JSON POST Empty Using cURL Command

Question

I have a cURL call in a PHP 7.2 script running on CentOS 7 that is passing empty data to an endpoint. In diagnosing the issue, I have tried replicating the issue using cURL on the command-line, and not using the PHP code. Here's the command I am running (I was told to send a Content-Length of 0):

/usr/bin/curl -H "App-Key: 321321321313" -H "App-Token: 321321321312" -H "Content-Length: 0" -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"reportCustomFields":[{"label":"THIS","value":"THAT","shown":true},{"label":"UP","value":"DOWN","shown":true}]}' "https://url.here/endpoint_debug.php"

In the endpoint script I am printing the input stream.

$data = file_get_contents('php://input');

print "HEADERS:\n\n";
print_r(apache_request_headers()) . "\n\n";

print "RAW Data:\n\n";
print "'" . $data . "'\n\n";

No matter what I have done, the $data variable is always empty. The result I see is always ''. I also tried sending it to https://webhook.site/ and it, too, shows that the "Form values" are empty.

I have tried with -X POST and without. I tried changing the order of the calls so the URL is before the data (-d) switch. I have tried --data as well.

What could be the issue? I have replicated this on 2 different servers calling the same endpoint. Other code in the same project handles file_get_contents('php://input') properly, so I don't think that's it.

Any guidance would be appreciated!

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

1

TLDR: You need to remove `-H "Content-Length: 0"`

It doesn't make sense why you were instructed to send this if you want a response.

I tried your command unmodified with a webhook.site url, and it can return the content body (for example) without sending the head, and return nothing if sending the header:

Quite simply, this command:

/usr/bin/curl -H "App-Key: 321321321313" -H "App-Token: 321321321312" -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"reportCustomFields":[{"label":"THIS","value":"THAT","shown":true},{"label":"UP","value":"DOWN","shown":true}]}' 'https://webhook.site/27f6128e-2f82-4157-99da-99464f22122f'

Returns the body. Whereas this command:

/usr/bin/curl -H "Content-Length: 0" -H "App-Key: 321321321313" -H "App-Token: 321321321312" -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"reportCustomFields":[{"label":"THIS","value":"THAT","shown":true},{"label":"UP","value":"DOWN","shown":true}]}' 'https://webhook.site/27f6128e-2f82-4157-99da-99464f22122f'

Obviously returns nothing

The server response headers indicate as much :

> Accept: application/json
> Content-Type: application/json
> Content-Length: 0
> 
* upload completely sent off: 112 out of 112 bytes
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
< Server: nginx/1.14.2

edited Jun 20, 2020 at 9:12

CommunityBot

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answered Jan 28, 2020 at 20:29

hmedia1

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1 Comment

Joel F. Over a year ago

Jeez. The one thing I did NOT try. I removed that header and all is well. Thanks hmedia1

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TLDR: You need to remove `-H "Content-Length: 0"`