curl/docs/cmdline-opts/rate.md

---
c: Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
SPDX-License-Identifier: curl
Long: rate
Arg: <max request rate>
Help: Request rate for serial transfers
Category: connection
Added: 7.84.0
Multi: single
Scope: global
See-also:
  - limit-rate
  - retry-delay
Example:
  - --rate 2/s $URL ...
  - --rate 3/h $URL ...
  - --rate 14/m $URL ...
---

# `--rate`

Specify the maximum transfer frequency you allow curl to use - in number of
transfer starts per time unit (sometimes called request rate). Without this
option, curl starts the next transfer as fast as possible.

If given several URLs and a transfer completes faster than the allowed rate,
curl waits until the next transfer is started to maintain the requested
rate. This option has no effect when --parallel is used.

The request rate is provided as "N/U" where N is an integer number and U is a
time unit. Supported units are 's' (second), 'm' (minute), 'h' (hour) and 'd'
/(day, as in a 24 hour unit). The default time unit, if no "/U" is provided,
is number of transfers per hour.

If curl is told to allow 10 requests per minute, it does not start the next
request until 6 seconds have elapsed since the previous transfer was started.

This function uses millisecond resolution. If the allowed frequency is set
more than 1000 per second, it instead runs unrestricted.

When retrying transfers, enabled with --retry, the separate retry delay logic
is used and not this setting.
docs/cmdline: change to .md for cmdline docs - switch all invidual files documenting command line options into .md, as the documentation is now markdown-looking. - made the parser treat 4-space indents as quotes - switch to building the curl.1 manpage using the "mainpage.idx" file, which lists the files to include to generate it, instead of using the previous page-footer/headers. Also, those files are now also .md ones, using the same format. I gave them underscore prefixes to make them sort separately: _NAME.md, _SYNOPSIS.md, _DESCRIPTION.md, _URL.md, _GLOBBING.md, _VARIABLES.md, _OUTPUT.md, _PROTOCOLS.md, _PROGRESS.md, _VERSION.md, _OPTIONS.md, _FILES.md, _ENVIRONMENT.md, _PROXYPREFIX.md, _EXITCODES.md, _BUGS.md, _AUTHORS.md, _WWW.md, _SEEALSO.md - updated test cases accordingly Closes #12751 2024-01-21 06:18:43 +08:00			`---`
copyright: update all copyright lines and remove year ranges - they are mostly pointless in all major jurisdictions - many big corporations and projects already don't use them - saves us from pointless churn - git keeps history for us - the year range is kept in COPYING checksrc is updated to allow non-year using copyright statements Closes #10205 2023-01-02 20:51:48 +08:00			`c: Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.`
docs/cmdline-opts: add copyright and license identifier to each file gen.pl now insists on C: and SPDX-License-Identifier: fields to be present in all files. Closes #9002 2022-06-14 06:12:03 +08:00			`SPDX-License-Identifier: curl`
curl: add --rate to set max request rate per time unit --rate "12/m" - for 12 per minute or --rate "5/h" - for 5 per hour Removed from TODO Closes #8671 2022-05-23 23:59:56 +08:00			`Long: rate`
			`Arg: <max request rate>`
			`Help: Request rate for serial transfers`
			`Category: connection`
			`Added: 7.84.0`
cmdline/docs: add a required 'multi' keyword for each option The keyword specifies how option works when specified multiple times: - single: the last provided value replaces the earlier ones - append: it supports being provided multiple times - boolean: on/off values - mutex: flag-like option that disable anoter flag The 'gen.pl' script then outputs the proper and unified language for each option's multi-use behavior in the generated man page. The multi: header is requires in each .d file and will cause build error if missing or set to an unknown value. Closes #9759 2022-10-18 16:39:43 +08:00			`Multi: single`
docs/cmdline-opts: mark all global options gen.pl now outputs a generic explanations for them for each option Fixes #10566 Reported-by: u20221022 on github Closes #10584 2023-02-21 23:42:26 +08:00			`Scope: global`
docs/cmdline: change to .md for cmdline docs - switch all invidual files documenting command line options into .md, as the documentation is now markdown-looking. - made the parser treat 4-space indents as quotes - switch to building the curl.1 manpage using the "mainpage.idx" file, which lists the files to include to generate it, instead of using the previous page-footer/headers. Also, those files are now also .md ones, using the same format. I gave them underscore prefixes to make them sort separately: _NAME.md, _SYNOPSIS.md, _DESCRIPTION.md, _URL.md, _GLOBBING.md, _VARIABLES.md, _OUTPUT.md, _PROTOCOLS.md, _PROGRESS.md, _VERSION.md, _OPTIONS.md, _FILES.md, _ENVIRONMENT.md, _PROXYPREFIX.md, _EXITCODES.md, _BUGS.md, _AUTHORS.md, _WWW.md, _SEEALSO.md - updated test cases accordingly Closes #12751 2024-01-21 06:18:43 +08:00			`See-also:`
			`- limit-rate`
			`- retry-delay`
			`Example:`
			`- --rate 2/s $URL ...`
			`- --rate 3/h $URL ...`
			`- --rate 14/m $URL ...`
curl: add --rate to set max request rate per time unit --rate "12/m" - for 12 per minute or --rate "5/h" - for 5 per hour Removed from TODO Closes #8671 2022-05-23 23:59:56 +08:00			`---`
docs/cmdline: change to .md for cmdline docs - switch all invidual files documenting command line options into .md, as the documentation is now markdown-looking. - made the parser treat 4-space indents as quotes - switch to building the curl.1 manpage using the "mainpage.idx" file, which lists the files to include to generate it, instead of using the previous page-footer/headers. Also, those files are now also .md ones, using the same format. I gave them underscore prefixes to make them sort separately: _NAME.md, _SYNOPSIS.md, _DESCRIPTION.md, _URL.md, _GLOBBING.md, _VARIABLES.md, _OUTPUT.md, _PROTOCOLS.md, _PROGRESS.md, _VERSION.md, _OPTIONS.md, _FILES.md, _ENVIRONMENT.md, _PROXYPREFIX.md, _EXITCODES.md, _BUGS.md, _AUTHORS.md, _WWW.md, _SEEALSO.md - updated test cases accordingly Closes #12751 2024-01-21 06:18:43 +08:00
			# `--rate`

curl: add --rate to set max request rate per time unit --rate "12/m" - for 12 per minute or --rate "5/h" - for 5 per hour Removed from TODO Closes #8671 2022-05-23 23:59:56 +08:00			`Specify the maximum transfer frequency you allow curl to use - in number of`
			`transfer starts per time unit (sometimes called request rate). Without this`
cmdline-docs: use present tense, not future + some smaller cleanups Closes #11821 2023-09-08 20:32:29 +08:00			`option, curl starts the next transfer as fast as possible.`
curl: add --rate to set max request rate per time unit --rate "12/m" - for 12 per minute or --rate "5/h" - for 5 per hour Removed from TODO Closes #8671 2022-05-23 23:59:56 +08:00
			`If given several URLs and a transfer completes faster than the allowed rate,`
cmdline-docs: use present tense, not future + some smaller cleanups Closes #11821 2023-09-08 20:32:29 +08:00			`curl waits until the next transfer is started to maintain the requested`
curl: add --rate to set max request rate per time unit --rate "12/m" - for 12 per minute or --rate "5/h" - for 5 per hour Removed from TODO Closes #8671 2022-05-23 23:59:56 +08:00			`rate. This option has no effect when --parallel is used.`

			`The request rate is provided as "N/U" where N is an integer number and U is a`
			`time unit. Supported units are 's' (second), 'm' (minute), 'h' (hour) and 'd'`
			`/(day, as in a 24 hour unit). The default time unit, if no "/U" is provided,`
			`is number of transfers per hour.`

cmdline-docs: use present tense, not future + some smaller cleanups Closes #11821 2023-09-08 20:32:29 +08:00			`If curl is told to allow 10 requests per minute, it does not start the next`
curl: add --rate to set max request rate per time unit --rate "12/m" - for 12 per minute or --rate "5/h" - for 5 per hour Removed from TODO Closes #8671 2022-05-23 23:59:56 +08:00			`request until 6 seconds have elapsed since the previous transfer was started.`

			`This function uses millisecond resolution. If the allowed frequency is set`
cmdline-docs: use present tense, not future + some smaller cleanups Closes #11821 2023-09-08 20:32:29 +08:00			`more than 1000 per second, it instead runs unrestricted.`
curl: add --rate to set max request rate per time unit --rate "12/m" - for 12 per minute or --rate "5/h" - for 5 per hour Removed from TODO Closes #8671 2022-05-23 23:59:56 +08:00
			`When retrying transfers, enabled with --retry, the separate retry delay logic`
			`is used and not this setting.`