1CURLOPT_URL(3) curl_easy_setopt options CURLOPT_URL(3)
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6 CURLOPT_URL - provide the URL to use in the request
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9 #include <curl/curl.h>
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11 CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_URL, char *URL);
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14 Pass in a pointer to the URL to work with. The parameter should be a
15 char * to a null-terminated string which must be URL-encoded in the
16 following format:
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18 scheme://host:port/path
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20 For a greater explanation of the format please see RFC3986.
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22 libcurl doesn't validate the syntax or use this variable until the
23 transfer is issued. Even if you set a crazy value here, curl_easy_se‐
24 topt(3) will still return CURLE_OK.
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26 If the given URL is missing a scheme name (such as "http://" or
27 "ftp://" etc) then libcurl will make a guess based on the host. If the
28 outermost sub-domain name matches DICT, FTP, IMAP, LDAP, POP3 or SMTP
29 then that protocol will be used, otherwise HTTP will be used. Since
30 7.45.0 guessing can be disabled by setting a default protocol, see CUR‐
31 LOPT_DEFAULT_PROTOCOL(3) for details.
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33 Should the protocol, either that specified by the scheme or deduced by
34 libcurl from the host name, not be supported by libcurl then CURLE_UN‐
35 SUPPORTED_PROTOCOL will be returned from either the curl_easy_per‐
36 form(3) or curl_multi_perform(3) functions when you call them. Use
37 curl_version_info(3) for detailed information of which protocols are
38 supported by the build of libcurl you are using.
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40 CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS(3) can be used to limit what protocols libcurl will
41 use for this transfer, independent of what libcurl has been compiled to
42 support. That may be useful if you accept the URL from an external
43 source and want to limit the accessibility.
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45 The CURLOPT_URL(3) string will be ignored if CURLOPT_CURLU(3) is set.
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47 CURLOPT_URL(3) or CURLOPT_CURLU(3) must be set before a transfer is
48 started.
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50 The application does not have to keep the string around after setting
51 this option.
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54 The string pointed to in the CURLOPT_URL(3) argument is generally ex‐
55 pected to be a sequence of characters using an ASCII compatible encod‐
56 ing.
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58 If libcurl is built with IDN support, the server name part of the URL
59 can use an "international name" by using the current encoding (accord‐
60 ing to locale) or UTF-8 (when winidn is used).
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62 If libcurl is built without IDN support, the server name is used ex‐
63 actly as specified when passed to the name resolver functions.
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66 There is no default URL. If this option isn't set, no transfer can be
67 performed.
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70 Applications may at times find it convenient to allow users to specify
71 URLs for various purposes and that string would then end up fed to this
72 option.
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74 Getting a URL from an external untrusted party will bring reasons for
75 several security concerns:
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77 If you have an application that runs as or in a server application,
78 getting an unfiltered URL can easily trick your application to access a
79 local resource instead of a remote. Protecting yourself against local‐
80 host accesses is very hard when accepting user provided URLs.
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82 Such custom URLs can also access other ports than you planned as port
83 numbers are part of the regular URL format. The combination of a local
84 host and a custom port number can allow external users to play tricks
85 with your local services.
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87 Accepting external URLs may also use other protocols than http:// or
88 other common ones. Restrict what accept with CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS(3).
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90 User provided URLs can also be made to point to sites that redirect
91 further on (possibly to other protocols too). Consider your CUR‐
92 LOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION(3) and CURLOPT_REDIR_PROTOCOLS(3) settings.
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95 All
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98 CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
99 if(curl) {
100 curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");
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102 curl_easy_perform(curl);
103 }
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106 POP3 and SMTP were added in 7.31.0
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109 Returns CURLE_OK on success or CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY if there was insuf‐
110 ficient heap space.
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112 Note that curl_easy_setopt(3) won't actually parse the given string so
113 given a bad URL, it will not be detected until curl_easy_perform(3) or
114 similar is called.
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117 CURLOPT_VERBOSE(3), CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS(3), CURLOPT_FORBID_REUSE(3), CUR‐
118 LOPT_FRESH_CONNECT(3), curl_easy_perform(3), CURLINFO_REDIRECT_URL(3),
119 CURLOPT_PATH_AS_IS(3), CURLOPT_CURLU(3),
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123libcurl 7.76.1 December 12, 2020 CURLOPT_URL(3)