Coding⏱️ 3 min read📅 2026-06-11

How to Fix: using cURL to download all files in certain folder, except 404 error page?

How to avoid downloading 404 error pages when using cURL in Ubuntu.

Quick Answer: Use the -L flag with cURL to follow redirects and download only the requested files.

📋 Table of Contents

  1. 🛑 Root Causes of the Error
  2. 🔧 Proven Troubleshooting Steps
  3. 💡 Conclusion

The issue you're facing occurs when using cURL to download files in a specific sequence, but it fails to download missing files due to a 404 error page. This affects users who need to download all files in a particular folder without encountering any errors.

This problem can be frustrating for users who rely on automated scripts or tools to download files. Fortunately, there is a solution that can help you avoid this issue.

🛑 Root Causes of the Error

  • The primary reason why cURL downloads a 404 error page for missing files is due to the way it handles URL patterns with wildcard characters. When using cURL to download multiple files in a sequence, it may not correctly handle the range of file names, resulting in incomplete downloads.
  • Another possible cause could be the server-side configuration or the structure of the directory containing the files. The server might not be configured to serve files with specific extensions or might have restrictions on file naming conventions.

🔧 Proven Troubleshooting Steps

Using cURL Options to Handle Wildcard Characters

  1. Step 1: To solve this issue, you can use cURL options to handle wildcard characters correctly. You can use the `-L` option to follow redirects and the `-v` option to increase verbosity.
  2. Step 2: Add the following command to your cURL script: `curl -OL -v http://foo.bar/pic[0-9]*.jpg`. This will tell cURL to download all files from the specified URL range, including those with wildcard characters in their names.
  3. Step 3: By using this option, you can ensure that cURL correctly handles file downloads and avoids 404 error pages for missing files.

Using a Script to Handle Missing Files

  1. Step 1: Alternatively, if the server-side configuration or directory structure prevents you from using wildcard characters in your URL, you can use a script to handle missing files.
  2. Step 2: You can write a shell script that checks for the existence of each file and downloads it if it exists. You can use `curl` and `test` commands to achieve this.

💡 Conclusion

By following these steps, you should be able to download all files in your specified folder without encountering any errors due to 404 error pages. Remember to test your script or command multiple times to ensure it works as expected.

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