Neat, works against example.com

  exec 3<>/dev/tcp/example.com/80
  printf 'GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: example.com\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n' >&3
  cat <&3

Outputs:

  HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:37:45 GMT
  Content-Type: text/html
  ...

I always end up on example.com for this kind of thing because there are so few domains these days that don't enforce https!

▲ QuantumNomad_ 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

example.com is also great for that reason when something fails about a captive portal on a public WiFi.

I open my web browser and go to http://example.com and get redirected to the captive portal page again and retry completing what they need from me to get internet access.

▲

some_random 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Fun fact, this is almost exactly how active portal detection is done in the OS/browser!

https://gist.github.com/skull-squadron/edb8c0122f902013304c0...

▲

QuantumNomad_ 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Yep :) I just find example.com easier to remember and quicker to type than any of the OS or browser makers own URLs like

- http://captive.apple.com/

- http://connectivitycheck.gstatic.com/generate_204

- http://detectportal.brave-http-only.com/

Plus, it feels nice to depend on the reserved domain name example.com instead of relying on a domain that any one specific corporation has to maintain :D

▲

1f60c 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Also http://detectportal.firefox.com. And http://neverssl.com was set up for this purpose while being a bit easier to remember :)

	▲	0l an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I remember a while back neverssl.com would happily serve HTTPS requests! Another good alternative is http://httpforever.com/

▲

LeoPanthera 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I use neverssl.com for this purpose because it is designed to resist caching.

▲ gabrielsroka 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This works too

  exec 3<>/dev/tcp/example.com/80
  printf 'GET / HTTP/1.1\r
  Host: example.com\r
  Connection: close\r
  \r
  ' >&3
  cat <&3

You can even take out the \r though they should be there