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CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION(3)    Library Functions Manual	CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION(3)

NAME
     CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION - callback for writing received data

SYNOPSIS
     #include <curl/curl.h>

     size_t write_callback(char *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void *userdata);

     CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, write_callback);

DESCRIPTION
     Pass  a pointer to your callback function, which should match the prototype
     shown above.

     This callback function gets called by libcurl as soon as there is data  re-
     ceived  that  needs  to  be  saved.  For most transfers, this callback gets
     called many times and each invoke	delivers  another  chunk  of  data.  ptr
     points  to  the delivered data, and the size of that data is nmemb; size is
     always 1.

     The data passed to this function is not null-terminated.

     The callback function is passed as much data as possible  in  all	invokes,
     but  you must not make any assumptions. It may be one byte, it may be thou-
     sands.  The maximum amount of body data that is passed to the  write  call-
     back  is  defined in the curl.h header file: CURL_MAX_WRITE_SIZE (the usual
     default is 16K). If CURLOPT_HEADER(3) is enabled, which makes  header  data
     get  passed  to  the write callback, you can get up to CURL_MAX_HTTP_HEADER
     bytes of header data passed into it. This usually means 100K.

     This function may be called with zero bytes data if the transferred file is
     empty.

     Set the userdata argument with the CURLOPT_WRITEDATA(3) option.

     Your callback should return the number of bytes actually taken care of.  If
     that  amount  differs  from the amount passed to your callback function, it
     signals an error condition to the library. This causes the transfer to  get
     aborted and the libcurl function used returns CURLE_WRITE_ERROR.

     You can also abort the transfer by returning CURL_WRITEFUNC_ERROR (added in
     7.87.0), which makes CURLE_WRITE_ERROR get returned.

     If the callback function returns CURL_WRITEFUNC_PAUSE it pauses this trans-
     fer. See curl_easy_pause(3) for further details.

     Set  this	option to NULL to get the internal default function used instead
     of your callback. The internal default function writes the data to the FILE
     * given with CURLOPT_WRITEDATA(3).

     This option does not enable HSTS, you need to use	CURLOPT_HSTS_CTRL(3)  to
     do that.

DEFAULT
     fwrite(3)

PROTOCOLS
     This functionality affects all supported protocols

EXAMPLE
     #include <stdlib.h> /* for realloc */
     #include <string.h> /* for memcpy */

     struct memory {
       char *response;
       size_t size;
     };

     static size_t cb(char *data, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void *clientp)
     {
       size_t realsize = nmemb;
       struct memory *mem = (struct memory *)clientp;

       char *ptr = realloc(mem->response, mem->size + realsize + 1);
       if(!ptr)
	 return 0;  /* out of memory */

       mem->response = ptr;
       memcpy(&(mem->response[mem->size]), data, realsize);
       mem->size += realsize;
       mem->response[mem->size] = 0;

       return realsize;
     }

     int main(void)
     {
       struct memory chunk = { 0 };
       CURLcode result;
       CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
       if(curl) {
	 /* send all data to this function */
	 curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, cb);

	 /* we pass our 'chunk' struct to the callback function */
	 curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, (void *)&chunk);

	 /* send a request */
	 result = curl_easy_perform(curl);

	 /* remember to free the buffer */
	 free(chunk.response);

	 curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
       }
     }

HISTORY
     Support  for  the	CURL_WRITEFUNC_PAUSE  return  code  was added in version
     7.18.0.

AVAILABILITY
     Added in curl 7.1

RETURN VALUE
     This returns CURLE_OK.

SEE ALSO
     CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION(3), CURLOPT_READFUNCTION(3), CURLOPT_WRITEDATA(3)

libcurl 			   2026-06-11		CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION(3)

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