docs/cmdline-opts/config.d

Long: config
Arg: <file>
Help: Read config from a file
Short: K
---
Specify which config file to read curl arguments from. The config file is a
text file in which command line arguments can be written which then will be
used as if they were written on the actual command line.

Options and their parameters must be specified on the same config file line,
separated by whitespace, colon, or the equals sign. Long option names can
optionally be given in the config file without the initial double dashes and
if so, the colon or equals characters can be used as separators. If the option
is specified with one or two dashes, there can be no colon or equals character
between the option and its parameter.

If the parameter is to contain whitespace, the parameter must be enclosed
within quotes. Within double quotes, the following escape sequences are
available: \\\\, \\", \\t, \\n, \\r and \\v. A backslash preceding any other
letter is ignored. If the first column of a config line is a '#' character,
the rest of the line will be treated as a comment. Only write one option per
physical line in the config file.

Specify the filename to --config as '-' to make curl read the file from stdin.

Note that to be able to specify a URL in the config file, you need to specify
it using the --url option, and not by simply writing the URL on its own
line. So, it could look similar to this:

url = "https://curl.haxx.se/docs/"

When curl is invoked, it always (unless --disable is used) checks for a
default config file and uses it if found. The default config file is checked
for in the following places in this order:

1) curl tries to find the "home dir": It first checks for the CURL_HOME and
then the HOME environment variables. Failing that, it uses getpwuid() on
Unix-like systems (which returns the home dir given the current user in your
system). On Windows, it then checks for the APPDATA variable, or as a last
resort the '%USERPROFILE%\\Application Data'.

2) On windows, if there is no _curlrc file in the home dir, it checks for one
in the same dir the curl executable is placed. On Unix-like systems, it will
simply try to load .curlrc from the determined home dir.

.nf
# --- Example file ---
# this is a comment
url = "example.com"
output = "curlhere.html"
user-agent = "superagent/1.0"

# and fetch another URL too
url = "example.com/docs/manpage.html"
-O
referer = "http://nowhereatall.example.com/"
# --- End of example file ---
.fi

This option can be used multiple times to load multiple config files.