curlfile-uploadunicodeutf-8http-put

cURL File Upload with japanese characters in filename not working

I'm trying to upload a file with japanese characters in the filename to a server with the following command. This works totally fine on mac or in postman, but not on Windows. Alphanumeric filenames are working.

curl -X PUT "https://api.example.com/media/test/test.mp3" -H "Content-Type: audio/mpeg" --data-binary "@/C:/Users/user1/AppData/Local/Temp/ぁ.mp3"

I get the following error message

Warning: Couldn't read data from file
Warning: "/C:/Users/user1/AppData/Local/Temp/?.mp3", this makes an empty
Warning: POST.

Is there a way to get this to work on Windows too? I tried --data-urlencode instead of --data-binary with the same result.

Solution

  • Windows' command prompt is notorious for being a pain when it comes to Unicode. As a workaround: avoid using non-ASCII filenames. Usually your filename is stored along with an alternative one:

    1. Start a command prompt (cmd.exe).

    2. List your file with the Unicode filename:

      • First type in the path (dir M:\folder\sub\here\) and then either use your Tab key to iterate filenames until your wanted one appears (it will be displayed as ?.txt tho), or complete the command by adding a wildcard (i.e. *.txt). Then run this command (hit Enter).
      • If you achieved that successfully do the same by adding the /x parameter: dir /x M:\folder\sub\here\*.txt and you should see something like: 
        2021-09-16  11:59    <DIR>                       .
2021-09-16  11:59    <DIR>                       ..
2021-08-30  14:11     8'589'934'592              pagefile.sys
2021-09-16  11:58         4'120'885 D763~1.MP3   ?.mp3
        In the output you notice 4'120'885 as the filesize and ?.mp3 as what should be ぁ.mp3. The alternative filename is D763~1.MP3 and that's what is ASCII and can be used anywhere.

    3. Accordingly execute cURL then as:

      curl -X PUT "https://api.example.com/media/test/test.mp3" -H "Content-Type: audio/mpeg" --data-binary "@/C:/Users/user1/AppData/Local/Temp/D763~1.MP3"

    Again: this is the command prompt. If you'd start cURL in other ways (i.e. Win+R or in a program thru CreateProcessW()) you wouldn't have problems to begin with.