| Long: user |
| Short: u |
| Arg: <user:password> |
| Help: Server user and password |
| Category: important auth |
| Example: -u user:secret $URL |
| Added: 4.0 |
| --- |
| Specify the user name and password to use for server authentication. Overrides |
| --netrc and --netrc-optional. |
| |
| If you simply specify the user name, curl will prompt for a password. |
| |
| The user name and passwords are split up on the first colon, which makes it |
| impossible to use a colon in the user name with this option. The password can, |
| still. |
| |
| On systems where it works, curl will hide the given option argument from |
| process listings. This is not enough to protect credentials from possibly |
| getting seen by other users on the same system as they will still be visible |
| for a moment before cleared. Such sensitive data should be retrieved from a |
| file instead or similar and never used in clear text in a command line. |
| |
| When using Kerberos V5 with a Windows based server you should include the |
| Windows domain name in the user name, in order for the server to successfully |
| obtain a Kerberos Ticket. If you do not, then the initial authentication |
| handshake may fail. |
| |
| When using NTLM, the user name can be specified simply as the user name, |
| without the domain, if there is a single domain and forest in your setup |
| for example. |
| |
| To specify the domain name use either Down-Level Logon Name or UPN (User |
| Principal Name) formats. For example, EXAMPLE\\user and user@example.com |
| respectively. |
| |
| If you use a Windows SSPI-enabled curl binary and perform Kerberos V5, |
| Negotiate, NTLM or Digest authentication then you can tell curl to select |
| the user name and password from your environment by specifying a single colon |
| with this option: "-u :". |
| |
| If this option is used several times, the last one will be used. |
