cURL

Requests Commands

Master HTTP requests with cURL from simple GET to complex POST, PUT, and DELETE operations. cURL is the universal tool for testing APIs, debugging endpoints, and automating HTTP workflows from the command line.

12 commands

Pro Tips

Use 'curl -X POST -d @data.json -H "Content-Type: application/json" url' to send JSON from a file.

Add '-v' (verbose) to see the full request/response headers — invaluable for debugging API issues.

Use '-o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}"' to get just the HTTP status code without response body.

Common Mistakes

Never include API keys or tokens directly in shell history. Use environment variables or config files.

POST with '-d' sets Content-Type to application/x-www-form-urlencoded by default. Add '-H "Content-Type: application/json"' for JSON APIs.

Commands

DELETE request

$ curl -X DELETE https://api.example.com/resource/123

Make a DELETE request

Follow redirects

$ curl -L https://example.com

Follow HTTP redirects automatically

GET request

$ curl https://api.example.com/resource

Make a simple GET request

GET with verbose output

$ curl -v https://api.example.com/resource

GET request with detailed output

HEAD request

$ curl -I https://example.com

Get only response headers

PATCH request

$ curl -X PATCH -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"key":"value"}' https://api.example.com/resource

Make a PATCH request with JSON body

POST request

$ curl -X POST https://api.example.com/resource

Make a POST request

POST form data

$ curl -X POST -d "key=value&key2=value2" https://api.example.com/resource

POST request with form-encoded data

POST JSON data

$ curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"key":"value"}' https://api.example.com/resource

POST request with JSON body

PUT request

$ curl -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"key":"value"}' https://api.example.com/resource

Make a PUT request with JSON body

Silent mode

$ curl -s https://api.example.com/resource

Suppress progress meter and errors

Set timeout

$ curl --connect-timeout 5 -m 30 https://api.example.com/resource

Set connection and max timeout