curl/docs/cmdline-opts/fail.md

---
c: Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
SPDX-License-Identifier: curl
Long: fail
Short: f
Protocols: HTTP
Help: Fail fast with no output on HTTP errors
Category: important http
Mutexed: fail-with-body
Added: 4.0
Multi: boolean
See-also:
  - fail-with-body
  - fail-early
Example:
  - --fail $URL
---

# `--fail`

Fail with error code 22 and with no response body output at all for HTTP
transfers returning HTTP response codes at 400 or greater.

In normal cases when an HTTP server fails to deliver a document, it returns a
body of text stating so (which often also describes why and more) and a 4xx
HTTP response code. This command line option prevents curl from outputting
that data and instead returns error 22 early. By default, curl does not
consider HTTP response codes to indicate failure.

To get both the error code and also save the content, use --fail-with-body
instead.

This method is not fail-safe and there are occasions where non-successful
response codes slip through, especially when authentication is involved
(response codes 401 and 407).
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`
cmdline-docs: more options converted over 2016-11-16 06:44:58 +08:00			`Long: fail`
			`Short: f`
			`Protocols: HTTP`
fail.d: tweak the description Reviewed-by: Daniel Gustafsson Suggested-by: Robert Charles Muir Ref: https://twitter.com/rcmuir/status/1514915401574010887 Closes #8714 2022-04-16 05:50:34 +08:00			`Help: Fail fast with no output on HTTP errors`
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: important http`
docs/cmdline: mark fail and fail-with-body as mutually exclusive Reported-by: Andreas Sommer Fixes #9221 Closes #9222 2022-07-29 03:02:45 +08:00			`Mutexed: fail-with-body`
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: 4.0`
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: boolean`
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:`
			`- fail-with-body`
			`- fail-early`
			`Example:`
			`- --fail $URL`
cmdline-docs: more options converted over 2016-11-16 06:44:58 +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
			# `--fail`

cmdline-opts/fail.md: expand and clarify Closes #13890 2024-06-05 16:52:29 +08:00			`Fail with error code 22 and with no response body output at all for HTTP`
			`transfers returning HTTP response codes at 400 or greater.`

			`In normal cases when an HTTP server fails to deliver a document, it returns a`
			`body of text stating so (which often also describes why and more) and a 4xx`
			`HTTP response code. This command line option prevents curl from outputting`
			`that data and instead returns error 22 early. By default, curl does not`
			`consider HTTP response codes to indicate failure.`

			`To get both the error code and also save the content, use --fail-with-body`
			`instead.`
cmdline-docs: more options converted over 2016-11-16 06:44:58 +08:00
			`This method is not fail-safe and there are occasions where non-successful`
cmdline-docs: use present tense, not future + some smaller cleanups Closes #11821 2023-09-08 20:32:29 +08:00			`response codes slip through, especially when authentication is involved`
cmdline-docs: more options converted over 2016-11-16 06:44:58 +08:00			`(response codes 401 and 407).`