wget Command in Linux: Download Files

Quick take: The wget command downloads files from the web non-interactively. Use wget url to fetch a file, -c to resume an interrupted download, -O to set the filename, and -b to download in the background.

Introduction

The wget command is a dedicated, non-interactive downloader. Unlike a browser, it works perfectly in scripts and over SSH, can resume broken downloads, retries automatically on flaky connections, and can even mirror an entire site for offline use.

This guide covers single downloads, resuming and background transfers, bandwidth limits, and recursive mirroring.

Syntax

The basic syntax of the wget command is:

wget [OPTIONS] URL

Common Options and Parameters

The most useful options and parameters for the wget command:

Practical Examples

Real wget commands you can run today:

# Download a file
wget https://example.com/app.tar.gz
# Save under a different name
wget -O latest.tar.gz https://example.com/download
# Resume an interrupted download
wget -c https://example.com/big.iso
# Download in the background
wget -b https://example.com/big.iso
# Limit the download speed
wget --limit-rate=1m https://example.com/big.iso
# Mirror a documentation site
wget --mirror -np -P ./docs https://docs.example.com/

Mirroring and Automated Downloads

wget excels at unattended, scripted downloads where resilience matters. Its retry, resume, and recursion features make it dependable over flaky links and ideal for cron jobs.

# Robust download with retries and resume
wget -c --tries=5 --timeout=30 https://example.com/big.iso

# Mirror a docs site for offline reading
wget --mirror --convert-links --page-requisites -np \
  -P ./docs https://docs.example.com/

# Download every file listed in a text file
wget -i urls.txt

The --convert-links and --page-requisites options make a mirrored site browsable offline by rewriting links and pulling in CSS and images, turning wget into a simple site archiver.

Tips and Best Practices

• Use -c to recover from a dropped connection instead of starting a large download over.
• For background downloads, track progress with tail -f wget-log after using -b.
• Combine --mirror with -np and -P to grab a docs site into a folder without climbing above the start URL.

Final Thoughts

wget is the dependable choice for downloading files in scripts and over SSH, with resume, retries, and full-site mirroring built in. Remember -c to resume, -O to rename, and --mirror for offline copies. When you need to craft API requests rather than just download, reach for curl instead.