What is the location of curl?

General | Updated March 2026

The curl binary is located at /usr/bin/curl on Ultra Web Hosting servers. The PHP cURL extension is also enabled by default on all shared, reseller, VPS, and dedicated hosting accounts. If an application asks for the curl path or whether cURL is supported, the answer is yes.

In This Guide

Curl Binary Path
PHP cURL Extension
Checking the Version
Common Uses
Troubleshooting

Curl Path

/usr/bin/curl

Use this path in any application or script that asks for the curl location. The PHP cURL extension (php-curl) is enabled by default and does not require the command-line binary for most PHP applications.

01. Curl Binary Path

The command-line curl binary is at /usr/bin/curl. This is the standard location on CentOS/CloudLinux systems. If you need to call curl from a shell script, cron job, or application config, use this path.

# Verify the path
which curl
# Output: /usr/bin/curl

02. PHP cURL Extension

The PHP cURL extension is separate from the command-line binary. Most PHP applications (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, WooCommerce, payment gateways) use the PHP extension, not the command-line tool.

To verify it's enabled, create a temporary phpinfo.php file:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Search the output for "curl." You should see a cURL section showing the version and supported features. Delete the file when done.

Or via SSH:

php -m | grep curl
# Output: curl

If PHP cURL is not listed (which would be unusual), enable it through cPanel > Select PHP Version > Extensions > check curl.

03. Checking the Version

# Command-line curl version
curl --version
# Shows: curl 7.x.x (or 8.x.x) with supported protocols

# PHP cURL version
php -r "echo curl_version()['version'];"

The curl version matters when interacting with APIs that require specific TLS versions or HTTP/2 support. All Ultra Web Hosting servers run curl versions that support TLS 1.2, TLS 1.3, and HTTP/2.

04. Common Uses

Cron jobs - Calling a URL on a schedule: /usr/bin/curl -s https://yourdomain.com/cron.php >/dev/null 2>&1. See our cron job guide.

API calls from scripts - Shell scripts that interact with payment gateways, shipping APIs, or third-party services.

File downloads - Downloading files to your server: curl -O https://example.com/file.zip

WordPress and WooCommerce - These require PHP cURL for update checks, plugin installation, payment processing, and REST API communication.

05. Troubleshooting

"curl: command not found" - You may be in a restricted shell. Use the full path /usr/bin/curl instead of just curl.

PHP says cURL is not installed - Check if the extension is enabled in cPanel > Select PHP Version. If you recently changed PHP versions, the extension list may have reset.

SSL certificate errors with curl - If curl reports certificate verification failures, the CA certificate bundle may need updating. Contact support to update the server's CA bundle.

For other server paths (PHP, Perl, Python, ImageMagick, sendmail), see Server Paths - PHP, Perl, Python and More. To request a module installation, see How to Request a Server Module.