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How Do You Use Curl Links?

Published in CommandLineTools 3 mins read

The simplest way to use curl with a link (URL) is to retrieve the content of a web page, displaying the HTML in your terminal.

Here's a breakdown of how to use curl with links, along with examples and explanations:

Basic Usage

The fundamental syntax for using curl with a URL is:

curl [URL]
  • curl: The command-line tool itself.
  • [URL]: The web address you want to access (e.g., https://www.example.com).

Example:

To retrieve the HTML content of https://www.example.com, you would use the following command:

curl https://www.example.com

This command will output the HTML source code of the specified webpage directly to your terminal.

Understanding the GET Request

By default, curl performs a GET request when you provide a URL. A GET request asks the server to retrieve the resource (e.g., the HTML page) located at that URL.

Example of saving the output to a file:

curl https://www.example.com -o example.html

This saves the output from the URL https://www.example.com to a file named example.html.

Beyond the Basics: More Complex Usage

While simply displaying the HTML is useful, curl can do much more with links. Here are a few common scenarios:

  • Downloading Files: Use the -O (uppercase O) option to download a file and save it with the same name as on the server.

    curl -O https://example.com/image.jpg

  • Specifying the Output Filename: Use the -o (lowercase o) option to download a file and give it a specific name.

    curl -o myimage.jpg https://example.com/image.jpg

  • Using Different HTTP Methods: You can use the -X option to specify a different HTTP method, such as POST. This is typically used when submitting data to a web server.

    curl -X POST -d "name=John&age=30" https://example.com/submit

    In this example, -X POST tells curl to make a POST request and -d "name=John&age=30" sends the provided data.

  • Setting Headers: Use the -H option to include custom headers in the request. This is frequently used for authentication or to specify the content type.

    curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" https://api.example.com/data

Summary

curl provides a versatile way to interact with web servers using URLs. Its basic function is to retrieve the content at a given link using a GET request, which displays the data in your terminal. The options available with curl allow you to specify HTTP methods, set headers, download files, and more.

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