`curl` command

Make HTTP requests, call APIs and download files.

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Syntax

curl [options] URL

Provided by the curl package. Run man curl for the full manual.

Option	What it does
`-o FILE`	Save to a file
`-O`	Save with the remote file name
`-L`	Follow redirects
`-I`	Headers only (HEAD request)
`-X METHOD`	Request method, e.g. POST
`-H "K: V"`	Add a header
`-d DATA`	Send data (POST)
`-u user:pass`	Basic authentication
`-s`	Silent
`-k`	Skip TLS certificate checks
`-w FORMAT`	Print details, e.g. %{http_code}

Download a file

curl -LO https://example.com/file.tar.gz

Save with a new name

curl -L -o app.zip https://example.com/download

Print just the status code

curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" https://example.com

POST JSON

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"name":"demo"}' https://api.example.com/items

Send a bearer token

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" https://api.example.com/me

Upload a file (form)

curl -F "file=@report.pdf" https://example.com/upload

Resume a download

curl -C - -O https://example.com/big.iso

Pretty-print JSON

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/curl/curl | jq .