CURLOPT_NETRC(3) Library Functions Manual CURLOPT_NETRC(3)
NAME
CURLOPT_NETRC - enable use of .netrc
SYNOPSIS
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_NETRC, long level);
DESCRIPTION
This parameter controls the preference level of libcurl between using
usernames and passwords from your ~/.netrc file, relative to usernames
and passwords in the URL supplied with CURLOPT_URL(3).
On Windows, libcurl primarily checks for .netrc in %HOME%. If %HOME% is
not set on Windows, libcurl falls back to %USERPROFILE%. If the file
does not exist, it falls back to check if there is instead a file named
_netrc - using an underscore instead of period.
You can also tell libcurl a different filename to use with CUR-
LOPT_NETRC_FILE(3).
libcurl uses a username (and supplied or prompted password) supplied
with CURLOPT_USERPWD(3) or CURLOPT_USERNAME(3) in preference to any of
the options controlled by this parameter.
Only machine name, username and password are taken into account (init
macros and similar things are not supported).
libcurl does not verify that the file has the correct properties set (as
the standard Unix ftp client does). It should only be readable by user.
level is a long that should be set to one of the values described below.
CURL_NETRC_IGNORED (0)
libcurl ignores the .netrc file. This is the default.
CURL_NETRC_OPTIONAL (1)
The use of the .netrc file is optional, and information in the
URL is to be preferred. The file is scanned for the host and
username (to find the password only) or for the host only, to
find the first username and password after that machine, which
ever information is not specified.
CURL_NETRC_REQUIRED (2)
The use of the .netrc file is required, and any credential infor-
mation present in the URL is ignored. The file is scanned for the
host and username (to find the password only) or for the host
only, to find the first username and password after that machine,
which ever information is not specified.
FILE FORMAT
The .netrc file format is simple: you specify lines with a machine name
and follow the login and password that are associated with that machine.
Each field is provided as a sequence of letters that ends with a space
or newline. Starting in 7.84.0, libcurl also supports quoted strings.
They start and end with double quotes and support the escaped special
letters ", n, r, and t. Quoted strings are the only way a space charac-
ter can be used in a username or password.
machine <name>
Provides credentials for a host called name. libcurl searches the
.netrc file for a machine token that matches the hostname speci-
fied in the URL. Once a match is made, the subsequent tokens are
processed, stopping when the end of file is reached or another
"machine" is encountered.
default
This is the same as machine name except that default matches any
name. There can be only one default token, and it must be after
all machine tokens. To provide a default anonymous login for
hosts that are not otherwise matched, add a line similar to this
in the end:
default login anonymous password user@domain
login <name>
The username string for the remote machine.
password <secret>
Supply a password. If this token is present, curl supplies the
specified string if the remote server requires a password as part
of the login process. Note that if this token is present in the
.netrc file you really should make sure the file is not readable
by anyone besides the user.
macdef <name>
Define a macro. This feature is not supported by libcurl. In or-
der for the rest of the .netrc to still work fine, libcurl prop-
erly skips every definition done with "macdef" that it finds.
DEFAULT
CURL_NETRC_IGNORED
PROTOCOLS
This functionality affects all supported protocols
EXAMPLE
int main(void)
{
CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
if(curl) {
CURLcode ret;
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "ftp://example.com/");
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_NETRC, CURL_NETRC_OPTIONAL);
ret = curl_easy_perform(curl);
}
}
AVAILABILITY
Added in curl 7.1
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_NETRC_FILE(3), CURLOPT_USERNAME(3), CURLOPT_USERPWD(3)
libcurl 2026-07-12 CURLOPT_NETRC(3)
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