This curl recipe shows you how to construct query strings for your GET requests. This is done via the -G command line argument in combination with the -d or --data-urlencode arguments. The -G argument will append the data specified in -d and --data-urlencode arguments at the end of the request URL, joining all data pieces with the & character and separating them from the URL with the ? character.
Construct Two Query Arguments
curl -G -d 'q=kitties' -d 'count=20' https://google.com/search
In this recipe, we let curl construct the query string and the final request URL for us. This recipe uses the -G option and the -d option twice that creates two query arguments. Curl joins them together like this q=kitties&count=20 and appends this string at the end of the https://google.com/search request URL, and makes a GET request to https://google.com/search?q=kitties&count=20. Be careful – if you forget the -G argument, then curl will make a POST request instead!
URL-encode a Query Argument
curl -G --data-urlencode 'comment=this cookbook is awesome' https://catonmat.net
This recipe uses the --data-urlencode argument. It works similar to the -d argument but curl also URL-encodes the value. In this recipe, the comment gets URL-encoded to this%20cookbook%20is%20awesome and the GET request goes to https://catonmat.net?comment=this%20cookbook%20is%20awesome.
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