docs/cmdline-opts/config.d

Long: config
Arg: <file>
Help: Read config from a file
Short: K
Category: curl
---

Specify a text file to read curl arguments from. The command line arguments
found in the text file will be used as if they were provided on the command
line.

Options and their parameters must be specified on the same line in the file,
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 contains whitespace (or starts with : or =), 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.se/docs/"

When curl is invoked, it (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) Use the CURL_HOME environment variable if set

2) Use the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable if set (Added in 7.73.0)

3) Use the HOME environment variable if set

4) Non-windows: use getpwuid to find the home directory

5) Windows: use APPDATA if set

6) Windows: use "USERPROFILE\Application Data" if set

7) 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.