CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) curl_easy_setopt options CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3)
NAME
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT - maximum time the transfer is allowed to complete
SYNOPSIS
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, long timeout);
DESCRIPTION
Pass a long as parameter containing timeout - the maximum time in sec-
onds that you allow the libcurl transfer operation to take. Normally,
name lookups can take a considerable time and limiting operations risk
aborting perfectly normal operations. This option may cause libcurl to
use the SIGALRM signal to timeout system calls.
In unix-like systems, this might cause signals to be used unless CUR-
LOPT_NOSIGNAL(3) is set.
If both CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) and CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS(3) are set, the value
set last will be used.
Since this option puts a hard limit on how long time a request is al-
lowed to take, it has limited use in dynamic use cases with varying
transfer times. That is especially apparent when using the multi inter-
face, which may queue the transfer, and that time is included. You are
advised to explore CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT(3), CUR-
LOPT_LOW_SPEED_TIME(3) or using CURLOPT_PROGRESSFUNCTION(3) to imple-
ment your own timeout logic.
DEFAULT
Default timeout is 0 (zero) which means it never times out during
transfer.
PROTOCOLS
All
EXAMPLE
CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
if(curl) {
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");
/* complete within 20 seconds */
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 20L);
curl_easy_perform(curl);
}
AVAILABILITY
Always
RETURN VALUE
Returns CURLE_OK. Returns CURLE_BAD_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT if set to a nega-
tive value or a value that when converted to milliseconds is too large.
SEE ALSO
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS(3), CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3), CUR-
LOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT(3),
libcurl 7.81.0 November 26, 2021 CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3)
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