curl/docs/libcurl/libcurl-easy.3

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.TH libcurl 3 "12 Aug 2003" "libcurl 7.10.7" "libcurl easy interface"
.SH NAME
libcurl-easy \- easy interface overview
.SH DESCRIPTION
When using libcurl's "easy" interface you init your session and get a handle
(often referred to as an "easy handle" in various docs and sources), which you
use as input to the easy interface functions you use. Use
\fIcurl_easy_init(3)\fP to get the handle.

You continue by setting all the options you want in the upcoming transfer, the
most important among them is the URL itself (you can't transfer anything
without a specified URL as you may have figured out yourself). You might want
to set some callbacks as well that will be called from the library when data
is available etc. \fIcurl_easy_setopt(3)\fP is used for all this.

When all is setup, you tell libcurl to perform the transfer using
\fIcurl_easy_perform(3)\fP.  It will then do the entire operation and won't
return until it is done (successfully or not).

After the transfer has been made, you can set new options and make another
transfer, or if you're done, cleanup the session by calling
\fIcurl_easy_cleanup(3)\fP. If you want persistent connections, you don't
cleanup immediately, but instead run ahead and perform other transfers using
the same easy handle.