How to POST a XML file using cURL?

This article explains how to use the cURL command-line tool to send an XML file to a server using a POST request. A POST request is commonly used to submit data to a server.

There are two main approaches to include the XML data in your cURL request:

Reading from a File

This is the most common approach where the XML data is stored in a separate file. This method is preferred when dealing with larger or pre-defined XML data. Here's how it works.

Syntax:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: text/xml" --data 
@path_to_your_file.xml http://your_server_endpoint

Explanation:

• `-X POST`: Specifies the request method as POST.
• `-H "Content-Type: text/xml"`: Sets the header indicating the data format (XML).
• `--data @path/to/your/file.xml`: Instructs cURL to read the data from the specified file path. The "@" symbol precedes the file path.
• `http://your_server_endpoint`: The URL of the server expecting the POST request.

Example: This example sends the contents of the `my_data.xml` file located in the current directory to the server endpoint `https://api.example.com/data`.

curl -X POST -H   "Content-Type: text/xml" --data  @my_data.xml   
https://api.example.com/data

Providing Inline Data

This approach involves including the XML content directly within the cURL command itself (less common) and also useful for short snippets of XML data directly within the command. However, it can become cumbersome for larger data sets.

Syntax:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: text/xml" -d "<your_xml_data_here>" 
http://your_server_endpoint

Explanation:

• `-X POST`: Specifies the request method as POST.
• `-H "Content-Type: text/xml"`: Sets the header indicating the data format (XML).
• `-d "<your_xml_data_here>"`: Instructs cURL to send the data following the `-d` flag.
• `http://your_server_endpoint`: The URL of the server expecting the POST request.

Example: This example sends the following XML data directly within the command.

curl -X POST -H    "Content-Type: text/xml"     -d "<data>This is some sample XML data</data>"   
 https://api.example.com/test

For successful POST requests with XML data, the server might not return any specific content in the response body.