Let's break down the keyword piece by piece. The string is a concatenation of literal text (curl-url-file) and percent-encoded characters.
When decoded, 3A becomes :, and each 2F becomes /. Thus, the suffix file-3A-2F-2F-2F translates to file:///. curl-url-file-3A-2F-2F-2F
The full translation: curl-url-file:/// → which is a shorthand way of writing: curl file:/// Let's break down the keyword piece by piece
url="file%3A%2F%2F%2Fhome%2Fuser%2Fdata.txt"
decoded=$(printf '%b' "$url//%/\\x")
curl "$decoded"
| Issue | Detail |
|-------|--------|
| No directory listing | curl file:///home/ → error (unlike file:// in a browser) |
| No globbing | curl file:///tmp/*.txt won’t expand; use shell glob first |
| Permissions | Must have read access to the file |
| No network | Works offline (local files only) |
| No recursive download | Use cp -r or tar for directories | When decoded, 3A becomes : , and each 2F becomes /
curl file:///C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc/hosts
⚠️ Note: On Windows,
curlin Command Prompt or PowerShell may not supportfile://. Use WSL, Git Bash, or Cygwin.
Title: Why Does My cURL Command Show
curl-url-file-3A-2F-2F-2Fin Logs?
Content: