Linux wget command use with examples

What is wget command?

This command is used for downloading files from internet server which are using HTTP, HTTPS and FTP protocol. wget is an non interactive program that is it can be run in background. Also with wget one can download single file, download multiple files, download background, resume downloads, limiting the bandwidth used for downloads. Also it can be used for mirroring of a website.

Use of wget command

1. Single file download with wget

   Use wget with location of file to download for downloading a single file.

   Syntax

    wget http://location_of_ file

   The output of wget command displays name of file, a progress bar for download, size of file downloaded, download speed and estimated time for download to complete.

2. Download without standard wget output

   • Use quiet mode (–q switch) to download without output.Syntax

      wget –q http://location_of_ file

     No output will come when using wget in quiet mode

   • The default output of wget command is verbose. To turn it it off a no verbose switch (-nv) is provided.Syntax

     wget -nv http://location_of_ file

     When using –nv option basic information and error will still come up.

3. Change the name of file downloaded file

   Using –O switch will change the name of file downloaded to new name provided by user.

   Syntax

    wget –O test.txt http://location_of_ file/testfile.txt

4. Resume download

   To resume download use –c switch. This option should be used if a previous download of a file failed due to network drop. This option will work only if local file of previous download is still in the folder. The download will start from point where previous download was broken.

   Syntax

    wget –c http://location_of_ file/testfile.txt

   If –c switch is not used and wget command finds file with same name in folder, it will append .1 to name of file. Also if .1 name exists it append .2 to file name and so on.

5. Multiple files download can be downloaded by two method

   • By providing names of files – In this method location of all files are provided.Syntax
     using only http protocol

      wget http://location_of_ file http://location_of_ file2

     using http and ftp protocol

      wget http://location_of_ file ftp://location_of_ file2

     A mix of protocol (ftp, http and https) can be done while downloading multiple files with wget.

   • By providing names of files in a list – To download a large number of files simply use wget with switch –i and provide list of files in text file.Syntax

      wget –i /test/text.txt

     Above syntax utilizes wget –i switch and list of file is provided in text.txt file.

6. Download multiple files

   If you want to restrict wget from completely utilization of bandwidth, use switch –limit-rate

   Syntax

    wget –limit-rate=64k http://location_of_ file

   This command will restrict speed of download to 64kbps.

7. Logging of output

   To output wget command information to log file –o switch is used.

   Syntax

    wget -o /location/of/logfile http://location_of_ file

8. Use wget in background

   Using -b option download can be send background once download starts. If logs are not directed to any files using –o option, logs will be written to wget-log.

   Syntax

   wget –b http://location_of_ file

9. Download from an untrusted location / without valid certificate

   When downloading files from websites , you may encounter error regarding certificate verification. In such case use –no-check-certificate switch for wget command. Before using this option ensure about authenticity of web site. Malicious sites may infect your system.

   Syntax

    wget http://location_of_ file --no-check-certificate

10. Mirror a website

    To mirror a complete website –m switch can be used

    Syntax

     wget -m http://location_of_ file

11. Download secured file requiring username and password

    wget can download files even from secured website. For getting through security of website you can provide username with switch –-user and password with switch –password.

    Syntax

     wget –user=username –password=password http://location_of_ file

    This can be used for both ftp and http sites.