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

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

PROTOCOLS

       This functionality affects all supported protocols

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

       Added in curl 7.1

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)