How to Disable the Progress Bar in cURL

by

When using cURL (Client for URLs) in command-line operations, especially in scripts or automated tasks, it’s often desirable to suppress the progress bar for cleaner output. This guide will explain how to prevent cURL from displaying the progress bar, ensuring clarity and ease of implementation.

Understanding cURL and the Progress Bar

cURL is a command-line tool used to transfer data to or from a server, supporting various protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and more. By default, when cURL makes a request, it shows a progress bar indicating the transfer progress, which includes information like percentage completed, transfer speed, and estimated time remaining.

Why Disable the Progress Bar?

  • Automation: When scripting or automating tasks with cURL, the progress bar can clutter the output and complicate parsing of results.
  • Clean Output: Disabling the progress bar ensures that only essential data or responses are displayed, improving readability and usability in automated workflows.

Disabling the Progress Bar in cURL

To disable the progress bar in cURL, you can use the -s or --silent option. This option suppresses the progress meter and other unnecessary output, allowing you to focus solely on the response from the server.

Syntax:

curl -s [other options] URL

Replace [other options] with any additional cURL options you need, and URL with the actual URL you want to request.

Example:

curl -s https://example.com/api/data

In this example:

  • -s suppresses the progress bar.
  • https://example.com/api/data is the URL from which data is being fetched.

Additional Options

  • Verbose Mode: If you need more detailed debugging information, you can use the -v or --verbose option along with -s to suppress the progress bar while still displaying verbose output.
curl -s -v https://example.com/api/data

Conclusion

Disabling the progress bar in cURL is essential for achieving clean and focused output, especially in automated tasks and scripting environments. By using the -s or --silent option, you can streamline your command-line operations with cURL, ensuring that only relevant data and responses are displayed without unnecessary clutter. This approach enhances efficiency and readability, making cURL a powerful tool for various web-related tasks in Linux and Unix-based systems.