curl / libcurl / API / curl_easy_setopt / CURLOPT_WRITEDATA

CURLOPT_WRITEDATA explained

Name

CURLOPT_WRITEDATA - pointer passed to the write callback

Synopsis

#include <curl/curl.h>
 
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, void *pointer);

Description

A data pointer to pass to the write callback. If you use the CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION option, this is the pointer you get in that callback's fourth and last argument. If you do not use a write callback, you must make pointer a 'FILE ' (cast to 'void ') as libcurl passes this to fwrite(3) when writing data.

The internal CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION writes the data to the FILE * given with this option, or to stdout if this option has not been set.

If you are using libcurl as a Windows DLL, you MUST use a CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION if you set this option or you might experience crashes.

Default

By default, this is a FILE * to stdout.

Protocols

All

Example

A common technique is to use the write callback to store the incoming data into a dynamically growing allocated buffer, and then this CURLOPT_WRITEDATA is used to point to a struct or the buffer to store data in. Like in the getinmemory example: https://curl.se/libcurl/c/getinmemory.html

Availability

Available in all libcurl versions. This option was formerly known as CURLOPT_FILE, the name CURLOPT_WRITEDATA was added in 7.9.7.

Return value

This returns CURLE_OK.