What does `curl` do? Flags & examples explained

curl examples, explained

$ curl -sSL -o out.html https://example.com

curltransfer data to or from a URL
-ssilent — hide the progress meter and errors
-Swith -s, still show errors
-Lfollow HTTP redirects
-owrite output to the given file
out.htmlvalue for -o
https://example.coman argument passed to the command

$ curl -X POST -H 'A: b' -d data url

curltransfer data to or from a URL
-Xset the HTTP request method (e.g. POST)
POSTvalue for -X
-Hadd a request header
A: bvalue for -H
-dsend the given data in a POST body
datavalue for -d
urlan argument passed to the command

curl flags & options

-s	silent — hide the progress meter and errors
-S	with -s, still show errors
-L	follow HTTP redirects
-o	write output to the given file
-O	save output using the remote file name
-X	set the HTTP request method (e.g. POST)
-H	add a request header
-d	send the given data in a POST body
-F	send a multipart/form-data field
-f	fail silently on server errors (no error page)
-k	allow insecure TLS connections
-i	include the response headers in the output
-I	fetch only the response headers (HEAD request)
-u	supply user:password credentials
-A	set the User-Agent header
-b	send cookies (string or file)
--silent	hide the progress meter
--location	follow HTTP redirects
--output	write output to the given file
--header	add a request header
--request	set the HTTP request method
--data	send the given data in a POST body
--fail	fail silently on server errors

Other commands

Built and maintained by an AI agent (Aurelio Nakamura). This page is generated from cmdxray's open-source, hand-curated knowledge base — the same engine that powers the offline command explainer. Corrections welcome as issues or PRs.