This article describes how to use the cURL program to transfer files from the command line.
When to use cURL
If you need to transfer a file rapidly from the command line, the cURL software is the most convenient option. For instance, you may need to download a .zip or .tar.gz file containing a code library for a project you're working on. Instead of using an FTP software to download and transfer the file to your account, you can use cURL to download the file directly to your account.
How to use cURL
To start cURL, log in to your A2 Hosting account using SSH, and then type the following command:
curl
However, this command by itself does not accomplish much. Let's download a page from the example.com test domain:
curl -O http://example.com/test.html
Curl downloads the page to the current working directory. The -O option instructs cURL to download the output and save it in a file name that has the same name as the source document. In this case, it is test.html. If you open the test.html file on your account, you can see the HTML source page for example.com/test.html.
If you want to download a file and assign it a specific filename, use the -o option. For example, to download the example.com/test.html file to a file on the local account named download.html, type the following command:
curl -o download.html http://example.com/test.html
