NAME

       CURLOPT_TIMEOUT - maximum time the transfer is allowed to complete

SYNOPSIS

       #include <curl/curl.h>

       CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, long timeout);

DESCRIPTION

       Pass  a  long  as  parameter  containing  timeout - the maximum time in seconds that you allow the entire
       transfer operation to take. The whole thing, from start  to  end.  Normally,  name  lookups  can  take  a
       considerable time and limiting operations risk aborting perfectly normal operations.

       CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS(3) is the same function but set in milliseconds.

       If both CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) and CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS(3) are set, the value set last is used.

       Since  this option puts a hard limit on how long time a request is allowed to take, it has limited use in
       dynamic use cases with varying  transfer  times.  That  is  especially  apparent  when  using  the  multi
       interface,  which  may  queue  the  transfer,  and  that  time  is  included.  You are advised to explore
       CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT(3), CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_TIME(3) or using CURLOPT_PROGRESSFUNCTION(3)  to  implement
       your own timeout logic.

       The  connection  timeout  set  with  CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3)  is  included in this general all-covering
       timeout.

       With CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3) set to 3 and CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) set to 5, the  operation  can  never  last
       longer than 5 seconds.

       With  CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3)  set  to  4 and CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) set to 2, the operation can never last
       longer than 2 seconds.

       This option may cause libcurl to use the SIGALRM signal to timeout  system  calls  on  builds  not  using
       asynch DNS. In unix-like systems, this might cause signals to be used unless CURLOPT_NOSIGNAL(3) is set.

DEFAULT

       Default timeout is 0 (zero) which means it never times out during transfer.

PROTOCOLS

       All

EXAMPLE

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

           /* complete within 20 seconds */
           curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 20L);

           curl_easy_perform(curl);
         }
       }

AVAILABILITY

       Always

RETURN VALUE

       Returns  CURLE_OK.  Returns  CURLE_BAD_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT  if set to a negative value or a value that when
       converted to milliseconds is too large.

SEE ALSO

       CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3), CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT(3), CURLOPT_TCP_KEEPALIVE(3), CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS(3)