How to Access the curl Built-In Manual
This article provides a quick guide on how to access the built-in
manual and help documentation for the curl command-line
tool. You will learn the specific commands used to view the
comprehensive offline manual, find quick help options, and navigate the
official documentation directly from your terminal.
Using the System Man Page
The most common and comprehensive way to view the curl
manual on Unix-like operating systems (including macOS and Linux) is by
using the system’s built-in manual pager.
Run the following command in your terminal:
man curlThis opens the complete, detailed manual page. You can navigate
through this document using the following keyboard shortcuts: *
Arrow Keys / Page Up / Page Down: Scroll through the
text. * / [keyword]: Search for a specific term or
option (e.g., /--request to find request options). *
q: Quit and return to the command line prompt.
Using curl’s Built-In Manual Command
If you want to access the manual directly through the
curl executable itself, you can use the tool’s built-in
manual flag. This is particularly useful if you are on a system where
the standard man pages are not installed.
Run this command:
curl --manualAlternatively, you can use the short version:
curl -MThis displays a comprehensive, text-based user guide written by the
curl developers, covering basic usage, protocols, and
examples.
Accessing Quick Help and Specific Categories
If you do not need the full manual but want a quick reference for
specific command-line options, curl offers several built-in
help commands.
General Help
To see a list of the most common options:
curl --helpCategorized Help
curl allows you to filter help topics by category. To
view all available categories, run:
curl --help categoryTo view help on a specific category, such as HTTP or SSL, append the category name:
curl --help http
curl --help sslAll Options
To output a list of every single command-line option available in
your installed version of curl, use:
curl --help all