftp.numericals.com/file[1-100].txt
+
+ ftp://ftp.numericals.com/file[001-100].txt (with leading zeros)
+
+ ftp://ftp.letters.com/file[a-z].txt
Nested sequences are not supported, but you can use several ones next to each
other:
- http://any.org/archive[1996-1999]/vol[1-4]/part{a,b,c}.html
+ http://any.org/archive[1996-1999]/vol[1-4]/part{a,b,c}.html
You can specify any amount of URLs on the command line. They will be fetched
in a sequential manner in the specified order.
You can specify a step counter for the ranges to get every Nth number or
letter:
- http://www.numericals.com/file[1-100:10].txt
- http://www.letters.com/file[a-z:2].txt
+ http://www.numericals.com/file[1-100:10].txt
+
+ http://www.letters.com/file[a-z:2].txt
+
+When using [] or {} sequences when invoked from a command line prompt, you
+probably have to put the full URL within double quotes to avoid the shell from
+interfering with it. This also goes for other characters treated special, like
+for example '&', '?' and '*'.
+
+Provide the IPv6 zone index in the URL with an escaped percentage sign and the
+interface name. Like in
+
+ http://[fe80::3%25eth0]/
If you specify URL without protocol:// prefix, curl will attempt to guess what
protocol you might want. It will then default to HTTP but try other protocols
If you prefer a progress "bar" instead of the regular meter, \fI-#\fP is your
friend.
.SH OPTIONS
+Options start with one or two dashes. Many of the options require an
+additional value next to them.
+
+The short "single-dash" form of the options, -d for example, may be used with
+or without a space between it and its value, although a space is a recommended
+separator. The long "double-dash" form, --data for example, requires a space
+between it and its value.
+
+Short version options that don't need any additional values can be used
+immediately next to each other, like for example you can specify all the
+options -O, -L and -v at once as -OLv.
+
In general, all boolean options are enabled with --\fBoption\fP and yet again
disabled with --\fBno-\fPoption. That is, you use the exact same option name
but prefix it with "no-". However, in this list we mostly only list and show
.IP "-#, --progress-bar"
Make curl display progress as a simple progress bar instead of the standard,
more informational, meter.
+.IP "-:, --next"
+Tells curl to use a separate operation for the following URL and associated
+options. This allows you to send several URL requests, each with their own
+specific options, for example, such as different user names or custom requests
+for each. (Added in 7.36.0)
.IP "-0, --http1.0"
-(HTTP) Forces curl to issue its requests using HTTP 1.0 instead of using its
-internally preferred: HTTP 1.1.
+(HTTP) Tells curl to use HTTP version 1.0 instead of using its internally
+preferred: HTTP 1.1.
+.IP "--http1.1"
+(HTTP) Tells curl to use HTTP version 1.1. This is the internal default
+version. (Added in 7.33.0)
+.IP "--http2"
+(HTTP) Tells curl to issue its requests using HTTP 2. This requires that the
+underlying libcurl was built to support it. (Added in 7.33.0)
+.IP "--no-npn"
+Disable the NPN TLS extension. NPN is enabled by default if libcurl was built
+with an SSL library that supports NPN. NPN is used by a libcurl that supports
+HTTP 2 to negotiate HTTP 2 support with the server during https sessions.
+
+(Added in 7.36.0)
+.IP "--no-alpn"
+Disable the ALPN TLS extension. ALPN is enabled by default if libcurl was built
+with an SSL library that supports ALPN. ALPN is used by a libcurl that supports
+HTTP 2 to negotiate HTTP 2 support with the server during https sessions.
+
+(Added in 7.36.0)
.IP "-1, --tlsv1"
(SSL)
-Forces curl to use TLS version 1 when negotiating with a remote TLS server.
+Forces curl to use TLS version 1.x when negotiating with a remote TLS server.
+You can use options \fI--tlsv1.0\fP, \fI--tlsv1.1\fP, and \fI--tlsv1.2\fP to
+control the TLS version more precisely (if the SSL backend in use supports such
+a level of control).
.IP "-2, --sslv2"
-(SSL)
-Forces curl to use SSL version 2 when negotiating with a remote SSL server.
+(SSL) Forces curl to use SSL version 2 when negotiating with a remote SSL
+server. Sometimes curl is built without SSLv2 support. SSLv2 is widely
+considered insecure.
.IP "-3, --sslv3"
-(SSL)
-Forces curl to use SSL version 3 when negotiating with a remote SSL server.
+(SSL) Forces curl to use SSL version 3 when negotiating with a remote SSL
+server. Sometimes curl is built without SSLv3 support.
.IP "-4, --ipv4"
-If curl is capable of resolving an address to multiple IP versions (which it
-is if it is IPv6-capable), this option tells curl to resolve names to IPv4
-addresses only.
+This option tells curl to resolve names to IPv4 addresses only, and not for
+example try IPv6.
.IP "-6, --ipv6"
-If curl is capable of resolving an address to multiple IP versions (which it
-is if it is IPv6-capable), this option tells curl to resolve names to IPv6
-addresses only.
+This option tells curl to resolve names to IPv6 addresses only, and not for
+example try IPv4.
.IP "-a, --append"
-(FTP/SFTP) When used in an upload, this will tell curl to append to the target
-file instead of overwriting it. If the file doesn't exist, it will be created.
-Note that this flag is ignored by some SSH servers (including OpenSSH).
+(FTP/SFTP) When used in an upload, this makes curl append to the target file
+instead of overwriting it. If the remote file doesn't exist, it will be
+created. Note that this flag is ignored by some SFTP servers (including
+OpenSSH).
.IP "-A, --user-agent <agent string>"
(HTTP) Specify the User-Agent string to send to the HTTP server. Some badly
done CGIs fail if this field isn't set to "Mozilla/4.0". To encode blanks in
rewind. If the need should arise when uploading from stdin, the upload
operation will fail.
.IP "-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".
+(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 '=' symbol 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
file to read cookies from should be plain HTTP headers or the Netscape/Mozilla
cookie file format.
-\fBNOTE\fP that the file specified with \fI-b, --cookie\fP is only used as
-input. No cookies will be stored in the file. To store cookies, use the
-\fI-c, --cookie-jar\fP option or you could even save the HTTP headers to a file
-using \fI-D, --dump-header\fP!
+The file specified with \fI-b, --cookie\fP is only used as input. No cookies
+will be written to the file. To store cookies, use the \fI-c, --cookie-jar\fP
+option.
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "-B, --use-ascii"
-(FTP/LDAP) Enable ASCII transfer. 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.
+(FTP/LDAP) Enable ASCII transfer. 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.
.IP "--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 previously
-set option that sets a different authentication method (such as \fI--ntlm\fP,
-\fI--digest\fP, or \fI--negotiate\fP).
+(HTTP) Tells curl to use HTTP Basic authentication with the remote host. This
+is the default and this option is usually pointless, unless you use it to
+override a previously set option that sets a different authentication method
+(such as \fI--ntlm\fP, \fI--digest\fP, or \fI--negotiate\fP).
+
+Used together with \fI-u, --user\fP and \fI-x, --proxy\fP.
+
+See also \fI--proxy-basic\fP.
.IP "-c, --cookie-jar <file name>"
(HTTP) 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
+known, no data 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.
supports, and save the uncompressed document. If this option is used and the
server sends an unsupported encoding, curl will report an error.
.IP "--connect-timeout <seconds>"
-Maximum time in seconds that you allow the connection 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 \fI-m, --max-time\fP option.
+Maximum time in seconds that you allow curl's connection to take. This only
+limits the connection phase, so if curl connects within the given period it
+will continue - if not it will exit. Since version 7.32.0, this option
+accepts decimal values.
+
+See also the \fI-m, --max-time\fP option.
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "--create-dirs"
To create remote directories when using FTP or SFTP, try
\fI--ftp-create-dirs\fP.
.IP "--crlf"
-(FTP) Convert LF to CRLF in upload. Useful for MVS (OS/390).
+Convert LF to CRLF in upload. Useful for MVS (OS/390).
+
+(SMTP added in 7.40.0)
.IP "--crlfile <file>"
(HTTPS/FTPS) Provide a file using PEM format with a Certificate Revocation
List that may specify peer certificates that are to be considered revoked.
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
-\fI--data @foobar\fP.
+read the data from, or - if you want curl to read the data from
+stdin. Multiple files can also be specified. Posting data from a file
+named 'foobar' would thus be done with \fI--data\fP @foobar. When --data is
+told to read from a file like that, carriage returns and newlines will be
+stripped out.
.IP "-D, --dump-header <file>"
Write the protocol headers to the specified file.
This option is handy to use when you want to store the headers that an HTTP
site sends to you. Cookies from the headers could then be read in a second
curl invocation by using the \fI-b, --cookie\fP option! The
-\fI-c, --cookie-jar\fP option is however a better way to store cookies.
+\fI-c, --cookie-jar\fP option is a better way to store cookies.
When used in 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.
-
.IP "--data-ascii <data>"
See \fI-d, --data\fP.
.IP "--data-binary <data>"
If you start the data with the letter @, the rest should be a filename. Data
is posted in a similar manner as \fI--data-ascii\fP does, except that newlines
-are preserved and conversions are never done.
+and carriage returns are preserved and conversions are never done.
If this option is used several times, the ones following the first will append
data as described in \fI-d, --data\fP.
Disabling EPSV only changes the passive behavior. If you want to switch to
active mode you need to use \fI-P, --ftp-port\fP.
+.IP "--dns-interface <interface>"
+Tell curl to send outgoing DNS requests through <interface>. This option
+is a counterpart to \fI--interface\fP (which does not affect DNS). The
+supplied string must be an interface name (not an address).
+
+This option requires that libcurl was built with a resolver backend that
+supports this operation. The c-ares backend is the only such one. (Added in
+7.33.0)
+.IP "--dns-ipv4-addr <ip-address>"
+Tell curl to bind to <ip-address> when making IPv4 DNS requests, so that
+the DNS requests originate from this address. The argument should be a
+single IPv4 address.
+
+This option requires that libcurl was built with a resolver backend that
+supports this operation. The c-ares backend is the only such one. (Added in
+7.33.0)
+.IP "--dns-ipv6-addr <ip-address>"
+Tell curl to bind to <ip-address> when making IPv6 DNS requests, so that
+the DNS requests originate from this address. The argument should be a
+single IPv6 address.
+
+This option requires that libcurl was built with a resolver backend that
+supports this operation. The c-ares backend is the only such one. (Added in
+7.33.0)
+.IP "--dns-servers <ip-address,ip-address>"
+Set the list of DNS servers to be used instead of the system default.
+The list of IP addresses should be separated with commas. Port numbers
+may also optionally be given as \fI:<port-number>\fP after each IP
+address.
+
+This option requires that libcurl was built with a resolver backend that
+supports this operation. The c-ares backend is the only such one. (Added in
+7.33.0)
.IP "-e, --referer <URL>"
-(HTTP) Sends the "Referer Page" information to the HTTP server. This can also
+(HTTP) Sends the "Referrer Page" information to the HTTP server. This can also
be set with the \fI-H, --header\fP flag of course. When used with
\fI-L, --location\fP you can append ";auto" to the --referer URL to make curl
automatically set the previous URL when it follows a Location: header. The
.IP "-E, --cert <certificate[:password]>"
(SSL) Tells curl to use the specified client certificate file when getting a
file with HTTPS, FTPS or another SSL-based protocol. The certificate must be
-in PEM format. If the optional password isn't specified, it will be queried
+in PKCS#12 format if using Secure Transport, or PEM format if using any other
+engine. If the optional password isn't specified, it will be queried
for on the terminal. Note that this option assumes a \&"certificate" file that
is the private key and the private certificate concatenated! See \fI--cert\fP
and \fI--key\fP to specify them independently.
by the environment variable SSL_DIR (or by default /etc/pki/nssdb). If the
NSS PEM PKCS#11 module (libnsspem.so) is available then PEM files may be
loaded. If you want to use a file from the current directory, please precede
-it with "./" prefix, in order to avoid confusion with a nickname.
+it with "./" prefix, in order to avoid confusion with a nickname. If the
+nickname contains ":", it needs to be preceded by "\\" so that it is not
+recognized as password delimiter. If the nickname contains "\\", it needs to
+be escaped as "\\\\" so that it is not recognized as an escape character.
+
+(iOS and Mac OS X only) If curl is built against Secure Transport, then the
+certificate string can either be the name of a certificate/private key in the
+system or user keychain, or the path to a PKCS#12-encoded certificate and
+private key. If you want to use a file from the current directory, please
+precede it with "./" prefix, in order to avoid confusion with a nickname.
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "--engine <name>"
\'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 curl is built against the NSS SSL library then this option tells
-curl the nickname of the CA certificate to use within the NSS database
-defined by the environment variable SSL_DIR (or by default /etc/pki/nssdb).
-If the NSS PEM PKCS#11 module (libnsspem.so) is available then PEM files
-may be loaded.
+If curl is built against the NSS SSL library, the NSS PEM PKCS#11 module
+(libnsspem.so) needs to be available for this option to work properly.
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "--capath <CA certificate directory>"
If this option is set, the default capath value will be ignored, and if it is
used several times, the last one will be used.
+.IP "--pinnedpubkey <pinned public key>"
+(SSL) Tells curl to use the specified public key file to verify the peer. The
+file must contain a single public key in PEM or DER format.
+
+When negotiating a TLS or SSL connection, the server sends a certificate
+indicating its identity. A public key is extracted from this certificate and
+if it does not exactly match the public key provided to this option, curl will
+abort the connection before sending or receiving any data.
+
+This is currently only implemented in the OpenSSL, GnuTLS and GSKit backends.
+
+If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
+(Added in 7.39.0)
+.IP "--cert-status"
+(SSL) Tells curl to verify the status of the server certificate by using the
+Certificate Status Request (aka. OCSP stapling) TLS extension.
+
+If this option is enabled and the server sends an invalid (e.g. expired)
+response, if the response suggests that the server certificate has been revoked,
+or no response at all is received, the verification fails.
+
+This is currently only implemented in the GnuTLS and NSS backends.
+(Added in 7.41.0)
.IP "-f, --fail"
(HTTP) Fail silently (no output at all) on server errors. This is mostly done
-to better enable scripts etc to better deal with failed attempts. In
-normal cases when an HTTP server fails to deliver a document, it returns an
-HTML document stating so (which often also describes why and more). This flag
-will prevent curl from outputting that and return error 22.
+to better enable scripts etc to better deal with failed attempts. In normal
+cases when an HTTP server fails to deliver a document, it returns an HTML
+document stating so (which often also describes why and more). This flag will
+prevent curl from outputting that and return error 22.
This method is not fail-safe and there are occasions where non-successful
response codes will slip through, especially when authentication is involved
(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 RFC 2388. This enables uploading of binary
-files etc. To force the 'content' part to 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 symbol <. 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.
+files etc. To force the 'content' part to 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 symbol <. 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
interpreted by curl itself. Note that these letters are not normal legal URL
contents but they should be encoded according to the URI standard.
.IP "-G, --get"
-When used, this option will make all data specified with \fI-d, --data\fP or
-\fI--data-binary\fP to be used in an HTTP GET request instead of the POST
-request that otherwise would be used. The data will be appended to the URL
-with a '?' separator.
+When used, this option will make all data specified with \fI-d, --data\fP,
+\fI--data-binary\fP or \fI--data-urlencode\fP to be used in an 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.
because undoing a GET doesn't make sense, but you should then instead enforce
the alternative method you prefer.
.IP "-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. Remove an
-internal header by giving a replacement without content on the right side of
-the colon, as in: -H \&"Host:". If you send the custom header with no-value
-then its header must be terminated with a semicolon, such as \-H
-\&"X-Custom-Header;" to send "X-Custom-Header:".
+(HTTP) Extra header to include in the request when sending HTTP to a
+server. 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. Remove an internal header by giving a replacement
+without content on the right side of the colon, as in: -H \&"Host:". If you
+send the custom header with no-value then its header must be terminated with a
+semicolon, such as \-H \&"X-Custom-Header;" to send "X-Custom-Header:".
curl will make sure that each header you add/replace is sent with the proper
end-of-line marker, you should thus \fBnot\fP add that as a part of the header
See also the \fI-A, --user-agent\fP and \fI-e, --referer\fP options.
+Starting in 7.37.0, you need \fI--proxy-header\fP to send custom headers
+intended for a proxy.
+
+Example:
+
+\&# curl -H "X-First-Name: Joe" http://192.168.0.1/
+
This option can be used multiple times to add/replace/remove multiple headers.
.IP "--hostpubmd5 <md5>"
(SCP/SFTP) Pass a string containing 32 hexadecimal digits. The string should
(HTTP) This option tells the \fI-O, --remote-name\fP option to use the
server-specified Content-Disposition filename instead of extracting a filename
from the URL.
+
+There's no attempt to decode %-sequences (yet) in the provided file name, so
+this option may provide you with rather unexpected file names.
.IP "-k, --insecure"
(SSL) This option explicitly allows curl to perform "insecure" SSL connections
and transfers. All SSL connections are attempted to be made secure by using
.IP "-K, --config <config file>"
Specify which config file to read curl arguments from. The config file is a
text file in which command line arguments can be written which then will be
-used as if they were written on the actual command line. Options and their
-parameters must be specified on the same config file line, separated by
-whitespace, colon, the equals sign or any combination thereof (however,
-the preferred separator is the equals sign). If the parameter is to contain
-whitespace, the parameter must be enclosed within quotes. Within double
-quotes, the following escape sequences are available: \\\\, \\", \\t, \\n,
-\\r and \\v. A backslash preceding any other letter is ignored. If the
-first column of a config line is a '#' character, the rest of the line will be
-treated as a comment. Only write one option per physical line in the config
-file.
+used as if they were written on the actual command line.
+
+Options and their parameters must be specified on the same config file line,
+separated by whitespace, colon, or the equals sign. Long option names can
+optionally be given in the config file without the initial double dashes and
+if so, the colon or equals characters can be used as separators. If the option
+is specified with one or two dashes, there can be no colon or equals character
+between the option and its parameter.
+
+If the parameter is to contain whitespace, the parameter must be enclosed
+within quotes. Within double quotes, the following escape sequences are
+available: \\\\, \\", \\t, \\n, \\r and \\v. A backslash preceding any other
+letter is ignored. If the first column of a config line is a '#' character,
+the rest of the line will be treated as a comment. Only write one option per
+physical line in the config file.
Specify the filename to -K, --config as '-' to make curl read the file from
stdin.
url = "http://curl.haxx.se/docs/"
-Long option names can optionally be given in the config file without the
-initial double dashes.
-
When curl is invoked, it always (unless \fI-q\fP is used) checks for a default
config file and uses it if found. The default config file is checked for in
the following places in this order:
1) curl tries to find the "home dir": It first checks for the CURL_HOME and
then the HOME environment variables. Failing that, it uses getpwuid() on
-UNIX-like systems (which returns the home dir given the current user in your
+Unix-like systems (which returns the home dir given the current user in your
system). On Windows, it then checks for the APPDATA variable, or as a last
resort the '%USERPROFILE%\\Application Data'.
2) On windows, if there is no _curlrc file in the home dir, it checks for one
-in the same dir the curl executable is placed. On UNIX-like systems, it will
+in the same dir the curl executable is placed. On Unix-like systems, it will
simply try to load .curlrc from the determined home dir.
.nf
unspecified, the option defaults to 60 seconds.
.IP "--key <key>"
(SSL/SSH) Private key file name. Allows you to provide your private key in this
-separate file.
+separate file. For SSH, if not specified, curl tries the following candidates
+in order: '~/.ssh/id_rsa', '~/.ssh/id_dsa', './id_rsa', './id_dsa'.
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "--key-type <type>"
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.
-This option requires a library built with kerberos4 or GSSAPI
-(GSS-Negotiate) support. This is not very common. Use \fI-V, --version\fP to
-see if your curl supports it.
+This option requires a library built with kerberos4 support. This is not
+very common. Use \fI-V, --version\fP to see if your curl supports it.
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "-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
-directory 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 to NLST; they do not include
-subdirectories and symbolic links.
-
+When listing an FTP directory, this switch forces a name-only view. This is
+especially useful if the user wants to machine-parse the contents of an FTP
+directory since the normal directory view doesn't use a standard look or
+format. When used like this, the option causes a NLST command to be sent to
+the server instead of LIST.
+
+Note: Some FTP servers list only files in their response to NLST; they do not
+include sub-directories and symbolic links.
+
+(POP3)
+When retrieving a specific email from POP3, this switch forces a LIST command
+to be performed instead of RETR. This is particularly useful if the user wants
+to see if a specific message id exists on the server and what size it is.
+
+Note: When combined with \fI-X, --request <command>\fP, this option can be used
+to send an UIDL command instead, so the user may use the email's unique
+identifier rather than it's message id to make the request. (Added in 7.21.5)
.IP "-L, --location"
(HTTP/HTTPS) If the server reports that the requested page has moved to a
different location (indicated with a Location: header and a 3XX response code),
POST or PUT), it will do the following request with a GET if the HTTP response
was 301, 302, or 303. If the response code was any other 3xx code, curl will
re-send the following request using the same unmodified method.
+
+You can tell curl to not change the non-GET request method to GET after a 30x
+response by using the dedicated options for that: \fI--post301\fP,
+\fI--post302\fP and \fI-post303\fP.
.IP "--libcurl <file>"
Append this option to any ordinary curl command line, and you will get a
libcurl-using C source code written to the file that does the equivalent
If this option is used several times, the last given file name will be
used. (Added in 7.16.1)
.IP "--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 to use your entire
-bandwidth.
+Specify the maximum transfer rate you want curl to use - for both downloads
+and uploads. This feature is useful if you have a limited pipe and you'd like
+your transfer not to use your entire bandwidth. To make it slower than it
+otherwise would be.
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
.IP "-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. See also the \fI--connect-timeout\fP option.
+networks or links going down. Since 7.32.0, this option accepts decimal
+values, but the actual timeout will decrease in accuracy as the specified
+timeout increases in decimal precision. See also the \fI--connect-timeout\fP
+option.
+
+If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
+.IP "--login-options <options>"
+Specify the login options to use during server authentication.
+
+You can use the login options to specify protocol specific options that may
+be used during authentication. At present only IMAP, POP3 and SMTP support
+login options. For more information about the login options please see
+RFC 2384, RFC 5092 and IETF draft draft-earhart-url-smtp-00.txt (Added in
+7.34.0).
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "--mail-auth <address>"
files this option has no effect even if the file transfer ends up being larger
than this given limit. This concerns both FTP and HTTP transfers.
.IP "--mail-rcpt <address>"
-(SMTP) Specify a single address that the given mail should get sent to. This
-option can be used multiple times to specify many recipients.
+(SMTP) Specify a single address, user name or mailing list name.
-(Added in 7.20.0)
+When performing a mail transfer, the recipient should specify a valid email
+address to send the mail to. (Added in 7.20.0)
+
+When performing an address verification (VRFY command), the recipient should be
+specified as the user name or user name and domain (as per Section 3.5 of
+RFC5321). (Added in 7.34.0)
+
+When performing a mailing list expand (EXPN command), the recipient should be
+specified using the mailing list name, such as "Friends" or "London-Office".
+(Added in 7.34.0)
.IP "--max-redirs <num>"
Set maximum number of redirection-followings allowed. If \fI-L, --location\fP
is used, this option can be used to prevent curl from following redirections
.IP "-n, --netrc"
Makes curl scan the \fI.netrc\fP (\fI_netrc\fP on Windows) file in the user's
home directory for login name and password. This is typically used for FTP on
-UNIX. If used with HTTP, curl will enable user authentication. See
+Unix. If used with HTTP, curl will enable user authentication. See
.BR netrc(4)
or
.BR ftp(1)
\fBoptional\fP and not mandatory as the \fI--netrc\fP option does.
.IP "--negotiate"
-(HTTP) Enables GSS-Negotiate authentication. The GSS-Negotiate method was
-designed by Microsoft and is used in their web applications. It is primarily
-meant as a support for Kerberos5 authentication but may be also used along
-with another authentication method. For more information see IETF draft
-draft-brezak-spnego-http-04.txt.
+(HTTP) Enables Negotiate (SPNEGO) authentication.
-If you want to enable Negotiate for your proxy authentication, then use
+If you want to enable Negotiate (SPNEGO) for proxy authentication, then use
\fI--proxy-negotiate\fP.
-This option requires a library built with GSSAPI support. This is
-not very common. Use \fI-V, --version\fP to see if your version supports
-GSS-Negotiate.
+This option requires a library built with GSS-API or SSPI support. Use \fI-V,
+--version\fP to see if your curl supports GSS-API/SSPI and SPNEGO.
When using this option, you must also provide a fake \fI-u, --user\fP option to
activate the authentication code properly. Sending a '-u :' is enough as the
you want the file saved in a different directory, make sure you change current
working directory before you invoke curl with the \fB-O, --remote-name\fP flag!
+There is no URL decoding done on the file name. If it has %20 or other URL
+encoded parts of the name, they will end up as-is as file name.
+
You may use this option as many times as the number of URLs you have.
+.IP "--oauth2-bearer"
+(IMAP, POP3, SMTP)
+Specify the Bearer Token for OAUTH 2.0 server authentication. The Bearer Token
+is used in conjunction with the user name which can be specified as part of the
+\fI--url\fP or \fI-u, --user\fP options.
+
+The Bearer Token and user name are formatted according to RFC 6750.
+
+If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
+.IP "--proxy-header <header>"
+(HTTP) Extra header to include in the request when sending HTTP to a
+proxy. You may specify any number of extra headers. This is the equivalent
+option to \fI-H, --header\fP but is for proxy communication only like in
+CONNECT requests when you want a separate header sent to the proxy to what is
+sent to the actual remote host.
+
+curl will make sure that each header you add/replace is sent with the proper
+end-of-line marker, you should thus \fBnot\fP add that as a part of the header
+content: do not add newlines or carriage returns, they will only mess things
+up for you.
+
+Headers specified with this option will not be included in requests that curl
+knows will not be sent to a proxy.
+
+This option can be used multiple times to add/replace/remove multiple headers.
+
+(Added in 7.37.0)
.IP "-p, --proxytunnel"
When an HTTP proxy is used (\fI-x, --proxy\fP), this option will cause non-HTTP
protocols to attempt to tunnel through the proxy instead of merely using it to
consistency. However, a server may require a POST to remain a POST after such
a redirection. This option is meaningful only when using \fI-L, --location\fP
(Added in 7.19.1)
+.IP "--post303"
+(HTTP) Tells curl to respect RFC 2616/10.3.2 and not convert POST requests
+into GET requests when following a 303 redirection. The non-RFC behaviour is
+ubiquitous in web browsers, so curl does the conversion by default to maintain
+consistency. However, a server may require a POST to remain a POST after such
+a redirection. This option is meaningful only when using \fI-L, --location\fP
+(Added in 7.26.0)
.IP "--proto <protocols>"
Tells curl to use the listed protocols for its initial retrieval. Protocols
are evaluated left to right, are comma separated, and are each a protocol
Tells curl to use HTTP Digest authentication when communicating with the given
proxy. Use \fI--digest\fP for enabling HTTP Digest with a remote host.
.IP "--proxy-negotiate"
-Tells curl to use HTTP Negotiate authentication when communicating
-with the given proxy. Use \fI--negotiate\fP for enabling HTTP Negotiate
+Tells curl to use HTTP Negotiate (SPNEGO) authentication when communicating
+with the given proxy. Use \fI--negotiate\fP for enabling HTTP Negotiate (SPNEGO)
with a remote host. (Added in 7.17.1)
.IP "--proxy-ntlm"
Tells curl to use HTTP NTLM authentication when communicating with the given
separate file.
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
+
+(As of 7.39.0, curl attempts to automatically extract the public key from the
+private key file, so passing this option is generally not required. Note that
+this public key extraction requires libcurl to be linked against a copy of
+libssh2 1.2.8 or higher that is itself linked against OpenSSL.)
.IP "-q"
If used as the first parameter on the command line, the \fIcurlrc\fP config
file will not be read and used. See the \fI-K, --config\fP for details on the
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "-s, --silent"
-Silent or quiet mode. Don't show progress meter or error messages. Makes
-Curl mute.
+Silent or quiet mode. Don't show progress meter or error messages. Makes Curl
+mute. It will still output the data you ask for, potentially even to the
+terminal/stdout unless you redirect it.
+.IP "--sasl-ir"
+Enable initial response in SASL authentication.
+(Added in 7.31.0)
.IP "-S, --show-error"
When used with \fI-s\fP it makes curl show an error message if it fails.
.IP "--ssl"
.IP "--ssl-allow-beast"
(SSL) This option tells curl to not work around a security flaw in the SSL3
and TLS1.0 protocols known as BEAST. If this option isn't used, the SSL layer
-may use work-arounds known to cause interoperability problems with some older
+may use workarounds known to cause interoperability problems with some older
SSL implementations. WARNING: this option loosens the SSL security, and by
using this flag you ask for exactly that. (Added in 7.25.0)
.IP "--socks4 <host[:port]>"
sockd/real-name would use sockd/real-name for cases where the proxy-name does
not match the principal name. (Added in 7.19.4).
.IP "--socks5-gssapi-nec"
-As part of the gssapi negotiation a protection mode is negotiated. RFC 1961
+As part of the GSS-API negotiation a protection mode is negotiated. RFC 1961
says in section 4.3/4.4 it should be protected, but the NEC reference
implementation does not. The option \fI--socks5-gssapi-nec\fP allows the
unprotected exchange of the protection mode negotiation. (Added in 7.19.4).
for TLS-SRP (RFC 5054). If \fI--tlsuser\fP and \fI--tlspassword\fP are
specified but \fI--tlsauthtype\fP is not, then this option defaults to "SRP".
(Added in 7.21.4)
-.IP "--tlsuser <user>"
-Set username for use with the TLS authentication method specified with
-\fI--tlsauthtype\fP. Requires that \fI--tlspassword\fP also be set. (Added in
-7.21.4)
.IP "--tlspassword <password>"
Set password for use with the TLS authentication method specified with
\fI--tlsauthtype\fP. Requires that \fI--tlsuser\fP also be set. (Added in
7.21.4)
+.IP "--tlsuser <user>"
+Set username for use with the TLS authentication method specified with
+\fI--tlsauthtype\fP. Requires that \fI--tlspassword\fP also be set. (Added in
+7.21.4)
+.IP "--tlsv1.0"
+(SSL)
+Forces curl to use TLS version 1.0 when negotiating with a remote TLS server.
+(Added in 7.34.0)
+.IP "--tlsv1.1"
+(SSL)
+Forces curl to use TLS version 1.1 when negotiating with a remote TLS server.
+(Added in 7.34.0)
+.IP "--tlsv1.2"
+(SSL)
+Forces curl to use TLS version 1.2 when negotiating with a remote TLS server.
+(Added in 7.34.0)
.IP "--tr-encoding"
(HTTP) Request a compressed Transfer-Encoding response using one of the
algorithms curl supports, and uncompress the data while receiving it.
.IP "--trace-time"
Prepends a time stamp to each trace or verbose line that curl displays.
(Added in 7.14.0)
+.IP "--unix-socket <path>"
+(HTTP) Connect through this Unix domain socket, instead of using the
+network. (Added in 7.40.0)
.IP "-u, --user <user:password>"
Specify the user name and password to use for server authentication. Overrides
\fI-n, --netrc\fP and \fI--netrc-optional\fP.
-If you just give the user name (without entering a colon) curl will prompt for
-a password.
+If you simply specify the user name, curl will prompt for a password.
+
+The user name and passwords are split up on the first colon, which makes it
+impossible to use a colon in the user name with this option. The password can,
+still.
+
+When using Kerberos V5 with a Windows based server you should include the
+Windows domain name in the user name, in order for the server to succesfully
+obtain a Kerberos Ticket. If you don't then the initial authentication
+handshake may fail.
+
+When using NTLM, the user name can be specified simply as the user name,
+without the domain, if there is a single domain and forest in your setup
+for example.
+
+To specify the domain name use either Down-Level Logon Name or UPN (User
+Principal Name) formats. For example, EXAMPLE\\user and user@example.com
+respectively.
-If you use an SSPI-enabled curl binary and do NTLM authentication, you can
-force curl to pick up the user name and password from your environment by
-simply specifying a single colon with this option: "-u :".
+If you use a Windows SSPI-enabled curl binary and perform Kerberos V5,
+Negotiate, NTLM or Digest authentication then you can tell curl to select
+the user name and password from your environment by specifying a single colon
+with this option: "-u :".
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "-U, --proxy-user <user:password>"
Specify the user name and password to use for proxy authentication.
-If you use an SSPI-enabled curl binary and do NTLM authentication, you can
-force curl to pick up the user name and password from your environment by
-simply specifying a single colon with this option: "-U :".
+If you use a Windows SSPI-enabled curl binary and do either Negotiate or NTLM
+authentication then you can tell curl to select the user name and password
+from your environment by specifying a single colon with this option: "-U :".
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "--url <URL>"
This option may be used any number of times. To control where this URL is
written, use the \fI-o, --output\fP or the \fI-O, --remote-name\fP options.
.IP "-v, --verbose"
-Makes the fetching more verbose/talkative. Mostly useful for debugging. A line
-starting with '>' means "header data" sent by curl, '<' means "header data"
-received by curl that is hidden in normal cases, and a line starting with '*'
-means additional info provided by curl.
+Be more verbose/talkative during the operation. Useful for debugging and
+seeing what's going on "under the hood". A line starting with '>' means
+"header data" sent by curl, '<' means "header data" received by curl that is
+hidden in normal cases, and a line starting with '*' means additional info
+provided by curl.
Note that if you only want HTTP headers in the output, \fI-i, --include\fP
might be the option you're looking for.
Use \fI-s, --silent\fP to make curl quiet.
.IP "-w, --write-out <format>"
-Defines what to display on stdout after a completed and successful
-operation. The format is a string that may contain plain text mixed with any
-number of variables. 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
+Make curl display information on stdout after a completed transfer. The format
+is a string that may contain plain text mixed with any number of
+variables. The format can be specified as a literal "string", or you can have
+curl read the format from a file with "@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
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "-x, --proxy <[protocol://][user:password@]proxyhost[:port]>"
-Use the specified HTTP proxy. If the port number is not specified, it is
-assumed at port 1080.
+Use the specified proxy.
+
+The proxy string can be specified with a protocol:// prefix to specify
+alternative proxy protocols. Use socks4://, socks4a://, socks5:// or
+socks5h:// to request the specific SOCKS version to be used. No protocol
+specified, http:// and all others will be treated as HTTP proxies. (The
+protocol support was added in curl 7.21.7)
+
+If the port number is not specified in the proxy string, it is assumed to be
+1080.
This option overrides existing environment variables that set the proxy to
use. If there's an environment variable setting a proxy, you can set proxy to
variables, including the protocol prefix (http://) and the embedded user +
password.
-From 7.21.7, the proxy string may be specified with a protocol:// prefix to
-specify alternative proxy protocols. Use socks4://, socks4a://, socks5:// or
-socks5h:// to request the specific SOCKS version to be used. No protocol
-specified, http:// and all others will be treated as HTTP proxies.
-
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "-X, --request <command>"
(HTTP) Specifies a custom request method to use when communicating with the
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.
+(POP3)
+Specifies a custom POP3 command to use instead of LIST or RETR. (Added in
+7.26.0)
+
+(IMAP)
+Specifies a custom IMAP command to use instead of LIST. (Added in 7.30.0)
+(SMTP)
+Specifies a custom SMTP command to use instead of HELP or VRFY. (Added in 7.34.0)
+
+If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "--xattr"
When saving output to a file, this option tells curl to store certain file
-metadata in extened file attributes. Currently, the URL is stored in the
+metadata in extended file attributes. Currently, the URL is stored in the
xdg.origin.url attribute and, for HTTP, the content type is stored in
the mime_type attribute. If the file system does not support extended
attributes, a warning is issued.
if not set.
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
-.IP "-z/--time-cond <date expression>|<file>"
+.IP "-z, --time-cond <date expression>|<file>"
(HTTP/FTP) Request 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
If this option is used several times, the last one will be used.
.IP "-h, --help"
-Usage help.
+Usage help. This lists all current command line options with a short
+description.
.IP "-M, --manual"
Manual. Display the huge help text.
.IP "-V, --version"
.IP "krb4"
Krb4 for FTP is supported.
.IP "SSL"
-HTTPS and FTPS are supported.
+SSL versions of various protocols are supported, such as HTTPS, FTPS, POP3S
+and so on.
.IP "libz"
Automatic decompression of compressed files over HTTP is supported.
.IP "NTLM"
NTLM authentication is supported.
-.IP "GSS-Negotiate"
-Negotiate authentication and krb5 for FTP is supported.
.IP "Debug"
This curl uses a libcurl built with Debug. This enables more error-tracking
and memory debugging etc. For curl-developers only!
.IP "AsynchDNS"
-This curl uses asynchronous name resolves.
+This curl uses asynchronous name resolves. Asynchronous name resolves can be
+done using either the c-ares or the threaded resolver backends.
.IP "SPNEGO"
-SPNEGO Negotiate authentication is supported.
+SPNEGO authentication is supported.
.IP "Largefile"
This curl supports transfers of large files, files larger than 2GB.
.IP "IDN"
This curl supports IDN - international domain names.
+.IP "GSS-API"
+GSS-API is supported.
.IP "SSPI"
-SSPI is supported. If you use NTLM and set a blank user name, curl will
-authenticate with your current user and password.
+SSPI is supported.
.IP "TLS-SRP"
SRP (Secure Remote Password) authentication is supported for TLS.
+.IP "HTTP2"
+HTTP/2 support has been built-in.
.IP "Metalink"
This curl supports Metalink (both version 3 and 4 (RFC 5854)), which
describes mirrors and hashes. curl will use mirrors for failover if
unable to parse FTP file list
.IP 88
FTP chunk callback reported error
+.IP 89
+No connection available, the session will be queued
+.IP 90
+SSL public key does not matched pinned public key
.IP XX
More error codes will appear here in future releases. The existing ones
are meant to never change.
projects / platform / upstream / curl.git / blobdiff