POST XML file using cURL command line

Question

How can I POST an XML file to a local server http://localhost:8080 using cURL from the command line?

What command should I use?

Answer 1

If that question is connected to your other Hudson questions use the command they provide. This way with XML from the command line:

$ curl -X POST -d '<run>...</run>' 
http://user:pass@myhost:myport/path/of/url

You need to change it a little bit to read from a file:

 $ curl -X POST -d @myfilename http://user:pass@myhost:myport/path/of/url

Read the manpage. following an abstract for -d Parameter.

-d/--data

(HTTP) Sends the specified data in a POST request to the HTTP server, in the same way that a browser does when a user has filled in an HTML form and presses the submit button. This will cause curl to pass the data to the server using the content-type application/x-www-form-urlencoded. Compare to -F/--form.

-d/--data is the same as --data-ascii. To post data purely binary, you should instead use the --data-binary option. To URL-encode the value of a form field you may use --data-urlencode.

If any of these options is used more than once on the same command line, the data pieces specified will be merged together with a separating &-symbol. Thus, using '-d name=daniel -d skill=lousy' would generate a post chunk that looks like 'name=daniel&skill=lousy'.

If you start the data with the letter @, the rest should be a file name to read the data from, or - if you want curl to read the data from stdin. The contents of the file must already be URL-encoded. Multiple files can also be specified. Posting data from a file named 'foobar' would thus be done with --data @foobar.