How can I set the request header for curl?

Solution 1:

Just use the -H parameter several times:

curl -H "Accept-Charset: utf-8" -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" http://www.some-domain.com

Solution 2:

To pass multiple headers in a curl request you simply add additional -H or --header to your curl command.

Example

//Simplified
$ curl -v -H 'header1:val' -H 'header2:val' URL

//Explanatory
$ curl -v -H 'Connection: keep-alive' -H 'Content-Type: application/json'  https://www.example.com

Going Further

For standard HTTP header fields such as User-Agent, Cookie, Host, there is actually another way to setting them. The curl command offers designated options for setting these header fields:

  • -A (or --user-agent): set "User-Agent" field.
  • -b (or --cookie): set "Cookie" field.
  • -e (or --referer): set "Referer" field.
  • -H (or --header): set "Header" field

For example, the following two commands are equivalent. Both of them change "User-Agent" string in the HTTP header.

    $ curl -v -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "User-Agent: UserAgentString" https://www.example.com
    $ curl -v -H "Content-Type: application/json" -A "UserAgentString" https://www.example.com