CURLINFO_PRETRANSFER_TIME - get the time until the file transfer start

Added in curl 7.4.1

Pass a pointer to a double to receive the time, in seconds, it took from the start until the file transfer is just about to begin. This time-stamp includes all pre-transfer commands and negotiations that are specific to the particular protocol(s) involved. It includes the sending of the protocol-specific instructions that trigger a transfer. When a redirect is followed, the time from each request is added together. See also the TIMES overview in the curl_easy_getinfo(3) man page.

int main(void) { CURL *curl = curl_easy_init(); if(curl) { CURLcode res; double pretransfer; curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com"); res = curl_easy_perform(curl); if(CURLE_OK == res) { res = curl_easy_getinfo(curl, CURLINFO_PRETRANSFER_TIME, &pretransfer); if(CURLE_OK == res) { printf("Time: %.1f", pretransfer); } } /* always cleanup */ curl_easy_cleanup(curl); } }

CURLINFO_PRETRANSFER_TIME - get the time until the file transfer start

This functionality affects all supported protocols

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).

CURLINFO_CONNECT_TIME_T(3), CURLINFO_PRETRANSFER_TIME_T(3), curl_easy_getinfo(3), curl_easy_setopt(3) libcurl 2025-06-16 CURLINFO_PRETRANSFER_TIME(3)

#include <curl/curl.h> CURLcode curl_easy_getinfo(CURL *handle, CURLINFO_PRETRANSFER_TIME, double *timep);