BASH: How to send params & data to a process on STDIN - linux

Question

I'm scripting a call to curl, you can enter the password & parameters via STDIN (keep password off the cmd line).
I also need to send POST data on STDIN (large amount of data that won't fit on the cmd line).
So, from a command line I can successfully do this by:
> curl -K --data-binary #- -other_non-pw_params
> -u "username:password"
> <User types ctrl-d>
> lots_of_post_data
> lots_of_post_data
> <User types ctrl-d>
> <User types ctrl-d>
Now... I'm trying to do that in a BASH script...
Wishful-thinking Psudo-code:
{ echo '-u "username:password"'
echo <ctrl-d> | cat dev/null | ^D
echo lots_of_post_data
echo lots_of_post_data
} | curl -K --data-binary #- -other_non-pw_params

Answer 1

Aha! There's a curl specific solution to this.
You pass all of the parameters on STDIN, and leave --data-binary #- (or it's equivalent) to the end, then everything after it is accepted as data input. Example script:
#!/bin/bash
{ echo '--basic'
echo '--compress'
echo '--url "https://your_website"'
echo '-u "username:password"'
echo '--data-binary #-'
echo 'lots_of_post_data'
echo 'lots_of_post_data'
} | curl --config -

Answer 2

Use a "here document":
curl --config - <<EOF
--basic
...
EOF

Answer 3

There is no way to simulate a EOF as in Ctrl-D in the terminal save to stop sending data to the stream altogether. You will need to find a different way of doing this, perhaps by writing a script in a more capable language.