CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE(3) Library Functions Manual
NAME
CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE - public key file for SSH auth
SYNOPSIS
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE,
char *filename);
DESCRIPTION
Pass a char pointer pointing to a filename for your public key. If not
used, libcurl defaults to $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub if the HOME environment
variable is set, and "id_dsa.pub" in the current directory if HOME is
not set.
If NULL (or an empty string) is passed to this option, libcurl passes
no public key to the SSH library, which then rather derives it from the
private key. If the SSH library cannot derive the public key from the
private one and no public one is provided, the transfer fails.
The application does not have to keep the string around after setting
this option.
DEFAULT
NULL
PROTOCOLS
This functionality affects scp and sftp
EXAMPLE
int main(void)
{
CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
if(curl) {
CURLcode result;
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "sftp://example.com/file");
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE,
"/home/clarkkent/.ssh/id_rsa.pub");
result = curl_easy_perform(curl);
curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
}
}
HISTORY
The "" trick was added in 7.26.0
AVAILABILITY
Added in curl 7.16.1
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
CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES(3), CURLOPT_SSH_PRIVATE_KEYFILE(3)
libcurl 2026-03-23 CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE(3)
curl 8.19.0 - Generated Tue Mar 31 07:46:03 CDT 2026