Exploring wget - Linux Commands

June 3, 2025

What is the `wget` Command in Linux?

The wget command in Linux is a powerful, non-interactive tool for downloading files from the internet. It supports HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP protocols, and can work in the background, making it ideal for scripting and automated downloads. Key features include:

Resuming interrupted downloads
Downloading recursively (entire websites)
Working with proxies
Limiting bandwidth usage
Running without user interaction

Basic Syntax:

wget [OPTIONS] URL

Example:

wget https://example.com/file.zip

Options

Option	What It Does	Example
`-O FILE`	Rename downloaded file	`wget -O backup.zip [URL]`
`-P DIR`	Save to directory	`wget -P ~/downloads [URL]`
`-c`	Resume broken download	`wget -c [URL]`
`-nc`	Skip existing files	`wget -nc [URL]`
`--limit-rate=SPEED`	Limit speed	`wget --limit-rate=2M [URL]`
`-q`	Silent mode	`wget -q [URL]`
`-b`	Download in background	`wget -b [URL]`
`-i FILE`	Download URLs from file	`wget -i urls.txt`
`-t N`	Retry attempts (default=20)	`wget -t 3 [URL]`
`-T SEC`	Timeout in seconds	`wget -T 30 [URL]`

Common Use Case

Download and rename

wget -O gnu-keyring.gpg https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-keyring.gpg

Save to specific directory

wget -P ~/Downloads https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/1342-0.txt

Resume failed download

wget -c https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v6.x/linux-6.5.11.tar.xz

Download without overwriting

wget -nc https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11-0.txt  # Alice in Wonderland
wget -nc https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11-0.txt  # Skips if already downloaded

Limit download speed

wget --limit-rate=100k https://speed.hetzner.de/100MB.bin

Silent download (for scripts)

wget -q https://www.gutenberg.org/files/84/84-0.txt  # Frankenstein

Background download

wget -b https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2701/2701-0.txt  # Moby Dick
tail -f wget-log  # Check progress

Additional Help

To see all available wget options:

wget --help
# or
man wget

Recap

The wget command is an indispensable tool for downloading files from the command line. Whether you need to download single files, mirror entire websites, or automate downloads in scripts, wget provides a robust solution with many configuration options.

Happy downloading! 💾🚀

Thank you!

Thank you for your time and for reading this!