curl/docs/cmdline-opts/url.md

---
c: Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
SPDX-License-Identifier: curl
Long: url
Arg: <url>
Help: URL to work with
Category: curl
Added: 7.5
Multi: append
See-also:
  - next
  - config
Example:
  - --url $URL
---

# `--url`

Specify a URL to fetch. This option is mostly handy when you want to specify
URL(s) in a config file.

If the given URL is missing a scheme name (such as `http://` or `ftp://` etc)
then curl makes a guess based on the host. If the outermost subdomain name
matches DICT, FTP, IMAP, LDAP, POP3 or SMTP then that protocol is used,
otherwise HTTP is used. Guessing can be avoided by providing a full URL
including the scheme, or disabled by setting a default protocol (added in
7.45.0), see --proto-default for details.

To control where this URL is written, use the --output or the --remote-name
options.

**WARNING**: On Windows, particular `file://` accesses can be converted to
network accesses by the operating system. Beware!
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`
docs: fix cmdline-opts metadata headers case consistency. Almost all headers start with an uppercase letter, but some didn't. 2018-05-28 20:16:27 +08:00			`Long: url`
cmdline-docs: more options converted and fixed Now all options are in the new system. 2016-11-28 08:01:13 +08:00			`Arg: <url>`
			`Help: URL to work with`
docs: add categories to all cmdline opts Adapted gen.pl with 'listcats' This commit is a part of "--help me if you can" Closes #5680 2020-07-13 20:15:04 +08:00			`Category: curl`
cmdline-opts: made the 'Added:' field mandatory Since "too old" versions are no longer included in the generated man page, this field is now mandatory so that it won't be forgotten and then not included in the documentation. Closes #7786 2021-09-28 17:50:07 +08:00			`Added: 7.5`
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: append`
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:`
			`- next`
			`- config`
			`Example:`
			`- --url $URL`
cmdline-docs: more options converted and fixed Now all options are in the new system. 2016-11-28 08:01:13 +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
			# `--url`

cmdline-docs: more options converted and fixed Now all options are in the new system. 2016-11-28 08:01:13 +08:00			`Specify a URL to fetch. This option is mostly handy when you want to specify`
			`URL(s) in a config file.`

cmdline-docs: quote and angle bracket cleanup - make sure angle brackets are escaped - remove a lot of superfluous double quotes - replace several double quotes with backticks To make nicer-looking markdown. Closes #12884 2024-02-07 01:07:07 +08:00			If the given URL is missing a scheme name (such as `http://` or `ftp://` etc)
cmdline-docs: use present tense, not future + some smaller cleanups Closes #11821 2023-09-08 20:32:29 +08:00			`then curl makes a guess based on the host. If the outermost subdomain name`
			`matches DICT, FTP, IMAP, LDAP, POP3 or SMTP then that protocol is used,`
			`otherwise HTTP is used. Guessing can be avoided by providing a full URL`
			`including the scheme, or disabled by setting a default protocol (added in`
			`7.45.0), see --proto-default for details.`
cmdline-docs: more options converted and fixed Now all options are in the new system. 2016-11-28 08:01:13 +08:00
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			`To control where this URL is written, use the --output or the --remote-name`
			`options.`
docs: add warnings about FILE: URLs on Windows - --url man page section - libcurl-security.3 gets the full text - CURLOPT_URL.3 Reported-by: Tim Sedlmeyer 2020-03-09 21:59:21 +08:00
cmdline-docs: quote and angle bracket cleanup - make sure angle brackets are escaped - remove a lot of superfluous double quotes - replace several double quotes with backticks To make nicer-looking markdown. Closes #12884 2024-02-07 01:07:07 +08:00			WARNING: On Windows, particular `file://` accesses can be converted to
curl.1: provide examples for each option The file format for each option now features a "Example:" header that can provide one or more examples that get rendered appropriately in the output. All options MUST have at least one example or gen.pl complains at build-time. This fix also does a few other minor format and consistency cleanups. Closes #7654 2021-08-31 22:37:14 +08:00			`network accesses by the operating system. Beware!`