Random Dad Jokes With curl

Fetch a dad joke as plain text or JSON from a public API.

LinuxcurlnetworkapiLow risk

Run curl -s -H "Accept: text/plain" https://icanhazdadjoke.com/ to print a joke as text.

01Command

Command

$ curl -s -H "Accept: text/plain" https://icanhazdadjoke.com/

02What it does

icanhazdadjoke uses content negotiation: with Accept: text/plain it returns the joke alone, while Accept: application/json returns structured data. Set a descriptive User-Agent as the API asks, and use /search for keywords.

03Risk

RiskLow risk

Requirementscurl (preinstalled on most Linux distributions)

!Warning: Without the Accept header you receive an HTML page; always set it when scripting.

04Undo

✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.

05Sources

icanhazdadjoke API
icanhazdadjoke.com · vendor-doc · 2026-09-20
Evidence: Documents the Accept header content negotiation and the /api endpoints.

Last verified: 2026-09-20 · Category: Network

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