CURLOPT_IGNORE_CONTENT_LENGTH

Section: curl_easy_setopt options (3)
Updated: November 04, 2020
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NAME

CURLOPT_IGNORE_CONTENT_LENGTH - ignore content length

SYNOPSIS

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_IGNORE_CONTENT_LENGTH,
                          long ignore);

DESCRIPTION

If ignore is set to 1L, ignore the Content-Length header in the HTTP response and ignore asking for or relying on it for FTP transfers.

This is useful for HTTP with Apache 1.x (and similar servers) which will report incorrect content length for files over 2 gigabytes. If this option is used, curl will not be able to accurately report progress, and will simply stop the download when the server ends the connection.

It is also useful with FTP when for example the file is growing while the transfer is in progress which otherwise will unconditionally cause libcurl to report error.

Only use this option if strictly necessary.

DEFAULT

PROTOCOLS

HTTP

EXAMPLE

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

  /* we know the server is silly, ignore content-length */
  curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_IGNORE_CONTENT_LENGTH, 1L);

  curl_easy_perform(curl);
}

AVAILABILITY

Added in 7.14.1. Support for FTP added in 7.46.0.

RETURN VALUE

Returns CURLE_OK if the option is supported, and CURLE_UNKNOWN_OPTION if not.