Making a POST Request with a JSON Payload using Curl

Question- How to send a POST Request with a JSON Body using the Curl Command Line?

The `curl` command line utility is a powerful tool for making HTTP requests. It can be used to send a variety of different HTTP requests, including POST requests with a JSON body. Here’s how you can use curl to send a POST request with a JSON body:

Create a JSON file

Create a JSON file that contains the data you want to send in the request body. For example, let’s say you have a file named `data.json` with the following contents:

{ "name": "John Doe", "age": 25 }

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{   "name": "John Doe",   "age": 25 }

Curl POST Data

Use the curl command to send a POST request with the JSON data. The `-X` option specifies the request method (in this case, POST), and the `-H` option adds an HTTP header (in this case, `Content-Type: application/json` to specify that the request body is in JSON format). The -d option specifies the request body, and the `@` symbol tells curl to read the data from a file.

Here’s the command to send the POST request with the JSON data:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @data.json http://example.com/endpoint 

Curl POST Data with Response Header

If the request is successful, the server will return a response. You can use the `-i` option to include the response headers in the output, or the `-o` option to save the response to a file.

Here’s an example of using the `-i` option to print the response headers:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type:application/json" -d @data.json http://example.com/endpoint -i 

And here’s an example of using the `-o` option to save the response to a file:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @data.json http://example.com/endpoint -o response.txt 

That’s all there is to it! With these simple commands, you can use `curl` to send a POST request with a JSON body to a server.

Keep in mind that the JSON data in the request body must be properly formatted and valid, or the request may fail. You can use a tool like JSONLint (https://jsonlint.com/) to validate your JSON data before sending it in the request.

I hope this tutorial has been helpful in showing you how to use `curl` to send a POST request with a JSON body. If you have any questions or need further assistance, don’t hesitate to ask.