wget Cheatsheet - Download Command

wget is the most reliable command-line downloader, especially for scripts and unattended runs: -c resumes after interruption, --retry retries automatically, -b runs in the background, and -r mirrors a site recursively. This table covers these high-frequency combos so interrupted downloads restart from where they broke.

SysOps·38 commands·Last updated 2026-07-21

Basic Download 7

wget URL

Download a file to the current directory

wget -O filename URL

Download and save as a given name

wget -P /path/to/dir URL

Download to a given directory

wget -b URL

Download in the background

wget -q URL

Quiet download (no progress)

wget -v URL

Verbose output

wget -nc URL

Skip existing files (no-clobber)

Resume 3

wget -c URL

Resume a partial download

wget -c -O filename URL

Resume and save as a given name

wget --continue URL

Resume (same as -c)

Recursive 8

wget -r URL

Recursive download (default depth 5)

wget -r -l 2 URL

Recursive, depth 2

wget -r -np URL

Recursive, no parent directories

wget -r -nd URL

Recursive, no directory structure

wget -r -N URL

Recursive, newer files only

wget -m URL

Mirror a site (equiv. -r -N -l inf --no-remove-listing)

wget --mirror URL

Mirror a site (same as -m)

wget -r -H -D example.com URL

Cross-host but limit to a domain (-H host, -D domain)

Filter 6

wget -A "*.pdf,*.doc" URL

Download only given types

wget -R "*.tmp,*.log" URL

Reject given types

wget --accept-regex ".*\.pdf$" URL

Accept by regex

wget --reject-regex ".*\.tmp$" URL

Reject by regex

wget -I /dir1,/dir2 URL

Download only given directories

wget -X /dir1,/dir2 URL

Exclude given directories

Auth & Proxy 6

wget --user=username --password=pass URL

HTTP authentication

wget --ftp-user=user --ftp-password=pass URL

FTP authentication

wget -e use_proxy=yes -e http_proxy=URL

Use an HTTP proxy

wget -e use_proxy=yes -e https_proxy=URL

Use an HTTPS proxy

wget --no-check-certificate URL

Skip SSL certificate verification

wget --user-agent="Mozilla/5.0" URL

Custom User-Agent (bypass UA checks)

Common Patterns 8

wget -i urls.txt

Download from a list of URLs

wget -r -l 1 -A "*.jpg,*.png" URL

Download all images on a page

wget -r -l 1 --convert-links URL

Download and rewrite links to local

wget -r -l 1 -k -E -p URL

Download a full page (images, CSS, JS)

wget --limit-rate=100k URL

Limit download speed

wget --timeout=30 --tries=3 URL

Set timeout and retry count

wget --spider URL

Check only, don't download (link test)

wget -w 2 --random-wait -r URL

Polite crawl: 2s wait plus random jitter

Tips

wget supports HTTP, HTTPS and FTP, with resume and recursive download.
Mind the depth (-l) on recursive downloads to avoid pulling too many files.
Use -m to mirror a site; it auto-handles link conversion and timestamps.

Official References

Each command links to its official documentation below, so you can verify the latest usage and read deeper.

Linux man-pages

Maintained by LaoHand

Publicly updated on Jul 21, 2026, continuously proofread against official docs.

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