CURLOPT_CURLU(3)

💖 CURLOPT_CURLU 💖

okay so bestie, real talk: this is from the libcurl Library Functions Manual — the CURLOPT_CURLU(3) page, to be exact — and it is literally the glow-up of URL handling, iykyk ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

CURLOPT_CURLU — a URL but, like, in URL handle format 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_CURLU, CURLU *pointer);

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So what you're doing here is passing in a pointer to the URL handle you wanna work with, okay? And that parameter should be a CURLU pointer — like, that's the whole vibe. Setting CURLOPT_CURLU(3) explicitly overrides CURLOPT_URL(3), no cap. 👑

Heads up bestie: you must set either CURLOPT_URL(3) or CURLOPT_CURLU(3) before a transfer is started. Like, that's non-negotiable, the transfer will not be happening without it 🫶

The way libcurl handles this is so clean — it uses this handle and its contents read-only and does not change its contents. So your URL handle stays exactly as you left it, untouched, iconic behavior fr fr. And here's the cute part: an application can update the contents of the URL handle after a transfer is done, and if that same handle gets used in a subsequent request, the updated contents is used. Basically the handle is reusable and it just picks up whatever you put in it — obsessed 💖

💀 DEFAULT 💀

NULL

🌈 PROTOCOLS 🌈

This functionality affects all supported protocols — like, all of them, she's versatile 🦋

🧚 EXAMPLE 🧚

int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  CURLU *urlp = curl_url();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    CURLUcode ret;
    ret = curl_url_set(urlp, CURLUPART_URL, "https://example.com", 0);

    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CURLU, urlp);

    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);

    curl_url_cleanup(urlp);
    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
  }
}

⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

Added in curl 7.63.0 — so she's been serving since then, periodt 💅

🔥 RETURN VALUE 🔥

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error, that's the whole deal.

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK. Non-zero means an error occurred — and if you get that, go check libcurl-errors(3) bestie, it'll tell you what's up 🙈

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• CURLOPT_URL(3)
• curl_url(3)
• curl_url_cleanup(3)
• curl_url_dup(3)
• curl_url_get(3)
• curl_url_set(3)
• curl_url_strerror(3)

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okay that's the whole page, mwah 💜 this came from libcurl, dated 2026-10-12 — go forth and handle those URLs the cute way, bestie 🎀✨