---
c: Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
SPDX-License-Identifier: curl
Title: CURLOPT_QUOTE
Section: 3
Source: libcurl
See-also:
  - CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST (3)
  - CURLOPT_DIRLISTONLY (3)
  - CURLOPT_POSTQUOTE (3)
  - CURLOPT_PREQUOTE (3)
Protocol:
  - FTP
  - SFTP
Added-in: 7.1
---

# NAME

CURLOPT_QUOTE - (S)FTP commands to run before transfer

# SYNOPSIS

~~~c
#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_QUOTE,
                          struct curl_slist *cmds);
~~~

# DESCRIPTION

Pass a pointer to a linked list of FTP or SFTP commands to pass to the server
prior to your request. This is done before any other commands are issued (even
before the CWD command for FTP). The linked list should be a fully valid list
of 'struct curl_slist' structs properly filled in with text strings. Use
curl_slist_append(3) to append strings (commands) to the list, and clear
the entire list afterwards with curl_slist_free_all(3).

Using this option multiple times makes the last set list override the previous
ones. Set it to NULL to disable its use again. libcurl does not copy the list,
it needs to be kept around until after the transfer has completed.

When speaking to an FTP server, prefix the command with an asterisk (*) to
make libcurl continue even if the command fails as by default libcurl stops at
first failure.

The set of valid FTP commands depends on the server (see RFC 959 for a list of
mandatory commands).

libcurl does not inspect, parse or "understand" the commands passed to the
server using this option. If you change connection state, working directory or
similar using quote commands, libcurl does not know about it.

The path arguments for FTP or SFTP should use double quotes to distinguish a
space from being the parameter separator or being a part of the path. For
example, rename with sftp using a quote command like this:

    rename "test/_upload.txt" "test/Hello World.txt"

For SFTP, filenames must be provided within double quotes to embed spaces,
backslashes, quotes or double quotes. Within double quotes the following
escape sequences are available for that purpose: \\, \", and \'.

# SFTP commands

## atime date file

The atime command sets the last access time of the file named by the file
operand. The date expression can be all sorts of date strings, see the
curl_getdate(3) man page for date expression details. (Added in 7.73.0)

## chgrp group file

The chgrp command sets the group ID of the file named by the file operand to
the group ID specified by the group operand. The group operand is a decimal
integer group ID.

## chmod mode file

The chmod command modifies the file mode bits of the specified file. The
mode operand is an octal integer mode number.

## chown user file

The chown command sets the owner of the file named by the file operand to the
user ID specified by the user operand. The user operand is a decimal
integer user ID.

## ln source_file target_file

The **ln** and **symlink** commands create a symbolic link at the
target_file location pointing to the source_file location.

## mkdir directory_name

The mkdir command creates the directory named by the directory_name operand.

## mtime date file

The mtime command sets the last modification time of the file named by the
file operand. The date expression can be all sorts of date strings, see the
curl_getdate(3) man page for date expression details. (Added in 7.73.0)

## pwd

The **pwd** command returns the absolute path of the current working
directory.

## rename source target

The rename command renames the file or directory named by the source
operand to the destination path named by the target operand.

## rm file

The rm command removes the file specified by the file operand.

## rmdir directory

The rmdir command removes the directory entry specified by the directory
operand, provided it is empty.

## statvfs file

The statvfs command returns statistics on the file system in which specified
file resides.

## symlink source_file target_file

See ln.

# DEFAULT

NULL

# %PROTOCOLS%

# EXAMPLE

~~~c
int main(void)
{
  struct curl_slist *cmdlist = NULL;
  cmdlist = curl_slist_append(cmdlist, "RNFR source-name");
  cmdlist = curl_slist_append(cmdlist, "RNTO new-name");

  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "ftp://example.com/foo.bin");

    /* pass in the FTP commands to run before the transfer */
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_QUOTE, cmdlist);

    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);

    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
  }

  curl_slist_free_all(cmdlist);
}
~~~

# HISTORY

SFTP support added in 7.16.3. *-prefix for SFTP added in 7.24.0

# %AVAILABILITY%

# RETURN VALUE

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error occurred, see
libcurl-errors(3).
