CURLOPT\_ABSTRACT\_UNIX\_SOCKET(3) Library Functions Manual CURLOPT\_ABSTRACT\_UNIX\_SOCKET(3)

# [NAME](#NAME)

CURLOPT\_ABSTRACT\_UNIX\_SOCKET - abstract Unix domain socket

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

```
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_ABSTRACT_UNIX_SOCKET,


                          char *path);
```

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Enables the use of an abstract Unix domain socket instead of establishing a TCP connection to a host. The parameter should be a char * to a null-terminated string holding the path of the socket. The path is set to *path* prefixed by a null byte. This is the convention for abstract sockets, however it should be stressed that the path passed to this function should not contain a leading null byte.

On non-supporting platforms, the abstract address is interpreted as an empty string and fails gracefully, generating a runtime error.

This option shares the same semantics as [*CURLOPT\_UNIX\_SOCKET\_PATH(3)*](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_UNIX_SOCKET_PATH.3) in which documentation more details can be found. Internally, these two options share the same storage and therefore only one of them can be set per handle.

# [DEFAULT](#DEFAULT)

NULL

# [PROTOCOLS](#PROTOCOLS)

This functionality affects all supported protocols

# [EXAMPLE](#EXAMPLE)

```
int main(void)
{


  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();


  if(curl) {


    CURLcode result;


    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_ABSTRACT_UNIX_SOCKET, "/tmp/foo.sock");


    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "http://localhost/");


    /* Perform the request */


    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);


    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);


  }
}
```

# [AVAILABILITY](#AVAILABILITY)

Added in curl 7.53.0

# [RETURN VALUE](#RETURN_VALUE)

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

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**CURLOPT\_UNIX\_SOCKET\_PATH**(3)](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_UNIX_SOCKET_PATH.3), [**unix**(7)](/man/os/curl/unix.7)

2026-10-31 libcurl

---

Document: CURLOPT_ABSTRACT_UNIX_SOCKET(3) from curl 8.23.0-r3 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/curl/curl.git