Linux / Unix: curl Command Download File Example

I know how to use wget command to grab files. But, how do you download file using curl command line under Linux / Mac OS X / BSD or Unix like operating systems?

GNU wget is a free utility for non-interactive download of files from the Web. curl is another tool to transfer data from or to a server, using one of the supported protocols such as HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SCP, SFTP, TFTP, DICT, TELNET, LDAP or FILE). The command is designed to work without user interaction. curl offers many features such as:

1. Proxy support.
2. User authentication.
3. FTP upload.
4. HTTP post.
5. SSL connections.
6. Cookies.
7. File transfer resume and more.

curl download file

The syntax is as follows to grab (download) files from remote http/ftp server:

 
curl -o output.file http://server1.cyberciti.biz/file.tar.gz
 

OR

 
curl -O http://server1.cyberciti.biz/file.tar.gz
 

OR

 
curl --remote-name http://server1.cyberciti.biz/file.tar.gz
 

You can download a web page and store in a local file as follows:

 
curl -o nixcraft.html http://www.cyberciti.biz/low.html
 

You can grab or download multiple files as follows:

 
curl -O http://www.cyberciti.biz/low.html -O http://bash.cyberciti.biz/dl/581.sh.zip
 

curl download file from an ssh server

You can grab file securely using from an SSH server using SFTP:

 
curl -u username sftp://server1.cyberciti.biz/path/to/file.txt
 

OR (note ~ means your $HOME)

 
curl -u vivek sftp://home1.cyberciti.biz/~/docs/resume.pdf
 

You can grab a file from an SSH server using SCP using a private key to authenticate. The syntax is:

 
curl -u username: --key ~/.ssh/id_rsa --pubkey ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub scp://home1.cyberciti.biz/~/Videos/rhn_register.ogv
 

Where,

• -u username - Specify the user name (and optional password) to use for server authentication.
• -u username:password - Specify the user name (and optional password) to use for server authentication.
• --key ~/.ssh/id_rsa - SSL or SSH private key file name. Allows you to provide your private key in this separate file.
• --pubkey ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub - SSH Public key file name. Allows you to provide your public key in this separate file.
• scp://home1.cyberciti.biz/~/Videos/rhn_register.ogv - Use scp protocol and download file from my home server called home1.cyberciti.biz.

Curl: Download a file using username and password

The syntax is as follows to grab a file using ftp username and password:

curl ftp://username:passwd@ftp1.cyberciti.biz:21/path/to/backup.tar.gz

OR

 
curl -u UserName:PassWord ftp://ftp1.cyberciti.biz:21/backups/07/07/2012/mysql.blog.sql.tar.gz
 

Secure ftp user (ftp with ssl) can pass the --ftp-ssl option to curl command:

 
curl --ftp-ssl -u UserName:PassWord ftp://ftp1.cyberciti.biz:21/backups/07/07/2012/mysql.blog.sql.tar.gz
 

HTTP authentication

HTTP user can use the following syntax:

 
curl http://username:passwd@server1.cyberciti.biz/file/path/data.tar.gz
 

OR

 
curl -u Username:Password http://server1.cyberciti.biz/file/path/data.tar.gz
 

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See also:

• man page curl

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