How to send file using cURL

I have a simple perl cgi script that either displays a webpage to allow selection of a file, or, if a file was submitted, accepts the file and displays content to browser.

It works fine via browser. How do I simulate this using curl?

What I tried didnt work: curl -X POST -F [email protected] myserver.com/cgi-bin/script.cgi

Here is the perl script:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use CGI;

# Create CGI object
my $cgi = CGI->new;

# Print Content-Type header
print $cgi->header('text/html');

# Check if a file has been uploaded
if ($cgi->param('upload')) {
    # Get the uploaded file handle
    my $file_handle = $cgi->upload('file_input');

    # Read and display the content of the file
    if ($file_handle) {
        print "<h1>File Content</h1>";

        # Slurp the entire content of the file
        my $file_content = do { local $/; <$file_handle> };

        # Display the content
        print "<pre>$file_content</pre>";
    } else {
        print "<p>Error reading the uploaded file.</p>";
    }
} else {
    # Display the file upload form
    print <<HTML;
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>File Upload Form</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>File Upload Form</h1>
    <form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
        <label for="file_input">Choose a file:</label>
        <input type="file" name="file_input" id="file_input" required>
        <br>
        <input type="submit" name="upload" value="Upload">
    </form>
</body>
</html>
HTML
}

Solution

You're missing the upload parameter required by your program.

if ($cgi->param('upload')) {

Your form has a button which sends upload=Upload.

<input type="submit" name="upload" value="Upload">

But you're not sending it with curl.