Curl Get Request Time
As a web developer, I often use curl to test APIs and web services. One important aspect of testing these endpoints is measuring their response time. In this post, I'll explain how to use curl to measure the time it takes for a server to respond to a GET request.
Method 1: Using the -w option
Curl provides a -w option that allows you to specify a format string that will be used for the output. This format string can include various variables, such as the time it took to connect, the time it took to receive the response, and the total time it took to complete the request.
To measure the time it takes for a server to respond to a GET request, you can use the following command:
curl -w "%{time_total}\n" -o /dev/null -s https://example.com- The -w option tells curl to output the total time it took to complete the request.
- The -o /dev/null option tells curl to discard the response body.
- The -s option tells curl to be silent and not output any progress indicators.
- The URL at the end is the endpoint you want to test.
The output of this command will be a decimal number representing the total time it took for the server to respond to the request, in seconds. For example, if the output is 0.345678, it took 345.678 milliseconds for the server to respond.
Method 2: Using time command
Another way to measure the time it takes for a server to respond to a GET request is to use the time command. This command runs a specified command and reports the amount of time it took to execute.
To use the time command with curl, you can use the following command:
time curl -o /dev/null -s https://example.com- The time command is used to wrap the curl command.
- The -o /dev/null option tells curl to discard the response body.
- The -s option tells curl to be silent and not output any progress indicators.
- The URL at the end is the endpoint you want to test.
The output of this command will be similar to the output of the previous method, but it will also include additional information from the time command, such as the amount of CPU time used and the maximum resident set size.
Conclusion
Measuring the time it takes for a server to respond to a GET request is an important part of testing and optimizing web services. Curl provides several ways to measure this time, including the -w option and the time command. By using these tools, you can gain valuable insights into the performance of your web services and make informed decisions about how to optimize them.