Difference between `curl -I` and `curl -X HEAD`
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by chmeee
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Published on 2010-05-10T08:49:33Z
Indexed on
2010/05/10
8:55 UTC
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I was wathcing the funny server type from http://www.reddit.com with curl -I http://www.reddit.com when I guessed that curl -X HEAD http://www.reddit.com would do the same. But, in fact, it doesn't.
I'm curious about why.
This is what I observe running the two commands:
curl -I: works as expected, outputs the header and exists.curl -X HEAD: does not show anything and seems to wait for user input.
But, sniffing with tshark I see the second command actually sends the same HTML query and receives the correct answer, but it does not show it and it doesn't close the connection.
curl -I
0.000000 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.106 TCP 59675 > http [SYN] Seq=0 Win=5840 Len=0 MSS=1460 TSV=47267342 TSER=0 WS=6
0.045392 213.248.111.106 -> 333.33.33.33 TCP http > 59675 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=5792 Len=0 MSS=1460 TSV=2552532839 TSER=47267342 WS=1
0.045441 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.106 TCP 59675 > http [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=5888 Len=0 TSV=47267353 TSER=2552532839
0.045623 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.106 HTTP HEAD / HTTP/1.1
0.091665 213.248.111.106 -> 333.33.33.33 TCP http > 59675 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=155 Win=6432 Len=0 TSV=2552532886 TSER=47267353
0.861782 213.248.111.106 -> 333.33.33.33 HTTP HTTP/1.1 200 OK
0.861830 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.106 TCP 59675 > http [ACK] Seq=155 Ack=321 Win=6912 Len=0 TSV=47267557 TSER=2552533656
0.862127 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.106 TCP 59675 > http [FIN, ACK] Seq=155 Ack=321 Win=6912 Len=0 TSV=47267557 TSER=2552533656
0.910810 213.248.111.106 -> 333.33.33.33 TCP http > 59675 [FIN, ACK] Seq=321 Ack=156 Win=6432 Len=0 TSV=2552533705 TSER=47267557
0.910880 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.106 TCP 59675 > http [ACK] Seq=156 Ack=322 Win=6912 Len=0 TSV=47267570 TSER=2552533705
curl -X HEAD
34.106389 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.90 TCP 51690 > http [SYN] Seq=0 Win=5840 Len=0 MSS=1460 TSV=47275868 TSER=0 WS=6
34.149507 213.248.111.90 -> 333.33.33.33 TCP http > 51690 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=5792 Len=0 MSS=1460 TSV=3920268348 TSER=47275868 WS=1
34.149560 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.90 TCP 51690 > http [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=5888 Len=0 TSV=47275879 TSER=3920268348
34.149646 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.90 HTTP HEAD / HTTP/1.1
34.191484 213.248.111.90 -> 333.33.33.33 TCP http > 51690 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=155 Win=6432 Len=0 TSV=3920268390 TSER=47275879
34.192657 213.248.111.90 -> 333.33.33.33 TCP [TCP Dup ACK 15#1] http > 51690 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=155 Win=6432 Len=0 TSV=3920268390 TSER=47275879
34.823399 213.248.111.90 -> 333.33.33.33 HTTP HTTP/1.1 200 OK
34.823453 333.33.33.33 -> 213.248.111.90 TCP 51690 > http [ACK] Seq=155 Ack=321 Win=6912 Len=0 TSV=47276048 TSER=3920269022
Any idea about why this difference in behaviour?
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