CURLINFO\_CONTENT\_TYPE(3) Library Functions Manual CURLINFO\_CONTENT\_TYPE(3)

# [NAME](#NAME)

CURLINFO\_CONTENT\_TYPE - Content-Type of response

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

```
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_getinfo(CURL *handle, CURLINFO_CONTENT_TYPE, char **ct);
```

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Pass a pointer to a char pointer to receive the content-type of the downloaded object. This is the value read from the Content-Type: field. If you get NULL, it means that the server did not send a valid Content-Type header or that the protocol used does not support this.

The **ct** pointer is NULL or points to private memory. You **must not** free it. It gets freed automatically when you call [*curl\_easy\_cleanup(3)*](/man/os/curl/curl_easy_cleanup.3) on the corresponding curl handle.

The modern way to get this header from a response is to instead use the [*curl\_easy\_header(3)*](/man/os/curl/curl_easy_header.3) function.

# [PROTOCOLS](#PROTOCOLS)

This functionality affects http only

# [EXAMPLE](#EXAMPLE)

```
int main(void)
{


  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();


  if(curl) {


    CURLcode result;


    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");


    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);


    if(result == CURLE_OK) {


      /* extract the content-type */


      char *ct = NULL;


      result = curl_easy_getinfo(curl, CURLINFO_CONTENT_TYPE, &ct);


      if(!result && ct) {


        printf("Content-Type: %s\n", ct);


      }


    }


    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);


  }
}
```

# [AVAILABILITY](#AVAILABILITY)

Added in curl 7.9.4

# [RETURN VALUE](#RETURN_VALUE)

[*curl\_easy\_getinfo(3)*](/man/os/curl/curl_easy_getinfo.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)*](/man/os/curl/libcurl-errors.3).

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**CURLOPT\_HEADERFUNCTION**(3)](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION.3), [**curl\_easy\_getinfo**(3)](/man/os/curl/curl_easy_getinfo.3), [**curl\_easy\_header**(3)](/man/os/curl/curl_easy_header.3), [**curl\_easy\_setopt**(3)](/man/os/curl/curl_easy_setopt.3)

2026-10-01 libcurl

---

Document: CURLINFO_CONTENT_TYPE(3) from curl 8.22.0-r4 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/curl/curl.git