curl_url_get(3) Library Functions Manual curl_url_get(3)
NAME
curl_url_get - extract a part from a URL
SYNOPSIS
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLUcode curl_url_get(const CURLU *url,
CURLUPart part,
char **content,
unsigned int flags);
DESCRIPTION
Given a url handle of a URL object, this function extracts an individual
piece or the full URL from it.
The part argument specifies which part to extract (see list below) and
content points to a 'char *' to get updated to point to a newly allo-
cated string with the contents.
The flags argument is a bitmask with individual features.
The returned content pointer must be freed with curl_free(3) after use.
FLAGS
The flags argument is zero, one or more bits set in a bitmask.
CURLU_DEFAULT_PORT
If the handle has no port stored, this option makes
curl_url_get(3) return the default port for the used scheme.
CURLU_DEFAULT_SCHEME
If the handle has no scheme stored, this option makes
curl_url_get(3) return the default scheme instead of error.
CURLU_NO_DEFAULT_PORT
Instructs curl_url_get(3) to not return a port number if it
matches the default port for the scheme.
CURLU_URLDECODE
Asks curl_url_get(3) to URL decode the contents before returning
it. It does not decode the scheme, the port number or the full
URL.
The query component also gets plus-to-space conversion as a bonus
when this bit is set.
Note that this URL decoding is charset unaware and you get a
null-terminated string back with data that could be intended for
a particular encoding.
If there are byte values lower than 32 in the decoded string, the
get operation returns an error instead.
CURLU_URLENCODE
If set, curl_url_get(3) URL encodes the hostname part when a full
URL is retrieved. If not set (default), libcurl returns the URL
with the hostname raw to support IDN names to appear as-is. IDN
hostnames are typically using non-ASCII bytes that otherwise gets
percent-encoded.
Note that even when not asking for URL encoding, the '%' (byte
37) is URL encoded to make sure the hostname remains valid.
CURLU_PUNYCODE
If set and CURLU_URLENCODE is not set, and asked to retrieve the
CURLUPART_HOST or CURLUPART_URL parts, libcurl returns the host
name in its punycode version if it contains any non-ASCII octets
(and is an IDN name).
If libcurl is built without IDN capabilities, using this bit
makes curl_url_get(3) return CURLUE_LACKS_IDN if the hostname
contains anything outside the ASCII range.
(Added in curl 7.88.0)
CURLU_PUNY2IDN
If set and asked to retrieve the CURLUPART_HOST or CURLUPART_URL
parts, libcurl returns the hostname in its IDN (International Do-
main Name) UTF-8 version if it otherwise is a punycode version.
If the punycode name cannot be converted to IDN correctly,
libcurl returns CURLUE_BAD_HOSTNAME.
If libcurl is built without IDN capabilities, using this bit
makes curl_url_get(3) return CURLUE_LACKS_IDN if the hostname is
using punycode.
(Added in curl 8.3.0)
CURLU_GET_EMPTY
When this flag is used in curl_url_get(), it makes the function
return empty query and fragments parts or when used in the full
URL. By default, libcurl otherwise considers empty parts non-ex-
isting.
An empty query part is one where this is nothing following the
question mark (before the possible fragment). An empty fragments
part is one where there is nothing following the hash sign.
(Added in curl 8.8.0)
CURLU_NO_GUESS_SCHEME
When this flag is used in curl_url_get(), it treats the scheme as
non-existing if it was set as a result of a previous guess; when
CURLU_GUESS_SCHEME was used parsing a URL.
Using this flag when getting CURLUPART_SCHEME if the scheme was
set as the result of a guess makes curl_url_get() return
CURLUE_NO_SCHEME.
Using this flag when getting CURLUPART_URL if the scheme was set
as the result of a guess makes curl_url_get() return the full URL
without the scheme component. Such a URL can then only be parsed
with curl_url_set() if CURLU_GUESS_SCHEME is used.
(Added in curl 8.9.0)
PARTS
CURLUPART_URL
When asked to return the full URL, curl_url_get(3) returns a
slightly cleaned up version of the complete URL using all avail-
able parts.
We advise using the CURLU_PUNYCODE option to get the URL as "nor-
malized" as possible since IDN allows hostnames to be written in
many different ways that still end up the same punycode version.
Zero-length queries and fragments are excluded from the URL un-
less CURLU_GET_EMPTY is set.
CURLUPART_SCHEME
Scheme cannot be URL decoded on get.
CURLUPART_USER
CURLUPART_PASSWORD
CURLUPART_OPTIONS
The options field is an optional field that might follow the
password in the userinfo part. It is only recognized/used when
parsing URLs for the following schemes: pop3, smtp and imap. The
URL API still allows users to set and get this field indepen-
dently of scheme when not parsing full URLs.
CURLUPART_HOST
The hostname. If it is an IPv6 numeric address, the zone id is
not part of it but is provided separately in CURLUPART_ZONEID.
IPv6 numerical addresses are returned within brackets ([]).
IPv6 names are normalized when set, which should make them as
short as possible while maintaining correct syntax.
CURLUPART_ZONEID
If the hostname is a numeric IPv6 address, this field might also
be set.
CURLUPART_PORT
A port cannot be URL decoded on get. This number is returned in a
string just like all other parts. That string is guaranteed to
hold a valid port number in ASCII using base 10.
CURLUPART_PATH
The part is always at least a slash ('/') even if no path was
supplied in the URL. A URL path always starts with a slash.
CURLUPART_QUERY
The initial question mark that denotes the beginning of the query
part is a delimiter only. It is not part of the query contents.
A not-present query returns part set to NULL.
A zero-length query returns part as NULL unless CURLU_GET_EMPTY
is set.
The query part gets pluses converted to space when asked to URL
decode on get with the CURLU_URLDECODE bit.
CURLUPART_FRAGMENT
The initial hash sign that denotes the beginning of the fragment
is a delimiter only. It is not part of the fragment contents.
A not-present fragment returns part set to NULL.
A zero-length fragment returns part as NULL unless
CURLU_GET_EMPTY is set.
PROTOCOLS
This functionality affects all supported protocols
EXAMPLE
int main(void)
{
CURLUcode rc;
CURLU *url = curl_url();
rc = curl_url_set(url, CURLUPART_URL, "https://example.com", 0);
if(!rc) {
char *scheme;
rc = curl_url_get(url, CURLUPART_SCHEME, &scheme, 0);
if(!rc) {
printf("the scheme is %s\n", scheme);
curl_free(scheme);
}
curl_url_cleanup(url);
}
}
AVAILABILITY
Added in curl 7.62.0
RETURN VALUE
Returns a CURLUcode error value, which is CURLUE_OK (0) if everything
went fine. See the libcurl-errors(3) man page for the full list with de-
scriptions.
If this function returns an error, no URL part is returned.
SEE ALSO
CURLOPT_CURLU(3), curl_url(3), curl_url_cleanup(3), curl_url_dup(3),
curl_url_set(3), curl_url_strerror(3)
libcurl 2026-07-12 curl_url_get(3)
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