curl_easy_init(3) Library Functions Manual curl_easy_init(3)
NAME
curl_easy_init - create an easy handle
SYNOPSIS
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURL *curl_easy_init();
DESCRIPTION
This function allocates and returns an easy handle. Such a handle is
used as input to other functions in the easy interface. This call must
have a corresponding call to curl_easy_cleanup(3) when the operation is
complete.
The easy handle is used to hold and control a single network transfer.
It is encouraged to reuse easy handles for repeated transfers.
An alternative way to get a new easy handle is to duplicate an already
existing one with curl_easy_duphandle(3), which has the upside that it
gets all the options that were set in the source handle set in the new
copy as well.
If you did not already call curl_global_init(3) before calling this
function, curl_easy_init(3) does it automatically. This can be lethal in
multi-threaded cases for platforms where curl_global_init(3) is not
thread-safe, and it may then result in resource problems because there
is no corresponding cleanup.
You are strongly advised to not allow this automatic behavior, by call-
ing curl_global_init(3) yourself properly. See the description in
libcurl(3) of global environment requirements for details of how to use
this function.
PROTOCOLS
This functionality affects all supported protocols
EXAMPLE
int main(void)
{
CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
if(curl) {
CURLcode res;
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");
res = curl_easy_perform(curl);
curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
}
}
AVAILABILITY
Added in curl 7.1
RETURN VALUE
If this function returns NULL, something went wrong and you cannot use
the other curl functions.
SEE ALSO
curl_easy_cleanup(3), curl_easy_duphandle(3), curl_easy_perform(3),
curl_easy_reset(3), curl_global_init(3), curl_multi_init(3)
libcurl 2026-07-12 curl_easy_init(3)
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