CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER(3)

NAME
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER - set of HTTP headers

SYNOPSIS
#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER,
                          struct curl_slist *headers);

DESCRIPTION
Pass a pointer to a linked list of HTTP headers to pass to the server and/or proxy in your HTTP request. The same list can be used for both host and proxy requests!

The linked list should be a fully valid list of struct curl_slist structs properly filled in. Use curl_slist_append(3) to create the list and curl_slist_free_all(3) to clean up an entire list. If you add a header that is otherwise generated and used by libcurl internally, your added one will be used instead. If you add a header with no content as in 'Accept:' (no data on the right side of the colon), the internally used header will get disabled. With this option you can add new headers, replace internal headers and remove internal headers. To add a header with no content (nothing to the right side of the colon), use the form 'MyHeader;' (note the ending semicolon).

The headers included in the linked list must not be CRLF-terminated, because libcurl adds CRLF after each header item. Failure to comply with this will result in strange bugs because the server will most likely ignore part of the headers you specified.

The first line in a request (containing the method, usually a GET or POST) is not a header and cannot be replaced using this option. Only the lines following the request-line are headers. Adding this method line in this list of headers will only cause your request to send an invalid header. Use CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST(3) to change the method.

When this option is passed to curl_easy_setopt(3), libcurl will not copy the entire list so you must keep it around until you no longer use this handle for a transfer before you call curl_slist_free_all(3) on the list.

Pass a NULL to this option to reset back to no custom headers.

The most commonly replaced headers have "shortcuts" in the options CURLOPT_COOKIE(3), CURLOPT_USERAGENT(3) and CURLOPT_REFERER(3). We recommend using those.

There's an alternative option that sets or replaces headers only for requests that are sent with CONNECT to a proxy: CURLOPT_PROXYHEADER(3). Use CURLOPT_HEADEROPT(3) to control the behavior.

SPECIFIC HEADERS
Setting some specific headers will cause libcurl to act differently.

Host:
    The specified host name will be used for cookie matching if the cookie engine is also enabled for this transfer. If the request is done over HTTP/2 or HTTP/3, the custom host name will instead be used in the ":authority" header field and Host: will not be sent at all over the wire.

Transfer-Encoding: chunked
    Tells libcurl the upload is to be done using this chunked encoding instead of providing the Content-Length: field in the request.

SECURITY CONCERNS
By default, this option makes libcurl send the given headers in all HTTP requests done by this handle. You should therefore use this option with caution if you for example connect to the remote site using a proxy and a CONNECT request, you should to consider if that proxy is supposed to also get the headers. They may be private or otherwise sensitive to leak.

Use CURLOPT_HEADEROPT(3) to make the headers only get sent to where you intend them to get sent.

Custom headers are sent in all requests done by the easy handles, which implies that if you tell libcurl to follow redirects (CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION(3)), the same set of custom headers will be sent in the subsequent request. Redirects can of course go to other hosts and thus those servers will get all the contents of your custom headers too.

Starting in 7.58.0, libcurl will specifically prevent "Authorization:" headers from being sent to other hosts than the first used one, unless specifically permitted with the CURLOPT_UNRESTRICTED_AUTH(3) option.

Starting in 7.64.0, libcurl will specifically prevent "Cookie:" headers from being sent to other hosts than the first used one, unless specifically permitted with the CURLOPT_UNRESTRICTED_AUTH(3) option.

DEFAULT
NULL

PROTOCOLS
HTTP

EXAMPLE
CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();

struct curl_slist *list = NULL;

if(curl) {
  curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");

  list = curl_slist_append(list, "Shoesize: 10");
  list = curl_slist_append(list, "Accept:");

  curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, list);

  curl_easy_perform(curl);

  curl_slist_free_all(list); /* free the list again */
}

AVAILABILITY
As long as HTTP is enabled

RETURN VALUE
Returns CURLE_OK if HTTP is supported, and CURLE_UNKNOWN_OPTION if not.

SEE ALSO
CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST(3), CURLOPT_HEADEROPT(3), CURLOPT_PROXYHEADER(3), CURLOPT_HEADER(3)