How to make a PUT request using curl

For more information about curl, checkout the “What is curl” article. This article will discuss how to interact with an API using PUT requests through curl.

Make a simple PUT request

The basic syntax for sending a PUT request using curl is:

1

curl -X PUT https://example.com

The -X argument accepts an HTTP method for interacting with the server. For HTTP, valid values include: GET (default), POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.

NOTE: The -X flag is a shorthand for --request. Either can be used.

Make a PUT request with data

Users can send data along with a PUT request.

1
2

curl -X PUT -d "title=newtitle&body=newbody" \
	https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1

In the example above, a PUT request is sent to the JSONPlaceholder API to update an existing post (1) with a title of newtitle and a body of newbody.

The default Content-Type is application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

NOTE: The -d flag is a shorthand for --data. Either can be used.

Make a PUT request with JSON body

Users may optionally send JSON data in their request payloads.

Making a PUT request with JSON

1
2
3
4

curl -X PUT \
	-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
	-d '{"title":"newtitle","body":"newbar"}' \
	https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1

In the example above, a PUT request is sent to the JSONPlaceholder API to update an existing post (1) with a title of newtitle and a body of newbody.

The -H flag accepts a Key: value string that represents a header. In the above case, it sets the content type: Content-Type: application/json.

NOTE: The -H flag is a shorthand for --header. Either can be used.

Making a PUT request with a JSON file

In addition to text, the -d parameter accepts a file using the syntax @filename.

If a file is named post.json

1
2
3
4

{ 
	"title": "newtitle",
	"body": "newbody"
}

then curl can pass on its contents:

1
2
3
4

curl -X PUT \
	-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
	-d @post.json \
	https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1