wget

Download a file

$ wget [https://example.com/file]

$ wget -O [filename] [url]

$ wget -P [directory] [url]

$ wget -c [url]

$ wget -b [url]

$ wget -r [url]

$ wget --user=[username] --password=[password] [url]

$ wget --limit-rate=[200k] [url]

$ wget -i [urls.txt]

wget [options] [url...]

wget is a non-interactive network downloader supporting HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP. It can download files, follow links, and mirror entire websites while handling interruptions and retrying failed transfers.
For simple downloads, wget automatically names the output file from the URL. Use -O to specify a different name or -O - to output to stdout.
Recursive downloading with -r follows links and downloads connected pages. Combine with -l to limit depth, -k to convert links for offline browsing, and -p to get page resources.
Wget handles redirects, cookies, and authentication automatically. It's scriptable and works well for automated downloads and cron jobs.

-O file

Write to specified file

Save to specified directory

Resume partial download

Go to background after starting

Quiet mode (no output)

Recursive download

Maximum recursion depth (0 = infinite)

Convert links for local viewing

Download all page requirements (images, CSS, etc.)

Mirror mode (-r -N -l inf --no-remove-listing)

Read URLs from file

Limit download speed

HTTP/FTP authentication

Set User-Agent header

Don't validate SSL certificates

Send additional HTTP header

Recursive downloading can consume significant bandwidth and storage. Always use -l to limit depth when mirroring, and respect robots.txt (wget does by default).
--no-check-certificate bypasses SSL verification—use only when necessary and understand the security implications.
Some sites block wget by User-Agent. Use -U to set a browser-like User-Agent string if needed.
For complex downloads with multiple retries and bandwidth control, consider creating a .wgetrc configuration file.

curl(1), aria2c(1), httrack(1), lftp(1)