Making HTTP requests with curl

curl is a command-line tool used to transfer data to or from a server using HTTP. It’s especially handy for APIs.

curl https://example.com

This command will send an HTTP GET request to https://example.com and display the HTML content of the response in your terminal.

-X or --request: Specifies the HTTP method to use (e.g., GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)

curl -X POST https://api.example.com/users

-d or --data: Sends data in the request body

curl -X POST https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Hello","body":"Mini blog rocks","userId":1}'

-H or --header: Adds custom headers to the request

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_token>" https://api.example.com/profile

-o or --output: Saves the downloaded content to a file

curl https://example.com/image.png -o image.png

Mastering curl gives you an edge when working with APIs, scripts, and backend debugging.