What is the curl command
Curl is a command line utility that was created in 1998 for transferring data using URLs. Fundamentally, curl allows users to create network requests to a server by specifying a location in the form of a URL and adding optional data.
curl (short for “Client URL”) is powered by libcurl – a portable client-side URL transfer library written in C.
Why use the curl command?
Common use cases for curl include:
- It can download and upload files
- It has great error logging
- It allows for quick endpoint testing
- It provides granular details which aides debugging
- It is portable and works with most operating systems
- It is an actively managed open-source tool that is battled tested with a large user base
Base curl command usage
The basic syntax for a curl command is:
1curl [OPTIONS] [URL]Perform a GET request
The simplest usage is a default GET request for a website or API:
1curl https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/machine/1Output:
1{"id":1,"item":{"name":"tm00","url":"https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/item/1288/"},"move":{"name":"mega-punch","url":"https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/move/5/"},"version_group":{"name":"sword-shield","url":"https://pokeapi.co/api/v2/version-group/20/"}}Download a file
Downloading a file using the same name as the remote server:
1curl -O https://github.com/curl/curl/releases/download/curl-8_0_1/curl-8.0.1.tar.gzDownloading a file and specifying a new name:
1curl -o curl.tar.gz https://github.com/curl/curl/releases/download/curl-8_0_1/curl-8.0.1.tar.gzConclusion
curl is a powerful and versatile command line utility that offers a wide range of supporting features: multiple protocols, multiple options, data types, etc.