---
c: Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
SPDX-License-Identifier: curl
Title: CURLOPT_SSH_PRIVATE_KEYFILE
Section: 3
Source: libcurl
See-also:
  - CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES (3)
  - CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE (3)
Protocol:
  - SFTP
  - SCP
Added-in: 7.16.1
---

# NAME

CURLOPT_SSH_PRIVATE_KEYFILE - private key file for SSH auth

# SYNOPSIS

~~~c
#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_SSH_PRIVATE_KEYFILE,
                          char *filename);
~~~

# DESCRIPTION

Pass a char pointer pointing to a *filename* for your private key. If not
used, libcurl defaults to **$HOME/.ssh/id_rsa** or **$HOME/.ssh/id_dsa** if
the HOME environment variable is set, and in the current directory if HOME is
not set.

If the file is password-protected, set the password with CURLOPT_KEYPASSWD(3).

The SSH library derives the public key from this private key when possible. If
the SSH library cannot derive the public key from the private one and no
public one is provided with CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE(3), the transfer
fails.

The application does not have to keep the string around after setting this
option.

This option is used to set up a new connection only. The private key is used
when libcurl establishes a new SSH connection; once that connection has been
successfully set up and verified, it is deemed vetted and may be reused by
libcurl even if this option is changed.

# DEFAULT

As explained above

# %PROTOCOLS%

# EXAMPLE

~~~c
int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "sftp://example.com/file");
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSH_PRIVATE_KEYFILE,
                     "/home/clarkkent/.ssh/id_rsa");
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_KEYPASSWD, "password");
    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);
    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
  }
}
~~~

# %AVAILABILITY%

# RETURN VALUE

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error occurred, see
libcurl-errors(3).
