---
c: Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel.se>, et al.
SPDX-License-Identifier: curl
Title: CURLOPT_USERPWD
Section: 3
Source: libcurl
See-also:
  - CURLOPT_PASSWORD (3)
  - CURLOPT_PROXYUSERPWD (3)
  - CURLOPT_USERNAME (3)
---

# NAME

CURLOPT_USERPWD - user name and password to use in authentication

# SYNOPSIS

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

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_USERPWD, char *userpwd);
~~~

# DESCRIPTION

Pass a char pointer as parameter, pointing to a null-terminated login details
string for the connection. The format of which is: [user name]:[password].

When using Kerberos V5 authentication with a Windows based server, you should
specify the user name part with the domain name in order for the server to
successfully obtain a Kerberos Ticket. If you do not then the initial part of
the authentication handshake may fail.

When using NTLM, the user name can be specified simply as the user name
without the domain name should the server be part of a single domain and
forest.

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.

Some HTTP servers (on Windows) support inclusion of the domain for Basic
authentication as well.

When using HTTP and CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION(3), libcurl might perform several
requests to possibly different hosts. libcurl only sends this user and
password information to hosts using the initial hostname (unless
CURLOPT_UNRESTRICTED_AUTH(3) is set), so if libcurl follows redirects to other
hosts, it does not send the user and password to those. This is enforced to
prevent accidental information leakage.

Use CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH(3) to specify the authentication method for HTTP
based connections or CURLOPT_LOGIN_OPTIONS(3) to control IMAP, POP3 and
SMTP options.

The user and password strings are not URL decoded, so there is no way to send
in a user name containing a colon using this option. Use
CURLOPT_USERNAME(3) for that, or include it in the URL.

The application does not have to keep the string around after setting this
option.

# DEFAULT

NULL

# PROTOCOLS

Most

# EXAMPLE

~~~c
int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode res;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com/foo.bin");

    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "clark:kent");

    res = curl_easy_perform(curl);

    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
  }
}
~~~

# AVAILABILITY

Always

# RETURN VALUE

Returns CURLE_OK on success or
CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY if there was insufficient heap space.
