Using a proxy server with cURL will give you the data or results you want efficiently and anonymously. Before we get into the benefits of using proxies with cURL, let’s learn a bit more about the tool itself and proxy servers.
First released in 1996, cURL, short for Client URL, is a software or command-line tool used for sending and receiving data through internet protocols. Although it’s mostly used by developers for transferring data between servers, the tool is also used by internet marketers for proxy testing and web scraping.
This tool provides you with the HTML version of web pages without user interaction. You can also use it for SSL certificate verification, FTP upload, HTTP post, etc.
Since 2001, cURL has been available by default on Linux, Windows 10, Android, iOS devices, and you can find a version for almost any other piece of software able to connect to the internet. The tool supports nearly all internet protocols.
You can learn how to download curl file in our post.
A simple way to understand a proxy server is to see it as a bridge between you and other servers on the internet. It’s a software or router that communicates with servers on behalf of you. It catches the requests you send to servers, processes them, and forwards them to their destination. It also collects the responses of these servers before it finally sends them back to you.
The main purpose of proxies is to hide your IP address when connecting to other servers on the internet by using its own IP address. This, in turn, provides you with online anonymity, privacy, and security.
But, how is this relevant to cURL?
A reliable proxy server can be very useful when performing activities with cURL, especially for web scraping. Common reasons to use a proxy with this tool include:
Scraping data off geo-restricted websites
If you want to scrape data off a website that’s not available in your region, a reliable proxy can come in handy. When a website that’s blocked in your country or region gets a connection request from your computer, it denies you access. This is because the website can see your IP address which reveals your geographical location.
But, a proxy server can help you bypass these geo-restrictions by providing you with an IP address from a supported location. This way, when you send a connection request to the website, it will see it as coming from the location of your proxy’s IP address, thus granting you access. Once you have access to the site, you can start scraping data off it.
Avoiding IP bans when scraping sites
Even if you don’t have a problem accessing the website you want to scrape with cURL, you may still want to use a good proxy when scraping multiple pages of a website for a long time. That’s because scrapers are a lot faster than humans, so websites can easily detect them as all the requests are coming from the same IP address. Although you’re not using a bot but cURL and PHP, the website you’re scraping can still ban your IP address or blacklist it because it’s still a non-human user.
With a proxy server, you can use hundreds of different IP addresses when scraping a website. This way, the website won’t suspect that all those requests come from a single non-human user but many different users in different locations. That’s how your cURL scraper can avoid IP bans and blocks.
Staying anonymous
If you want to stay anonymous when performing other cURL activities like validating an SSL certificate or testing a network connection, a proxy can be helpful. By keeping your real IP address hidden, it’ll allow you to use cURL anonymously.
The best proxies for cURL are rotating residential proxies. They provide you with IP addresses from real users assigned by real ISPs, rotating at random or set intervals. This makes them highly secure and perfect for web scraping with cURL.
If you want to scrape efficiently and safely, choose proxies from a reliable provider. IPRoyal is a trustworthy proxy provider with powerful and safe rotating residential proxies to make your cURL scraper look like a human user.
