Discover What cURL POST Request Does and How It’s Used?

cURL is a popular command line tool often used by web developers to send and receive data from a server. If you find yourself in the process of pulling down a website, conducting site audits, uploading new resources, or interacting with a REST API, a cURL POST request can assist in getting the job done quickly. Join us as we explore what this request does and how you can empower its use through a high-quality proxy. 

What Is cURL?

Although it may sound like a relatively new software, cURL has existed since 1996. Initially born out of another project by Daniel Stenberg, it has now become the standard tool developers use to send HTTP requests straight from the command line.

While this may sound complicated, and at first glance, the tool may appear complex, at its core, cURL works by sending HTTP requests to servers and receiving a response in return. cURL supports many HTTP methods, including GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.

The versatile command prompt tool makes it easier for developers to collect and transfer data between themselves and other servers. It can be used to test the functionality of your website or update resources, amongst other functions. 

cURL, or Client for URLs, is available on all major operating systems. It also features cross-platform utility, which includes support for HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and IMAP. This makes it an easy tool to send requests to APIs and scrape websites.

More About cURL POST Requests

cURL can be used in several ways, but we’re focusing on the POST requests in this article. A cURL POST request is critical when it comes to web development. As mentioned, a POST request sends data to a web server. This can be in text, form data, JSON, objects, or files. From submitting form data to uploading files and creating new resources, the POST function is essential to promote interactivity on the web.

A cURL POST request lies at the heart of client-server communication and opens the gateway to more complex applications. It allows for user personalization, dynamic content, and secure data transmission.

Using these requests in APIs also forms an integral part of web development. They allow these services to communicate with each other, exchange data, and create interconnected systems. With APIs quickly becoming the backbone of many online services, understanding POST requests becomes even more vital for developers.

Using POST requests is also a secure way of sharing new data with a server. The transmitted data is included in the request body and not the URL, which improves the security. Additionally, these requests aren’t cached, so there’s no copy saved on your browser that might get breached.

Use Cases of cURL POST Request

A cURL POST request can be used in a variety of different ways. Let’s look at a few of this function’s more common use cases.

Creating a New Resource

cURL can be used to create new resources on a site by using the POST request. One way that this can be utilized is through social media. Most popular social media platforms have an API to enable third-party developers to interact with their sites. You can use the cURL POST request to send a social media post to the API that’s only posted when a specific trigger is met.  

Automated Form Testing

If your web applications have numerous forms that need to be tested, automating the process is the most efficient way to spend your time and resources. cURL makes it easy for you to automate the testing of your forms and ensure they operate correctly. You can send a POST request to fill in the forms and check for expected responses automatically. This forms an integral part of the continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) processes. 

Data Entry Automation

cURL POST can also be used to automate specific repetitive data entry processes. Any business submitting form-based data to a web-based system will find automating the process through cURL useful. For example, if a university needs to submit student records to a government portal, you can use a cURL script to automate this process. The script will loop over the data entries, formatting them correctly for each form field, and submit them to the appropriate government server.

Web Scraping

During your web scraping process, you might come across sites where the information you need requires a form submission to access. In this case, developers can create a cURL command to automatically submit the form with various search terms and process the results. This can empower your current web scraping efforts to gain access to more valuable data than before.

Automated Login

Many platforms require that users log in before gaining access to a site. During this process, most authentication is done online via a web form. The command-line tool can send a cURL POST request that contains all the necessary login credentials to the login form. This process will also maintain the session for subsequent requests.

Best Proxies To Empower cURL

As with most software, cURL can be empowered with a good proxy. Pairing a good proxy with the tool will enable you to bypass geo-restrictions and maintain anonymity online. In addition, these tools can also help stabilize your connection with various servers, which will help ensure successful data transfers. 

Proxies to consider for use with cURL include:

• Rotating residential proxies
• 4G proxies
• Datacenter proxies

Final Thoughts

cURL is a robust tool for web developers, and there’s no doubt why this is so. With so many different ways the tool can be used, it’s an essential part of a programmer’s toolkit. uCURL POST request alone can automate form testing and data entry. It can also empower your web scraping efforts and assist in creating new resources. The functionality of uCURL is further enhanced when paired with a reliable proxy.