CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION(3) Library Functions Manual CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION(3)
NAME
CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION - follow HTTP 3x redirects
SYNOPSIS
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, long enable);
DESCRIPTION
A long parameter set to 1 tells the library to follow any Location:
header redirects that an HTTP server sends in a 30x response. The
Location: header can specify a relative or an absolute URL to follow.
libcurl issues another request for the new URL and follows subsequent
new Location: redirects all the way until no more such headers are
returned or the maximum limit is reached. CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS(3) is used
to limit the number of redirects libcurl follows.
libcurl restricts what protocols it automatically follow redirects to.
The accepted target protocols are set with
CURLOPT_REDIR_PROTOCOLS_STR(3). By default libcurl allows HTTP, HTTPS,
FTP and FTPS on redirects.
When following a redirect, the specific 30x response code also dictates
which request method libcurl uses in the subsequent request: For 301,
302 and 303 responses libcurl switches method from POST to GET unless
CURLOPT_POSTREDIR(3) instructs libcurl otherwise. All other redirect
response codes make libcurl use the same method again.
For users who think the existing location following is too naive, too
simple or just lacks features, it is easy to instead implement your own
redirect follow logic with the use of curl_easy_getinfo(3)'s
CURLINFO_REDIRECT_URL(3) option instead of using
CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION(3).
By default, libcurl only sends Authentication: or explicitly set
Cookie: headers to the initial host given in the original URL, to avoid
leaking username + password to other sites.
CURLOPT_UNRESTRICTED_AUTH(3) is provided to change that behavior.
Due to the way HTTP works, almost any header can be made to contain
data a client may not want to pass on to other servers than the
initially intended host and for all other headers than the two
mentioned above, there is no protection from this happening when
libcurl is told to follow redirects.
NOTE
Since libcurl changes method or not based on the specific HTTP response
code, setting CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST(3) while following redirects may
change what libcurl would otherwise do and if not that carefully may
even make it misbehave since CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST(3) overrides the
method libcurl would otherwise select internally.
DEFAULT
0, disabled
PROTOCOLS
This functionality affects http only
EXAMPLE
int main(void)
{
CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
if(curl) {
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");
/* example.com is redirected, so we tell libcurl to follow redirection */
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1L);
curl_easy_perform(curl);
}
}
AVAILABILITY
Added in curl 7.1
RETURN VALUE
curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.
CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error occurred,
see libcurl-errors(3).
SEE ALSO
CURLINFO_REDIRECT_COUNT(3), CURLINFO_REDIRECT_URL(3),
CURLOPT_POSTREDIR(3), CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS_STR(3),
CURLOPT_REDIR_PROTOCOLS_STR(3), CURLOPT_UNRESTRICTED_AUTH(3)
libcurl 2025-02-08 CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION(3)
curl 8.12.0 - Generated Fri Feb 14 15:58:41 CST 2025