---
c: Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
SPDX-License-Identifier: curl
Long: etag-save
Arg: <file>
Help: Parse incoming ETag and save to a file
Protocols: HTTP
Added: 7.68.0
Category: http
Multi: single
See-also:
  - etag-compare
Example:
  - --etag-save storetag.txt $URL
---

# `--etag-save`

Save an HTTP ETag to the specified file. An ETag is a caching related header,
usually returned in a response. Use this option with a single URL only.

If no ETag is sent by the server, an empty file is created.

In many situations you want to use an existing etag in the request to avoid
downloading the same resource again but also save the new etag if it has
indeed changed, by using both etag options --etag-save and --etag-compare with
the same filename, in the same command line.

Starting in curl 8.12.0, using the --create-dirs option can also create
missing directory components for the path provided in --etag-save.