Using curl to Download Files — Tips & Tricks
Hey everyone, I’ve recently started diving into command-line tools for managing downloads and I keep seeing curl mentioned in tutorials. I know the basic syntax like curl -O url or curl -o filename url, but I’m a bit lost when it comes to more advanced use cases — like resuming a download, downloading multiple files in a loop, handling redirects, or authenticating with credentials. Has anyone used curl extensively for file downloads and has a solid walkthrough or examples? I’d appreciate something that explains both the simple and trickier parts, ideally with real commands I can test.
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I totally feel your pain — I went through exactly the same confusion when I started using curl beyond the basics. What really helped me was finding a guide that walks through download scenarios step by step, covering things like -C - to resume downloads, -L for following redirects, using -u user:pass for authentication, and even batching multiple downloads in a shell loop. If you want, check this tutorial: https://hostman.com/tutorials/how-to-download-files-with-curl/ I tried out many of its examples on dummy files first, and seeing how curl responded gave me a much stronger grasp. After that, I used it for real downloads in my projects and it worked beautifully.
Perfect, that’s exactly what I needed — thanks a lot for the link!