Ubuntu Manpage: CURLOPT_URL - URL for this transfer

NAME

       CURLOPT_URL - URL for this transfer

SYNOPSIS

       #include <curl/curl.h>

       CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_URL, char *URL);

DESCRIPTION

Pass in a pointer to the URL to work with. The parameter should be a char * to a null-
terminated string which must be URL-encoded in the following format:

scheme://host:port/path

For a greater explanation of the format please see RFC3986.

libcurl does not validate the syntax or use this variable until the transfer is issued.
Even if you set a crazy value here, curl_easy_setopt(3) will still return CURLE_OK.

If the given URL is missing a scheme name (such as "http://" or "ftp://" etc) then libcurl
will make a guess based on the host. If the outermost sub-domain name matches DICT, FTP,
IMAP, LDAP, POP3 or SMTP then that protocol will be used, otherwise HTTP will be used.
Since 7.45.0 guessing can be disabled by setting a default protocol, see
CURLOPT_DEFAULT_PROTOCOL(3) for details.

Should the protocol, either that specified by the scheme or deduced by libcurl from the
host name, not be supported by libcurl then CURLE_UNSUPPORTED_PROTOCOL will be returned
from either the curl_easy_perform(3) or curl_multi_perform(3) functions when you call
them. Use curl_version_info(3) for detailed information of which protocols are supported
by the build of libcurl you are using.

CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS(3) can be used to limit what protocols libcurl will use for this
transfer, independent of what libcurl has been compiled to support. That may be useful if
you accept the URL from an external source and want to limit the accessibility.

The CURLOPT_URL(3) string will be ignored if CURLOPT_CURLU(3) is set.

CURLOPT_URL(3) or CURLOPT_CURLU(3) must be set before a transfer is started.

The application does not have to keep the string around after setting this option.

ENCODING

       The  string  pointed  to  in  the  CURLOPT_URL(3)  argument  is generally expected to be a
       sequence of characters using an ASCII compatible encoding.

       If libcurl is built with IDN support,  the  server  name  part  of  the  URL  can  use  an
       "international  name"  by  using the current encoding (according to locale) or UTF-8 (when
       winidn is used; or a Windows Unicode build using libidn2).

       If libcurl is built without IDN support, the server name is used exactly as specified when
       passed to the name resolver functions.

DEFAULT

       There is no default URL. If this option is not set, no transfer can be performed.

SECURITY CONCERNS

       Applications  may  at  times find it convenient to allow users to specify URLs for various
       purposes and that string would then end up fed to this option.

       Getting a URL from an external untrusted party will bring  reasons  for  several  security
       concerns:

       If  you have an application that runs as or in a server application, getting an unfiltered
       URL can easily trick your application to access a local  resource  instead  of  a  remote.
       Protecting yourself against localhost accesses is hard when accepting user provided URLs.

       Such  custom URLs can also access other ports than you planned as port numbers are part of
       the regular URL format. The combination of a local host and a custom port number can allow
       external users to play tricks with your local services.

       Accepting  external  URLs  may also use other protocols than http:// or other common ones.
       Restrict what accept with CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS(3).

       User provided URLs can also be made to point to sites that redirect further  on  (possibly
       to     other    protocols    too).    Consider    your    CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION(3)    and
       CURLOPT_REDIR_PROTOCOLS(3) settings.

PROTOCOLS

All

EXAMPLE

       CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
       if(curl) {
         curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");

         curl_easy_perform(curl);
       }

AVAILABILITY

       POP3 and SMTP were added in 7.31.0

RETURN VALUE

       Returns CURLE_OK on success or CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY if there was insufficient heap space.

       Note that curl_easy_setopt(3) will not actually parse the given string so given a bad URL,
       it will not be detected until curl_easy_perform(3) or similar is called.