---
c: Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
SPDX-License-Identifier: curl
Title: CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION
Section: 3
Source: libcurl
See-also:
  - CURLINFO_REDIRECT_COUNT (3)
  - CURLINFO_REDIRECT_URL (3)
  - CURLOPT_POSTREDIR (3)
  - CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS_STR (3)
  - CURLOPT_REDIR_PROTOCOLS_STR (3)
  - CURLOPT_UNRESTRICTED_AUTH (3)
Protocol:
  - HTTP
Added-in: 7.1
---

# NAME

CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION - follow HTTP 3xx redirects

# SYNOPSIS

~~~c
#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, long enable);
~~~

# DESCRIPTION

A long parameter set to 1 tells the library to follow any Location: header
redirects that an HTTP server sends in a 30x response. The Location: header
can specify a relative or an absolute URL to follow.

libcurl issues another request for the new URL and follows subsequent new
`Location:` redirects all the way until no more such headers are returned or
the maximum limit is reached. CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS(3) is used to limit the number
of redirects libcurl follows.

libcurl restricts what protocols it automatically follow redirects to. The
accepted target protocols are set with CURLOPT_REDIR_PROTOCOLS_STR(3). By
default libcurl allows HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS on redirects.

When following a redirect, the specific 30x response code also dictates which
request method libcurl uses in the subsequent request: For 301, 302 and 303
responses libcurl switches method from POST to GET unless CURLOPT_POSTREDIR(3)
instructs libcurl otherwise. All other redirect response codes make libcurl
use the same method again.

For users who think the existing location following is too naive, too simple
or just lacks features, it is easy to instead implement your own redirect
follow logic with the use of curl_easy_getinfo(3)'s CURLINFO_REDIRECT_URL(3)
option instead of using CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION(3).

By default, libcurl only sends `Authentication:` or explicitly set `Cookie:`
headers to the initial host given in the original URL, to avoid leaking
username + password to other sites. CURLOPT_UNRESTRICTED_AUTH(3) is provided
to change that behavior.

Due to the way HTTP works, almost any header can be made to contain data a
client may not want to pass on to other servers than the initially intended
host and for all other headers than the two mentioned above, there is no
protection from this happening when libcurl is told to follow redirects.

# NOTE

Since libcurl changes method or not based on the specific HTTP response code,
setting CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST(3) while following redirects may change what
libcurl would otherwise do and if not that carefully may even make it
misbehave since CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST(3) overrides the method libcurl would
otherwise select internally.

# DEFAULT

0, disabled

# %PROTOCOLS%

# EXAMPLE

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

    /* example.com is redirected, so we tell libcurl to follow redirection */
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1L);

    curl_easy_perform(curl);
  }
}
~~~

# %AVAILABILITY%

# RETURN VALUE

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error occurred, see
libcurl-errors(3).
