[bash] Save file to specific folder with curl command

In a shell script, I want to download a file from some URL and save it to a specific folder. What is the specific CLI flag I should use to download files to a specific folder with the curl command, or how else do I get that result?

This question is related to bash shell curl directory

The answer is


I don't think you can give a path to curl, but you can CD to the location, download and CD back.

cd target/path && { curl -O URL ; cd -; }

Or using subshell.

(cd target/path && curl -O URL)

Both ways will only download if path exists. -O keeps remote file name. After download it will return to original location.

If you need to set filename explicitly, you can use small -o option:

curl -o target/path/filename URL

curl doesn't have an option to that (without also specifying the filename), but wget does. The directory can be relative or absolute. Also, the directory will automatically be created if it doesn't exist.

wget -P relative/dir "$url"

wget -P /absolute/dir "$url"

For powershell in Windows, you can add relative path + filename to --output flag:

curl -L  http://github.com/GorvGoyl/Notion-Boost-browser-extension/archive/master.zip --output build_firefox/master-repo.zip

here build_firefox is relative folder.


This option comes in curl 7.73.0:

curl --create-dirs -O --output-dir /tmp/receipes https://example.com/pancakes.jpg

Examples related to bash

Comparing a variable with a string python not working when redirecting from bash script Zipping a file in bash fails How do I prevent Conda from activating the base environment by default? Get first line of a shell command's output Fixing a systemd service 203/EXEC failure (no such file or directory) /bin/sh: apt-get: not found VSCode Change Default Terminal Run bash command on jenkins pipeline How to check if the docker engine and a docker container are running? How to switch Python versions in Terminal?

Examples related to shell

Comparing a variable with a string python not working when redirecting from bash script Get first line of a shell command's output How to run shell script file using nodejs? Run bash command on jenkins pipeline Way to create multiline comments in Bash? How to do multiline shell script in Ansible How to check if a file exists in a shell script How to check if an environment variable exists and get its value? Curl to return http status code along with the response docker entrypoint running bash script gets "permission denied"

Examples related to curl

What is the incentive for curl to release the library for free? curl: (35) error:1408F10B:SSL routines:ssl3_get_record:wrong version number Converting a POSTMAN request to Curl git clone error: RPC failed; curl 56 OpenSSL SSL_read: SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL, errno 10054 How to post raw body data with curl? Curl : connection refused How to use the curl command in PowerShell? Curl to return http status code along with the response How to install php-curl in Ubuntu 16.04 curl: (35) SSL connect error

Examples related to directory

Moving all files from one directory to another using Python What is the reason for the error message "System cannot find the path specified"? Get folder name of the file in Python How to rename a directory/folder on GitHub website? Change directory in Node.js command prompt Get the directory from a file path in java (android) python: get directory two levels up How to add 'libs' folder in Android Studio? How to create a directory using Ansible Troubleshooting misplaced .git directory (nothing to commit)