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How to Use cURL for Command Line Data Transfer and More

In most Linux distributions, cURL is preinstalled in the system, and you can use it straight away. - Community submission by Editor (9to6linux) on

How to Use cURL for Command Line Data Transfer and More

How to Use cURL for Command Line Data Transfer and More

In most Linux distributions, cURL is preinstalled in the system, and you can use it straight away. Even if it is not installed, it is also found in most repositories, so you can easily install it using the Software Center.

If you’ve been following terminal-focused installation instructions for Linux applications for a while, you’ve probably come across the curl command at some point or another.

cURL is a command-line tool for transferring data with URLs. One of the simplest uses is to download a file via the command line. This is deceptive, however, as cURL is an incredibly powerful tool that can do much more.

What Is cURL?

Originally written by Daniel Sternberg in 1996 to grab financial data from web servers and broadcast it to IRC channels, cURL has evolved to become a powerful tool for getting data without having to use a browser. If you’re always using the terminal, this will be one of the more important tools in your arsenal.

In most Linux distributions, cURL is preinstalled in the system, and you can use it straight away. Even if it is not installed, it is also found in most repositories, so you can easily install it using the Software Center.