CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) Library Functions Manual 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 entire transfer operation to take. The whole
thing, from start to end. Normally, name lookups can take a considerable
time and limiting operations risk aborting perfectly normal operations.
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS(3) is the same function but set in milliseconds.
If both CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) and CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS(3) are set, the value
set last is 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), CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_TIME(3)
or using CURLOPT_PROGRESSFUNCTION(3) to implement your own timeout
logic.
The connection timeout set with CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3) is included in
this general all-covering timeout.
With CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3) set to 3 and CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) set to 5,
the operation can never last longer than 5 seconds.
With CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3) set to 4 and CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3) set to 2,
the operation can never last longer than 2 seconds.
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
0 (zero) which means it never times out during transfer.
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 within 20 seconds */
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 20L);
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_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3), CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT(3), CUR-
LOPT_TCP_KEEPALIVE(3), CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS(3)
libcurl 2026-07-12 CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3)
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