The wget Command
wget is the simple file downloader. Point it at a URL, get a file.
Basic Download
Terminal
$wget https://example.com/file.zip
--2025-01-14 10:30:45-- https://example.com/file.zip
Resolving example.com... 93.184.216.34
Connecting to example.com... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1048576 (1.0M) [application/zip]
Saving to: 'file.zip'
file.zip 100%[=====>] 1.00M 1.50MB/s in 0.7s
Progress bar included by default. File saves to current directory.
Specify Output Name
Terminal
$wget -O custom-name.zip https://example.com/file.zip
(saves as custom-name.zip)
Resume Interrupted Download
Terminal
$wget -c https://example.com/large-file.zip
(continues where it left off)
-c (continue) is perfect for large files over unreliable connections.
Download in Background
Terminal
$wget -b https://example.com/huge-file.iso
Continuing in background, pid 1234.
Output will be written to 'wget-log'.
-b runs in background. Check wget-log for progress.
Quiet Mode
Terminal
$wget -q https://example.com/file.zip
(no output)
-q suppresses all output - useful in scripts.
Download Multiple Files
From a list:
Terminal
$cat urls.txt
https://example.com/file1.zip
https://example.com/file2.zip
https://example.com/file3.zip
$wget -i urls.txt
(downloads all)
Limit Speed
Terminal
$wget --limit-rate=1M https://example.com/file.zip
(max 1 MB/s)
Be polite to servers, or avoid saturating your connection.
wget vs curl
| Feature | wget | curl |
|---|---|---|
| Download files | Excellent | Good |
| Resume downloads | Yes (-c) | Yes |
| Recursive download | Yes | No |
| API testing | Limited | Excellent |
| HTTP methods | GET mainly | All |
| Scripting output | Basic | Flexible |
When to Use Which
- wget: Downloading files
- curl: API testing, flexible HTTP requests
Both can download. wget is simpler, curl is more powerful.
Common Use Cases
Download Software Release
Terminal
$wget https://github.com/user/repo/releases/download/v1.0/app.tar.gz
Download Script and Run
Terminal
$wget -O - https://example.com/install.sh | bash
-O - outputs to stdout instead of file.
Piping to bash
Be careful with | bash. Only do this from trusted sources. You're running arbitrary code.
Knowledge Check
How do you resume an interrupted wget download?
Quick Reference
| Flag | Purpose |
|---|---|
-O file | Output to specific file |
-c | Continue/resume download |
-b | Background download |
-q | Quiet (no output) |
-i file | Download URLs from file |
--limit-rate=X | Limit bandwidth |
Key Takeaways
wget URLdownloads a file-cresumes interrupted downloads-O filenamespecifies output name-qfor quiet scripting- Use wget for downloads, curl for APIs
Next: checking open ports and connections.