CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3) Library Functions Manual CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3)
NAME
CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT - timeout for the connect phase
SYNOPSIS
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, long timeout);
DESCRIPTION
Pass a long. It sets the maximum time in seconds that you allow the con-
nection phase to take. This timeout only limits the connection phase, it
has no impact once libcurl has connected. The connection phase includes
the name resolve (DNS) and all protocol handshakes and negotiations un-
til there is an established connection with the remote side.
Set this option to zero to switch to the default built-in connection
timeout - 300 seconds. See also the CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) option.
CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT_MS(3) is the same function but set in millisec-
onds.
If both CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3) and CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT_MS(3) are
set, the value set last is used.
The connection timeout is included in the general all-covering CUR-
LOPT_TIMEOUT(3):
With CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3) set to 3 and CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) set to 5,
the operation can never last longer than 5 seconds, and the connection
phase cannot last longer than 3 seconds.
With CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3) set to 4 and CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) set to 2,
the operation can never last longer than 2 seconds. Including the con-
nection phase.
This option may cause libcurl to use the SIGALRM signal to timeout sys-
tem calls on builds not using asynch DNS. In Unix-like systems, this
might cause signals to be used unless CURLOPT_NOSIGNAL(3) is set.
DEFAULT
300
PROTOCOLS
This functionality affects all supported protocols
EXAMPLE
int main(void)
{
CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
if(curl) {
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");
/* complete connection within 10 seconds */
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 10L);
curl_easy_perform(curl);
}
}
AVAILABILITY
Added in curl 7.7
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_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT(3), CURLOPT_MAX_RECV_SPEED_LARGE(3), CUR-
LOPT_TIMEOUT(3)
libcurl 2026-07-12 CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3)
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