1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
7 @settitle GNU Wget @value{VERSION} Manual
8 @c Disable the monstrous rectangles beside overfull hbox-es.
10 @c Use `odd' to print double-sided.
15 @c Remove this if you don't use A4 paper.
19 @c Title for man page. The weird way texi2pod.pl is written requires
20 @c the preceding @set.
22 @c man title Wget The non-interactive network downloader.
24 @dircategory Network Applications
26 * Wget: (wget). The non-interactive network downloader.
30 This file documents the the GNU Wget utility for downloading network
33 @c man begin COPYRIGHT
34 Copyright @copyright{} 1996--2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
36 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
37 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
38 are preserved on all copies.
41 Permission is granted to process this file through TeX and print the
42 results, provided the printed document carries a copying permission
43 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
44 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
46 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
47 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
48 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
49 Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'' and ``GNU Free
50 Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
51 Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
52 entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
57 @title GNU Wget @value{VERSION}
58 @subtitle The non-interactive download utility
59 @subtitle Updated for Wget @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
60 @author by Hrvoje Nik@v{s}i@'{c} and the developers
64 Originally written by Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@xemacs.org>.
67 GNU Info entry for @file{wget}.
72 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
73 Copyright @copyright{} 1996--2005, Free Software Foundation, Inc.
75 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
76 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
77 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
78 Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'' and ``GNU Free
79 Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
80 Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
81 entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
86 @top Wget @value{VERSION}
88 This manual documents version @value{VERSION} of GNU Wget, the freely
89 available utility for network downloads.
91 Copyright @copyright{} 1996--2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
94 * Overview:: Features of Wget.
95 * Invoking:: Wget command-line arguments.
96 * Recursive Download:: Downloading interlinked pages.
97 * Following Links:: The available methods of chasing links.
98 * Time-Stamping:: Mirroring according to time-stamps.
99 * Startup File:: Wget's initialization file.
100 * Examples:: Examples of usage.
101 * Various:: The stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else.
102 * Appendices:: Some useful references.
103 * Copying:: You may give out copies of Wget and of this manual.
104 * Concept Index:: Topics covered by this manual.
113 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
114 GNU Wget is a free utility for non-interactive download of files from
115 the Web. It supports @sc{http}, @sc{https}, and @sc{ftp} protocols, as
116 well as retrieval through @sc{http} proxies.
119 This chapter is a partial overview of Wget's features.
123 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
124 Wget is non-interactive, meaning that it can work in the background,
125 while the user is not logged on. This allows you to start a retrieval
126 and disconnect from the system, letting Wget finish the work. By
127 contrast, most of the Web browsers require constant user's presence,
128 which can be a great hindrance when transferring a lot of data.
134 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
138 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
139 Wget can follow links in @sc{html} and @sc{xhtml} pages and create local
140 versions of remote web sites, fully recreating the directory structure of
141 the original site. This is sometimes referred to as ``recursive
142 downloading.'' While doing that, Wget respects the Robot Exclusion
143 Standard (@file{/robots.txt}). Wget can be instructed to convert the
144 links in downloaded @sc{html} files to the local files for offline
150 File name wildcard matching and recursive mirroring of directories are
151 available when retrieving via @sc{ftp}. Wget can read the time-stamp
152 information given by both @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} servers, and store it
153 locally. Thus Wget can see if the remote file has changed since last
154 retrieval, and automatically retrieve the new version if it has. This
155 makes Wget suitable for mirroring of @sc{ftp} sites, as well as home
161 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
165 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
166 Wget has been designed for robustness over slow or unstable network
167 connections; if a download fails due to a network problem, it will
168 keep retrying until the whole file has been retrieved. If the server
169 supports regetting, it will instruct the server to continue the
170 download from where it left off.
175 Wget supports proxy servers, which can lighten the network load, speed
176 up retrieval and provide access behind firewalls. However, if you are
177 behind a firewall that requires that you use a socks style gateway,
178 you can get the socks library and build Wget with support for socks.
179 Wget uses the passive @sc{ftp} downloading by default, active @sc{ftp}
184 Wget supports IP version 6, the next generation of IP. IPv6 is
185 autodetected at compile-time, and can be disabled at either build or
186 run time. Binaries built with IPv6 support work well in both
187 IPv4-only and dual family environments.
191 Built-in features offer mechanisms to tune which links you wish to follow
192 (@pxref{Following Links}).
196 The progress of individual downloads is traced using a progress gauge.
197 Interactive downloads are tracked using a ``thermometer''-style gauge,
198 whereas non-interactive ones are traced with dots, each dot
199 representing a fixed amount of data received (1KB by default). Either
200 gauge can be customized to your preferences.
204 Most of the features are fully configurable, either through command line
205 options, or via the initialization file @file{.wgetrc} (@pxref{Startup
206 File}). Wget allows you to define @dfn{global} startup files
207 (@file{/usr/local/etc/wgetrc} by default) for site settings.
212 @item /usr/local/etc/wgetrc
213 Default location of the @dfn{global} startup file.
223 Finally, GNU Wget is free software. This means that everyone may use
224 it, redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
225 Public License, as published by the Free Software Foundation
236 By default, Wget is very simple to invoke. The basic syntax is:
239 @c man begin SYNOPSIS
240 wget [@var{option}]@dots{} [@var{URL}]@dots{}
244 Wget will simply download all the @sc{url}s specified on the command
245 line. @var{URL} is a @dfn{Uniform Resource Locator}, as defined below.
247 However, you may wish to change some of the default parameters of
248 Wget. You can do it two ways: permanently, adding the appropriate
249 command to @file{.wgetrc} (@pxref{Startup File}), or specifying it on
255 * Basic Startup Options::
256 * Logging and Input File Options::
258 * Directory Options::
260 * HTTPS (SSL/TLS) Options::
262 * Recursive Retrieval Options::
263 * Recursive Accept/Reject Options::
271 @dfn{URL} is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. A uniform
272 resource locator is a compact string representation for a resource
273 available via the Internet. Wget recognizes the @sc{url} syntax as per
274 @sc{rfc1738}. This is the most widely used form (square brackets denote
278 http://host[:port]/directory/file
279 ftp://host[:port]/directory/file
282 You can also encode your username and password within a @sc{url}:
285 ftp://user:password@@host/path
286 http://user:password@@host/path
289 Either @var{user} or @var{password}, or both, may be left out. If you
290 leave out either the @sc{http} username or password, no authentication
291 will be sent. If you leave out the @sc{ftp} username, @samp{anonymous}
292 will be used. If you leave out the @sc{ftp} password, your email
293 address will be supplied as a default password.@footnote{If you have a
294 @file{.netrc} file in your home directory, password will also be
297 @strong{Important Note}: if you specify a password-containing @sc{url}
298 on the command line, the username and password will be plainly visible
299 to all users on the system, by way of @code{ps}. On multi-user systems,
300 this is a big security risk. To work around it, use @code{wget -i -}
301 and feed the @sc{url}s to Wget's standard input, each on a separate
302 line, terminated by @kbd{C-d}.
304 You can encode unsafe characters in a @sc{url} as @samp{%xy}, @code{xy}
305 being the hexadecimal representation of the character's @sc{ascii}
306 value. Some common unsafe characters include @samp{%} (quoted as
307 @samp{%25}), @samp{:} (quoted as @samp{%3A}), and @samp{@@} (quoted as
308 @samp{%40}). Refer to @sc{rfc1738} for a comprehensive list of unsafe
311 Wget also supports the @code{type} feature for @sc{ftp} @sc{url}s. By
312 default, @sc{ftp} documents are retrieved in the binary mode (type
313 @samp{i}), which means that they are downloaded unchanged. Another
314 useful mode is the @samp{a} (@dfn{ASCII}) mode, which converts the line
315 delimiters between the different operating systems, and is thus useful
316 for text files. Here is an example:
319 ftp://host/directory/file;type=a
322 Two alternative variants of @sc{url} specification are also supported,
323 because of historical (hysterical?) reasons and their widespreaded use.
325 @sc{ftp}-only syntax (supported by @code{NcFTP}):
330 @sc{http}-only syntax (introduced by @code{Netscape}):
335 These two alternative forms are deprecated, and may cease being
336 supported in the future.
338 If you do not understand the difference between these notations, or do
339 not know which one to use, just use the plain ordinary format you use
340 with your favorite browser, like @code{Lynx} or @code{Netscape}.
345 @section Option Syntax
346 @cindex option syntax
347 @cindex syntax of options
349 Since Wget uses GNU getopt to process command-line arguments, every
350 option has a long form along with the short one. Long options are
351 more convenient to remember, but take time to type. You may freely
352 mix different option styles, or specify options after the command-line
353 arguments. Thus you may write:
356 wget -r --tries=10 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/ -o log
359 The space between the option accepting an argument and the argument may
360 be omitted. Instead @samp{-o log} you can write @samp{-olog}.
362 You may put several options that do not require arguments together,
369 This is a complete equivalent of:
372 wget -d -r -c @var{URL}
375 Since the options can be specified after the arguments, you may
376 terminate them with @samp{--}. So the following will try to download
377 @sc{url} @samp{-x}, reporting failure to @file{log}:
383 The options that accept comma-separated lists all respect the convention
384 that specifying an empty list clears its value. This can be useful to
385 clear the @file{.wgetrc} settings. For instance, if your @file{.wgetrc}
386 sets @code{exclude_directories} to @file{/cgi-bin}, the following
387 example will first reset it, and then set it to exclude @file{/~nobody}
388 and @file{/~somebody}. You can also clear the lists in @file{.wgetrc}
389 (@pxref{Wgetrc Syntax}).
392 wget -X '' -X /~nobody,/~somebody
395 Most options that do not accept arguments are @dfn{boolean} options,
396 so named because their state can be captured with a yes-or-no
397 (``boolean'') variable. For example, @samp{--follow-ftp} tells Wget
398 to follow FTP links from HTML files and, on the other hand,
399 @samp{--no-glob} tells it not to perform file globbing on FTP URLs. A
400 boolean option is either @dfn{affirmative} or @dfn{negative}
401 (beginning with @samp{--no}). All such options share several
404 Unless stated otherwise, it is assumed that the default behavior is
405 the opposite of what the option accomplishes. For example, the
406 documented existence of @samp{--follow-ftp} assumes that the default
407 is to @emph{not} follow FTP links from HTML pages.
409 Affirmative options can be negated by prepending the @samp{--no-} to
410 the option name; negative options can be negated by omitting the
411 @samp{--no-} prefix. This might seem superfluous---if the default for
412 an affirmative option is to not do something, then why provide a way
413 to explicitly turn it off? But the startup file may in fact change
414 the default. For instance, using @code{follow_ftp = off} in
415 @file{.wgetrc} makes Wget @emph{not} follow FTP links by default, and
416 using @samp{--no-follow-ftp} is the only way to restore the factory
417 default from the command line.
419 @node Basic Startup Options
420 @section Basic Startup Options
425 Display the version of Wget.
429 Print a help message describing all of Wget's command-line options.
433 Go to background immediately after startup. If no output file is
434 specified via the @samp{-o}, output is redirected to @file{wget-log}.
436 @cindex execute wgetrc command
437 @item -e @var{command}
438 @itemx --execute @var{command}
439 Execute @var{command} as if it were a part of @file{.wgetrc}
440 (@pxref{Startup File}). A command thus invoked will be executed
441 @emph{after} the commands in @file{.wgetrc}, thus taking precedence over
442 them. If you need to specify more than one wgetrc command, use multiple
443 instances of @samp{-e}.
447 @node Logging and Input File Options
448 @section Logging and Input File Options
453 @item -o @var{logfile}
454 @itemx --output-file=@var{logfile}
455 Log all messages to @var{logfile}. The messages are normally reported
458 @cindex append to log
459 @item -a @var{logfile}
460 @itemx --append-output=@var{logfile}
461 Append to @var{logfile}. This is the same as @samp{-o}, only it appends
462 to @var{logfile} instead of overwriting the old log file. If
463 @var{logfile} does not exist, a new file is created.
468 Turn on debug output, meaning various information important to the
469 developers of Wget if it does not work properly. Your system
470 administrator may have chosen to compile Wget without debug support, in
471 which case @samp{-d} will not work. Please note that compiling with
472 debug support is always safe---Wget compiled with the debug support will
473 @emph{not} print any debug info unless requested with @samp{-d}.
474 @xref{Reporting Bugs}, for more information on how to use @samp{-d} for
480 Turn off Wget's output.
485 Turn on verbose output, with all the available data. The default output
490 Non-verbose output---turn off verbose without being completely quiet
491 (use @samp{-q} for that), which means that error messages and basic
492 information still get printed.
496 @itemx --input-file=@var{file}
497 Read @sc{url}s from @var{file}. If @samp{-} is specified as
498 @var{file}, @sc{url}s are read from the standard input. (Use
499 @samp{./-} to read from a file literally named @samp{-}.)
501 If this function is used, no @sc{url}s need be present on the command
502 line. If there are @sc{url}s both on the command line and in an input
503 file, those on the command lines will be the first ones to be
504 retrieved. The @var{file} need not be an @sc{html} document (but no
505 harm if it is)---it is enough if the @sc{url}s are just listed
508 However, if you specify @samp{--force-html}, the document will be
509 regarded as @samp{html}. In that case you may have problems with
510 relative links, which you can solve either by adding @code{<base
511 href="@var{url}">} to the documents or by specifying
512 @samp{--base=@var{url}} on the command line.
517 When input is read from a file, force it to be treated as an @sc{html}
518 file. This enables you to retrieve relative links from existing
519 @sc{html} files on your local disk, by adding @code{<base
520 href="@var{url}">} to @sc{html}, or using the @samp{--base} command-line
523 @cindex base for relative links in input file
525 @itemx --base=@var{URL}
526 When used in conjunction with @samp{-F}, prepends @var{URL} to relative
527 links in the file specified by @samp{-i}.
530 @node Download Options
531 @section Download Options
535 @cindex client IP address
536 @cindex IP address, client
537 @item --bind-address=@var{ADDRESS}
538 When making client TCP/IP connections, bind to @var{ADDRESS} on
539 the local machine. @var{ADDRESS} may be specified as a hostname or IP
540 address. This option can be useful if your machine is bound to multiple
545 @cindex number of retries
546 @item -t @var{number}
547 @itemx --tries=@var{number}
548 Set number of retries to @var{number}. Specify 0 or @samp{inf} for
549 infinite retrying. The default is to retry 20 times, with the exception
550 of fatal errors like ``connection refused'' or ``not found'' (404),
551 which are not retried.
554 @itemx --output-document=@var{file}
555 The documents will not be written to the appropriate files, but all
556 will be concatenated together and written to @var{file}. If @samp{-}
557 is used as @var{file}, documents will be printed to standard output,
558 disabling link conversion. (Use @samp{./-} to print to a file
559 literally named @samp{-}.)
561 Note that a combination with @samp{-k} is only well-defined for
562 downloading a single document.
564 @cindex clobbering, file
565 @cindex downloading multiple times
569 If a file is downloaded more than once in the same directory, Wget's
570 behavior depends on a few options, including @samp{-nc}. In certain
571 cases, the local file will be @dfn{clobbered}, or overwritten, upon
572 repeated download. In other cases it will be preserved.
574 When running Wget without @samp{-N}, @samp{-nc}, or @samp{-r},
575 downloading the same file in the same directory will result in the
576 original copy of @var{file} being preserved and the second copy being
577 named @samp{@var{file}.1}. If that file is downloaded yet again, the
578 third copy will be named @samp{@var{file}.2}, and so on. When
579 @samp{-nc} is specified, this behavior is suppressed, and Wget will
580 refuse to download newer copies of @samp{@var{file}}. Therefore,
581 ``@code{no-clobber}'' is actually a misnomer in this mode---it's not
582 clobbering that's prevented (as the numeric suffixes were already
583 preventing clobbering), but rather the multiple version saving that's
586 When running Wget with @samp{-r}, but without @samp{-N} or @samp{-nc},
587 re-downloading a file will result in the new copy simply overwriting the
588 old. Adding @samp{-nc} will prevent this behavior, instead causing the
589 original version to be preserved and any newer copies on the server to
592 When running Wget with @samp{-N}, with or without @samp{-r}, the
593 decision as to whether or not to download a newer copy of a file depends
594 on the local and remote timestamp and size of the file
595 (@pxref{Time-Stamping}). @samp{-nc} may not be specified at the same
598 Note that when @samp{-nc} is specified, files with the suffixes
599 @samp{.html} or @samp{.htm} will be loaded from the local disk and
600 parsed as if they had been retrieved from the Web.
602 @cindex continue retrieval
603 @cindex incomplete downloads
604 @cindex resume download
607 Continue getting a partially-downloaded file. This is useful when you
608 want to finish up a download started by a previous instance of Wget, or
609 by another program. For instance:
612 wget -c ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/ls-lR.Z
615 If there is a file named @file{ls-lR.Z} in the current directory, Wget
616 will assume that it is the first portion of the remote file, and will
617 ask the server to continue the retrieval from an offset equal to the
618 length of the local file.
620 Note that you don't need to specify this option if you just want the
621 current invocation of Wget to retry downloading a file should the
622 connection be lost midway through. This is the default behavior.
623 @samp{-c} only affects resumption of downloads started @emph{prior} to
624 this invocation of Wget, and whose local files are still sitting around.
626 Without @samp{-c}, the previous example would just download the remote
627 file to @file{ls-lR.Z.1}, leaving the truncated @file{ls-lR.Z} file
630 Beginning with Wget 1.7, if you use @samp{-c} on a non-empty file, and
631 it turns out that the server does not support continued downloading,
632 Wget will refuse to start the download from scratch, which would
633 effectively ruin existing contents. If you really want the download to
634 start from scratch, remove the file.
636 Also beginning with Wget 1.7, if you use @samp{-c} on a file which is of
637 equal size as the one on the server, Wget will refuse to download the
638 file and print an explanatory message. The same happens when the file
639 is smaller on the server than locally (presumably because it was changed
640 on the server since your last download attempt)---because ``continuing''
641 is not meaningful, no download occurs.
643 On the other side of the coin, while using @samp{-c}, any file that's
644 bigger on the server than locally will be considered an incomplete
645 download and only @code{(length(remote) - length(local))} bytes will be
646 downloaded and tacked onto the end of the local file. This behavior can
647 be desirable in certain cases---for instance, you can use @samp{wget -c}
648 to download just the new portion that's been appended to a data
649 collection or log file.
651 However, if the file is bigger on the server because it's been
652 @emph{changed}, as opposed to just @emph{appended} to, you'll end up
653 with a garbled file. Wget has no way of verifying that the local file
654 is really a valid prefix of the remote file. You need to be especially
655 careful of this when using @samp{-c} in conjunction with @samp{-r},
656 since every file will be considered as an "incomplete download" candidate.
658 Another instance where you'll get a garbled file if you try to use
659 @samp{-c} is if you have a lame @sc{http} proxy that inserts a
660 ``transfer interrupted'' string into the local file. In the future a
661 ``rollback'' option may be added to deal with this case.
663 Note that @samp{-c} only works with @sc{ftp} servers and with @sc{http}
664 servers that support the @code{Range} header.
666 @cindex progress indicator
668 @item --progress=@var{type}
669 Select the type of the progress indicator you wish to use. Legal
670 indicators are ``dot'' and ``bar''.
672 The ``bar'' indicator is used by default. It draws an @sc{ascii} progress
673 bar graphics (a.k.a ``thermometer'' display) indicating the status of
674 retrieval. If the output is not a TTY, the ``dot'' bar will be used by
677 Use @samp{--progress=dot} to switch to the ``dot'' display. It traces
678 the retrieval by printing dots on the screen, each dot representing a
679 fixed amount of downloaded data.
681 When using the dotted retrieval, you may also set the @dfn{style} by
682 specifying the type as @samp{dot:@var{style}}. Different styles assign
683 different meaning to one dot. With the @code{default} style each dot
684 represents 1K, there are ten dots in a cluster and 50 dots in a line.
685 The @code{binary} style has a more ``computer''-like orientation---8K
686 dots, 16-dots clusters and 48 dots per line (which makes for 384K
687 lines). The @code{mega} style is suitable for downloading very large
688 files---each dot represents 64K retrieved, there are eight dots in a
689 cluster, and 48 dots on each line (so each line contains 3M).
691 Note that you can set the default style using the @code{progress}
692 command in @file{.wgetrc}. That setting may be overridden from the
693 command line. The exception is that, when the output is not a TTY, the
694 ``dot'' progress will be favored over ``bar''. To force the bar output,
695 use @samp{--progress=bar:force}.
698 @itemx --timestamping
699 Turn on time-stamping. @xref{Time-Stamping}, for details.
701 @cindex server response, print
703 @itemx --server-response
704 Print the headers sent by @sc{http} servers and responses sent by
707 @cindex Wget as spider
710 When invoked with this option, Wget will behave as a Web @dfn{spider},
711 which means that it will not download the pages, just check that they
712 are there. For example, you can use Wget to check your bookmarks:
715 wget --spider --force-html -i bookmarks.html
718 This feature needs much more work for Wget to get close to the
719 functionality of real web spiders.
723 @itemx --timeout=@var{seconds}
724 Set the network timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. This is equivalent
725 to specifying @samp{--dns-timeout}, @samp{--connect-timeout}, and
726 @samp{--read-timeout}, all at the same time.
728 When interacting with the network, Wget can check for timeout and
729 abort the operation if it takes too long. This prevents anomalies
730 like hanging reads and infinite connects. The only timeout enabled by
731 default is a 900-second read timeout. Setting a timeout to 0 disables
732 it altogether. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best not to
733 change the default timeout settings.
735 All timeout-related options accept decimal values, as well as
736 subsecond values. For example, @samp{0.1} seconds is a legal (though
737 unwise) choice of timeout. Subsecond timeouts are useful for checking
738 server response times or for testing network latency.
742 @item --dns-timeout=@var{seconds}
743 Set the DNS lookup timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. DNS lookups that
744 don't complete within the specified time will fail. By default, there
745 is no timeout on DNS lookups, other than that implemented by system
748 @cindex connect timeout
749 @cindex timeout, connect
750 @item --connect-timeout=@var{seconds}
751 Set the connect timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. TCP connections that
752 take longer to establish will be aborted. By default, there is no
753 connect timeout, other than that implemented by system libraries.
756 @cindex timeout, read
757 @item --read-timeout=@var{seconds}
758 Set the read (and write) timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. The
759 ``time'' of this timeout refers @dfn{idle time}: if, at any point in
760 the download, no data is received for more than the specified number
761 of seconds, reading fails and the download is restarted. This option
762 does not directly affect the duration of the entire download.
764 Of course, the remote server may choose to terminate the connection
765 sooner than this option requires. The default read timeout is 900
768 @cindex bandwidth, limit
770 @cindex limit bandwidth
771 @item --limit-rate=@var{amount}
772 Limit the download speed to @var{amount} bytes per second. Amount may
773 be expressed in bytes, kilobytes with the @samp{k} suffix, or megabytes
774 with the @samp{m} suffix. For example, @samp{--limit-rate=20k} will
775 limit the retrieval rate to 20KB/s. This is useful when, for whatever
776 reason, you don't want Wget to consume the entire available bandwidth.
778 This option allows the use of decimal numbers, usually in conjunction
779 with power suffixes; for example, @samp{--limit-rate=2.5k} is a legal
782 Note that Wget implements the limiting by sleeping the appropriate
783 amount of time after a network read that took less time than specified
784 by the rate. Eventually this strategy causes the TCP transfer to slow
785 down to approximately the specified rate. However, it may take some
786 time for this balance to be achieved, so don't be surprised if limiting
787 the rate doesn't work well with very small files.
791 @item -w @var{seconds}
792 @itemx --wait=@var{seconds}
793 Wait the specified number of seconds between the retrievals. Use of
794 this option is recommended, as it lightens the server load by making the
795 requests less frequent. Instead of in seconds, the time can be
796 specified in minutes using the @code{m} suffix, in hours using @code{h}
797 suffix, or in days using @code{d} suffix.
799 Specifying a large value for this option is useful if the network or the
800 destination host is down, so that Wget can wait long enough to
801 reasonably expect the network error to be fixed before the retry.
803 @cindex retries, waiting between
804 @cindex waiting between retries
805 @item --waitretry=@var{seconds}
806 If you don't want Wget to wait between @emph{every} retrieval, but only
807 between retries of failed downloads, you can use this option. Wget will
808 use @dfn{linear backoff}, waiting 1 second after the first failure on a
809 given file, then waiting 2 seconds after the second failure on that
810 file, up to the maximum number of @var{seconds} you specify. Therefore,
811 a value of 10 will actually make Wget wait up to (1 + 2 + ... + 10) = 55
814 Note that this option is turned on by default in the global
820 Some web sites may perform log analysis to identify retrieval programs
821 such as Wget by looking for statistically significant similarities in
822 the time between requests. This option causes the time between requests
823 to vary between 0 and 2 * @var{wait} seconds, where @var{wait} was
824 specified using the @samp{--wait} option, in order to mask Wget's
825 presence from such analysis.
827 A recent article in a publication devoted to development on a popular
828 consumer platform provided code to perform this analysis on the fly.
829 Its author suggested blocking at the class C address level to ensure
830 automated retrieval programs were blocked despite changing DHCP-supplied
833 The @samp{--random-wait} option was inspired by this ill-advised
834 recommendation to block many unrelated users from a web site due to the
841 Turn proxy support on or off. The proxy is on by default if the
842 appropriate environment variable is defined.
844 For more information about the use of proxies with Wget, @xref{Proxies}.
848 @itemx --quota=@var{quota}
849 Specify download quota for automatic retrievals. The value can be
850 specified in bytes (default), kilobytes (with @samp{k} suffix), or
851 megabytes (with @samp{m} suffix).
853 Note that quota will never affect downloading a single file. So if you
854 specify @samp{wget -Q10k ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/ls-lR.gz}, all of the
855 @file{ls-lR.gz} will be downloaded. The same goes even when several
856 @sc{url}s are specified on the command-line. However, quota is
857 respected when retrieving either recursively, or from an input file.
858 Thus you may safely type @samp{wget -Q2m -i sites}---download will be
859 aborted when the quota is exceeded.
861 Setting quota to 0 or to @samp{inf} unlimits the download quota.
864 @cindex caching of DNS lookups
866 Turn off caching of DNS lookups. Normally, Wget remembers the IP
867 addresses it looked up from DNS so it doesn't have to repeatedly
868 contact the DNS server for the same (typically small) set of hosts it
869 retrieves from. This cache exists in memory only; a new Wget run will
872 However, it has been reported that in some situations it is not
873 desirable to cache host names, even for the duration of a
874 short-running application like Wget. With this option Wget issues a
875 new DNS lookup (more precisely, a new call to @code{gethostbyname} or
876 @code{getaddrinfo}) each time it makes a new connection. Please note
877 that this option will @emph{not} affect caching that might be
878 performed by the resolving library or by an external caching layer,
881 If you don't understand exactly what this option does, you probably
884 @cindex file names, restrict
885 @cindex Windows file names
886 @item --restrict-file-names=@var{mode}
887 Change which characters found in remote URLs may show up in local file
888 names generated from those URLs. Characters that are @dfn{restricted}
889 by this option are escaped, i.e. replaced with @samp{%HH}, where
890 @samp{HH} is the hexadecimal number that corresponds to the restricted
893 By default, Wget escapes the characters that are not valid as part of
894 file names on your operating system, as well as control characters that
895 are typically unprintable. This option is useful for changing these
896 defaults, either because you are downloading to a non-native partition,
897 or because you want to disable escaping of the control characters.
899 When mode is set to ``unix'', Wget escapes the character @samp{/} and
900 the control characters in the ranges 0--31 and 128--159. This is the
901 default on Unix-like OS'es.
903 When mode is set to ``windows'', Wget escapes the characters @samp{\},
904 @samp{|}, @samp{/}, @samp{:}, @samp{?}, @samp{"}, @samp{*}, @samp{<},
905 @samp{>}, and the control characters in the ranges 0--31 and 128--159.
906 In addition to this, Wget in Windows mode uses @samp{+} instead of
907 @samp{:} to separate host and port in local file names, and uses
908 @samp{@@} instead of @samp{?} to separate the query portion of the file
909 name from the rest. Therefore, a URL that would be saved as
910 @samp{www.xemacs.org:4300/search.pl?input=blah} in Unix mode would be
911 saved as @samp{www.xemacs.org+4300/search.pl@@input=blah} in Windows
912 mode. This mode is the default on Windows.
914 If you append @samp{,nocontrol} to the mode, as in
915 @samp{unix,nocontrol}, escaping of the control characters is also
916 switched off. You can use @samp{--restrict-file-names=nocontrol} to
917 turn off escaping of control characters without affecting the choice of
918 the OS to use as file name restriction mode.
925 Force connecting to IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. With @samp{--inet4-only}
926 or @samp{-4}, Wget will only connect to IPv4 hosts, ignoring AAAA
927 records in DNS, and refusing to connect to IPv6 addresses specified in
928 URLs. Conversely, with @samp{--inet6-only} or @samp{-6}, Wget will
929 only connect to IPv6 hosts and ignore A records and IPv4 addresses.
931 Neither options should be needed normally. By default, an IPv6-aware
932 Wget will use the address family specified by the host's DNS record.
933 If the DNS specifies both an A record and an AAAA record, Wget will
934 try them in sequence until it finds one it can connect to.
936 These options can be used to deliberately force the use of IPv4 or
937 IPv6 address families on dual family systems, usually to aid debugging
938 or to deal with broken network configuration. Only one of
939 @samp{--inet6-only} and @samp{--inet4-only} may be specified in the
940 same command. Neither option is available in Wget compiled without
943 @item --prefer-family=IPv4/IPv6/none
944 When given a choice of several addresses, connect to the addresses
945 with specified address family first. IPv4 addresses are preferred by
948 This avoids spurious errors and connect attempts when accessing hosts
949 that resolve to both IPv6 and IPv4 addresses from IPv4 networks. For
950 example, @samp{www.kame.net} resolves to
951 @samp{2001:200:0:8002:203:47ff:fea5:3085} and to
952 @samp{203.178.141.194}. When the preferred family is @code{IPv4}, the
953 IPv4 address is used first; when the preferred family is @code{IPv6},
954 the IPv6 address is used first; if the specified value is @code{none},
955 the address order returned by DNS is used without change.
957 Unlike @samp{-4} and @samp{-6}, this option doesn't inhibit access to
958 any address family, it only changes the @emph{order} in which the
959 addresses are accessed. Also note that the reordering performed by
960 this option is @dfn{stable}---it doesn't affect order of addresses of
961 the same family. That is, the relative order of all IPv4 addresses
962 and of all IPv6 addresses remains intact in all cases.
964 @item --retry-connrefused
965 Consider ``connection refused'' a transient error and try again.
966 Normally Wget gives up on a URL when it is unable to connect to the
967 site because failure to connect is taken as a sign that the server is
968 not running at all and that retries would not help. This option is
969 for mirroring unreliable sites whose servers tend to disappear for
970 short periods of time.
974 @cindex authentication
975 @item --user=@var{user}
976 @itemx --password=@var{password}
977 Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} for both
978 @sc{ftp} and @sc{http} file retrieval. These parameters can be overridden
979 using the @samp{--ftp-user} and @samp{--ftp-password} options for
980 @sc{ftp} connections and the @samp{--http-user} and @samp{--http-password}
981 options for @sc{http} connections.
984 @node Directory Options
985 @section Directory Options
989 @itemx --no-directories
990 Do not create a hierarchy of directories when retrieving recursively.
991 With this option turned on, all files will get saved to the current
992 directory, without clobbering (if a name shows up more than once, the
993 filenames will get extensions @samp{.n}).
996 @itemx --force-directories
997 The opposite of @samp{-nd}---create a hierarchy of directories, even if
998 one would not have been created otherwise. E.g. @samp{wget -x
999 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/robots.txt} will save the downloaded file to
1000 @file{fly.srk.fer.hr/robots.txt}.
1003 @itemx --no-host-directories
1004 Disable generation of host-prefixed directories. By default, invoking
1005 Wget with @samp{-r http://fly.srk.fer.hr/} will create a structure of
1006 directories beginning with @file{fly.srk.fer.hr/}. This option disables
1009 @item --protocol-directories
1010 Use the protocol name as a directory component of local file names. For
1011 example, with this option, @samp{wget -r http://@var{host}} will save to
1012 @samp{http/@var{host}/...} rather than just to @samp{@var{host}/...}.
1014 @cindex cut directories
1015 @item --cut-dirs=@var{number}
1016 Ignore @var{number} directory components. This is useful for getting a
1017 fine-grained control over the directory where recursive retrieval will
1020 Take, for example, the directory at
1021 @samp{ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/}. If you retrieve it with
1022 @samp{-r}, it will be saved locally under
1023 @file{ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/}. While the @samp{-nH} option can
1024 remove the @file{ftp.xemacs.org/} part, you are still stuck with
1025 @file{pub/xemacs}. This is where @samp{--cut-dirs} comes in handy; it
1026 makes Wget not ``see'' @var{number} remote directory components. Here
1027 are several examples of how @samp{--cut-dirs} option works.
1031 No options -> ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/
1033 -nH --cut-dirs=1 -> xemacs/
1034 -nH --cut-dirs=2 -> .
1036 --cut-dirs=1 -> ftp.xemacs.org/xemacs/
1041 If you just want to get rid of the directory structure, this option is
1042 similar to a combination of @samp{-nd} and @samp{-P}. However, unlike
1043 @samp{-nd}, @samp{--cut-dirs} does not lose with subdirectories---for
1044 instance, with @samp{-nH --cut-dirs=1}, a @file{beta/} subdirectory will
1045 be placed to @file{xemacs/beta}, as one would expect.
1047 @cindex directory prefix
1048 @item -P @var{prefix}
1049 @itemx --directory-prefix=@var{prefix}
1050 Set directory prefix to @var{prefix}. The @dfn{directory prefix} is the
1051 directory where all other files and subdirectories will be saved to,
1052 i.e. the top of the retrieval tree. The default is @samp{.} (the
1057 @section HTTP Options
1060 @cindex .html extension
1062 @itemx --html-extension
1063 If a file of type @samp{application/xhtml+xml} or @samp{text/html} is
1064 downloaded and the URL does not end with the regexp
1065 @samp{\.[Hh][Tt][Mm][Ll]?}, this option will cause the suffix @samp{.html}
1066 to be appended to the local filename. This is useful, for instance, when
1067 you're mirroring a remote site that uses @samp{.asp} pages, but you want
1068 the mirrored pages to be viewable on your stock Apache server. Another
1069 good use for this is when you're downloading CGI-generated materials. A URL
1070 like @samp{http://site.com/article.cgi?25} will be saved as
1071 @file{article.cgi?25.html}.
1073 Note that filenames changed in this way will be re-downloaded every time
1074 you re-mirror a site, because Wget can't tell that the local
1075 @file{@var{X}.html} file corresponds to remote URL @samp{@var{X}} (since
1076 it doesn't yet know that the URL produces output of type
1077 @samp{text/html} or @samp{application/xhtml+xml}. To prevent this
1078 re-downloading, you must use @samp{-k} and @samp{-K} so that the original
1079 version of the file will be saved as @file{@var{X}.orig} (@pxref{Recursive
1080 Retrieval Options}).
1083 @cindex http password
1084 @cindex authentication
1085 @item --http-user=@var{user}
1086 @itemx --http-password=@var{password}
1087 Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} on an
1088 @sc{http} server. According to the type of the challenge, Wget will
1089 encode them using either the @code{basic} (insecure) or the
1090 @code{digest} authentication scheme.
1092 Another way to specify username and password is in the @sc{url} itself
1093 (@pxref{URL Format}). Either method reveals your password to anyone who
1094 bothers to run @code{ps}. To prevent the passwords from being seen,
1095 store them in @file{.wgetrc} or @file{.netrc}, and make sure to protect
1096 those files from other users with @code{chmod}. If the passwords are
1097 really important, do not leave them lying in those files either---edit
1098 the files and delete them after Wget has started the download.
1101 For more information about security issues with Wget, @xref{Security
1108 Disable server-side cache. In this case, Wget will send the remote
1109 server an appropriate directive (@samp{Pragma: no-cache}) to get the
1110 file from the remote service, rather than returning the cached version.
1111 This is especially useful for retrieving and flushing out-of-date
1112 documents on proxy servers.
1114 Caching is allowed by default.
1118 Disable the use of cookies. Cookies are a mechanism for maintaining
1119 server-side state. The server sends the client a cookie using the
1120 @code{Set-Cookie} header, and the client responds with the same cookie
1121 upon further requests. Since cookies allow the server owners to keep
1122 track of visitors and for sites to exchange this information, some
1123 consider them a breach of privacy. The default is to use cookies;
1124 however, @emph{storing} cookies is not on by default.
1126 @cindex loading cookies
1127 @cindex cookies, loading
1128 @item --load-cookies @var{file}
1129 Load cookies from @var{file} before the first HTTP retrieval.
1130 @var{file} is a textual file in the format originally used by Netscape's
1131 @file{cookies.txt} file.
1133 You will typically use this option when mirroring sites that require
1134 that you be logged in to access some or all of their content. The login
1135 process typically works by the web server issuing an @sc{http} cookie
1136 upon receiving and verifying your credentials. The cookie is then
1137 resent by the browser when accessing that part of the site, and so
1138 proves your identity.
1140 Mirroring such a site requires Wget to send the same cookies your
1141 browser sends when communicating with the site. This is achieved by
1142 @samp{--load-cookies}---simply point Wget to the location of the
1143 @file{cookies.txt} file, and it will send the same cookies your browser
1144 would send in the same situation. Different browsers keep textual
1145 cookie files in different locations:
1149 The cookies are in @file{~/.netscape/cookies.txt}.
1151 @item Mozilla and Netscape 6.x.
1152 Mozilla's cookie file is also named @file{cookies.txt}, located
1153 somewhere under @file{~/.mozilla}, in the directory of your profile.
1154 The full path usually ends up looking somewhat like
1155 @file{~/.mozilla/default/@var{some-weird-string}/cookies.txt}.
1157 @item Internet Explorer.
1158 You can produce a cookie file Wget can use by using the File menu,
1159 Import and Export, Export Cookies. This has been tested with Internet
1160 Explorer 5; it is not guaranteed to work with earlier versions.
1162 @item Other browsers.
1163 If you are using a different browser to create your cookies,
1164 @samp{--load-cookies} will only work if you can locate or produce a
1165 cookie file in the Netscape format that Wget expects.
1168 If you cannot use @samp{--load-cookies}, there might still be an
1169 alternative. If your browser supports a ``cookie manager'', you can use
1170 it to view the cookies used when accessing the site you're mirroring.
1171 Write down the name and value of the cookie, and manually instruct Wget
1172 to send those cookies, bypassing the ``official'' cookie support:
1175 wget --no-cookies --header "Cookie: @var{name}=@var{value}"
1178 @cindex saving cookies
1179 @cindex cookies, saving
1180 @item --save-cookies @var{file}
1181 Save cookies to @var{file} before exiting. This will not save cookies
1182 that have expired or that have no expiry time (so-called ``session
1183 cookies''), but also see @samp{--keep-session-cookies}.
1185 @cindex cookies, session
1186 @cindex session cookies
1187 @item --keep-session-cookies
1188 When specified, causes @samp{--save-cookies} to also save session
1189 cookies. Session cookies are normally not saved because they are
1190 meant to be kept in memory and forgotten when you exit the browser.
1191 Saving them is useful on sites that require you to log in or to visit
1192 the home page before you can access some pages. With this option,
1193 multiple Wget runs are considered a single browser session as far as
1194 the site is concerned.
1196 Since the cookie file format does not normally carry session cookies,
1197 Wget marks them with an expiry timestamp of 0. Wget's
1198 @samp{--load-cookies} recognizes those as session cookies, but it might
1199 confuse other browsers. Also note that cookies so loaded will be
1200 treated as other session cookies, which means that if you want
1201 @samp{--save-cookies} to preserve them again, you must use
1202 @samp{--keep-session-cookies} again.
1204 @cindex Content-Length, ignore
1205 @cindex ignore length
1206 @item --ignore-length
1207 Unfortunately, some @sc{http} servers (@sc{cgi} programs, to be more
1208 precise) send out bogus @code{Content-Length} headers, which makes Wget
1209 go wild, as it thinks not all the document was retrieved. You can spot
1210 this syndrome if Wget retries getting the same document again and again,
1211 each time claiming that the (otherwise normal) connection has closed on
1214 With this option, Wget will ignore the @code{Content-Length} header---as
1215 if it never existed.
1218 @item --header=@var{header-line}
1219 Send @var{header-line} along with the rest of the headers in each
1220 @sc{http} request. The supplied header is sent as-is, which means it
1221 must contain name and value separated by colon, and must not contain
1224 You may define more than one additional header by specifying
1225 @samp{--header} more than once.
1229 wget --header='Accept-Charset: iso-8859-2' \
1230 --header='Accept-Language: hr' \
1231 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/
1235 Specification of an empty string as the header value will clear all
1236 previous user-defined headers.
1238 As of Wget 1.10, this option can be used to override headers otherwise
1239 generated automatically. This example instructs Wget to connect to
1240 localhost, but to specify @samp{foo.bar} in the @code{Host} header:
1243 wget --header="Host: foo.bar" http://localhost/
1246 In versions of Wget prior to 1.10 such use of @samp{--header} caused
1247 sending of duplicate headers.
1250 @cindex proxy password
1251 @cindex proxy authentication
1252 @item --proxy-user=@var{user}
1253 @itemx --proxy-password=@var{password}
1254 Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} for
1255 authentication on a proxy server. Wget will encode them using the
1256 @code{basic} authentication scheme.
1258 Security considerations similar to those with @samp{--http-password}
1259 pertain here as well.
1261 @cindex http referer
1262 @cindex referer, http
1263 @item --referer=@var{url}
1264 Include `Referer: @var{url}' header in HTTP request. Useful for
1265 retrieving documents with server-side processing that assume they are
1266 always being retrieved by interactive web browsers and only come out
1267 properly when Referer is set to one of the pages that point to them.
1269 @cindex server response, save
1270 @item --save-headers
1271 Save the headers sent by the @sc{http} server to the file, preceding the
1272 actual contents, with an empty line as the separator.
1275 @item -U @var{agent-string}
1276 @itemx --user-agent=@var{agent-string}
1277 Identify as @var{agent-string} to the @sc{http} server.
1279 The @sc{http} protocol allows the clients to identify themselves using a
1280 @code{User-Agent} header field. This enables distinguishing the
1281 @sc{www} software, usually for statistical purposes or for tracing of
1282 protocol violations. Wget normally identifies as
1283 @samp{Wget/@var{version}}, @var{version} being the current version
1286 However, some sites have been known to impose the policy of tailoring
1287 the output according to the @code{User-Agent}-supplied information.
1288 While conceptually this is not such a bad idea, it has been abused by
1289 servers denying information to clients other than @code{Mozilla} or
1290 Microsoft @code{Internet Explorer}. This option allows you to change
1291 the @code{User-Agent} line issued by Wget. Use of this option is
1292 discouraged, unless you really know what you are doing.
1295 @item --post-data=@var{string}
1296 @itemx --post-file=@var{file}
1297 Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send the specified data
1298 in the request body. @code{--post-data} sends @var{string} as data,
1299 whereas @code{--post-file} sends the contents of @var{file}. Other than
1300 that, they work in exactly the same way.
1302 Please be aware that Wget needs to know the size of the POST data in
1303 advance. Therefore the argument to @code{--post-file} must be a regular
1304 file; specifying a FIFO or something like @file{/dev/stdin} won't work.
1305 It's not quite clear how to work around this limitation inherent in
1306 HTTP/1.0. Although HTTP/1.1 introduces @dfn{chunked} transfer that
1307 doesn't require knowing the request length in advance, a client can't
1308 use chunked unless it knows it's talking to an HTTP/1.1 server. And it
1309 can't know that until it receives a response, which in turn requires the
1310 request to have been completed -- a chicken-and-egg problem.
1312 Note: if Wget is redirected after the POST request is completed, it will
1313 not send the POST data to the redirected URL. This is because URLs that
1314 process POST often respond with a redirection to a regular page
1315 (although that's technically disallowed), which does not desire or
1316 accept POST. It is not yet clear that this behavior is optimal; if it
1317 doesn't work out, it will be changed.
1319 This example shows how to log to a server using POST and then proceed to
1320 download the desired pages, presumably only accessible to authorized
1325 # @r{Log in to the server. This can be done only once.}
1326 wget --save-cookies cookies.txt \
1327 --post-data 'user=foo&password=bar' \
1328 http://server.com/auth.php
1330 # @r{Now grab the page or pages we care about.}
1331 wget --load-cookies cookies.txt \
1332 -p http://server.com/interesting/article.php
1336 If the server is using session cookies to track user authentication,
1337 the above will not work because @samp{--save-cookies} will not save
1338 them (and neither will browsers) and the @file{cookies.txt} file will
1339 be empty. In that case use @samp{--keep-session-cookies} along with
1340 @samp{--save-cookies} to force saving of session cookies.
1343 @node HTTPS (SSL/TLS) Options
1344 @section HTTPS (SSL/TLS) Options
1347 To support encrypted HTTP (HTTPS) downloads, Wget must be compiled
1348 with an external SSL library, currently OpenSSL. If Wget is compiled
1349 without SSL support, none of these options are available.
1352 @cindex SSL protocol, choose
1353 @item --secure-protocol=@var{protocol}
1354 Choose the secure protocol to be used. Legal values are @samp{auto},
1355 @samp{SSLv2}, @samp{SSLv3}, and @samp{TLSv1}. If @samp{auto} is used,
1356 the SSL library is given the liberty of choosing the appropriate
1357 protocol automatically, which is achieved by sending an SSLv2 greeting
1358 and announcing support for SSLv3 and TLSv1. This is the default.
1360 Specifying @samp{SSLv2}, @samp{SSLv3}, or @samp{TLSv1} forces the use
1361 of the corresponding protocol. This is useful when talking to old and
1362 buggy SSL server implementations that make it hard for OpenSSL to
1363 choose the correct protocol version. Fortunately, such servers are
1366 @cindex SSL certificate, check
1367 @item --no-check-certificate
1368 Don't check the server certificate against the available client
1369 authorities. If this is not specified, Wget will break the SSL
1370 handshake if the server certificate is not valid.
1372 @cindex SSL certificate
1373 @item --certificate=@var{file}
1374 Use the client certificate stored in @var{file}. This is needed for
1375 servers that are configured to require certificates from the clients
1376 that connect to them. Normally a certificate is not required and this
1379 @cindex SSL certificate type, specify
1380 @item --certificate-type=@var{type}
1381 Specify the type of the client certificate. Legal values are
1382 @samp{PEM} (assumed by default) and @samp{DER}, also known as
1385 @item --private-key=@var{file}
1386 Read the private key from @var{file}. This allows you to provide the
1387 private key in a file separate from the certificate.
1389 @item --private-key-type=@var{type}
1390 Specify the type of the private key. Accepted values are @samp{PEM}
1391 (the default) and @samp{DER}.
1393 @item --ca-certificate=@var{file}
1394 Use @var{file} as the file with the bundle of certificate authorities
1395 (``CA'') to verify the peers. The certificates must be in PEM format.
1397 Without this option Wget looks for CA certificates at the
1398 system-specified locations, chosen at OpenSSL installation time.
1400 @cindex SSL certificate authority
1401 @item --ca-directory=@var{directory}
1402 Specifies directory containing CA certificates in PEM format. Each
1403 file contains one CA certificate, and the file name is based on a hash
1404 value derived from the certificate. This is achieved by processing a
1405 certificate directory with the @code{c_rehash} utility supplied with
1406 OpenSSL. Using @samp{--ca-directory} is more efficient than
1407 @samp{--ca-certificate} when many certificates are installed because
1408 it allows Wget to fetch certificates on demand.
1410 Without this option Wget looks for CA certificates at the
1411 system-specified locations, chosen at OpenSSL installation time.
1413 @cindex entropy, specifying source of
1414 @cindex randomness, specifying source of
1415 @item --random-file=@var{file}
1416 Use @var{file} as the source of random data for seeding the
1417 pseudo-random number generator on systems without @file{/dev/random}.
1419 On such systems the SSL library needs an external source of randomness
1420 to initialize. Randomness may be provided by EGD (see
1421 @samp{--egd-file} below) or read from an external source specified by
1422 the user. If this option is not specified, Wget looks for random data
1423 in @code{$RANDFILE} or, if that is unset, in @file{$HOME/.rnd}. If
1424 none of those are available, it is likely that SSL encryption will not
1427 If you're getting the ``Could not seed OpenSSL PRNG; disabling SSL.''
1428 error, you should provide random data using some of the methods
1432 @item --egd-file=@var{file}
1433 Use @var{file} as the EGD socket. EGD stands for @dfn{Entropy
1434 Gathering Daemon}, a user-space program that collects data from
1435 various unpredictable system sources and makes it available to other
1436 programs that might need it. Encryption software, such as the SSL
1437 library, needs sources of non-repeating randomness to seed the random
1438 number generator used to produce cryptographically strong keys.
1440 OpenSSL allows the user to specify his own source of entropy using the
1441 @code{RAND_FILE} environment variable. If this variable is unset, or
1442 if the specified file does not produce enough randomness, OpenSSL will
1443 read random data from EGD socket specified using this option.
1445 If this option is not specified (and the equivalent startup command is
1446 not used), EGD is never contacted. EGD is not needed on modern Unix
1447 systems that support @file{/dev/random}.
1451 @section FTP Options
1455 @cindex ftp password
1456 @cindex ftp authentication
1457 @item --ftp-user=@var{user}
1458 @itemx --ftp-password=@var{password}
1459 Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} on an
1460 @sc{ftp} server. Without this, or the corresponding startup option,
1461 the password defaults to @samp{-wget@@}, normally used for anonymous
1464 Another way to specify username and password is in the @sc{url} itself
1465 (@pxref{URL Format}). Either method reveals your password to anyone who
1466 bothers to run @code{ps}. To prevent the passwords from being seen,
1467 store them in @file{.wgetrc} or @file{.netrc}, and make sure to protect
1468 those files from other users with @code{chmod}. If the passwords are
1469 really important, do not leave them lying in those files either---edit
1470 the files and delete them after Wget has started the download.
1473 For more information about security issues with Wget, @xref{Security
1477 @cindex .listing files, removing
1478 @item --no-remove-listing
1479 Don't remove the temporary @file{.listing} files generated by @sc{ftp}
1480 retrievals. Normally, these files contain the raw directory listings
1481 received from @sc{ftp} servers. Not removing them can be useful for
1482 debugging purposes, or when you want to be able to easily check on the
1483 contents of remote server directories (e.g. to verify that a mirror
1484 you're running is complete).
1486 Note that even though Wget writes to a known filename for this file,
1487 this is not a security hole in the scenario of a user making
1488 @file{.listing} a symbolic link to @file{/etc/passwd} or something and
1489 asking @code{root} to run Wget in his or her directory. Depending on
1490 the options used, either Wget will refuse to write to @file{.listing},
1491 making the globbing/recursion/time-stamping operation fail, or the
1492 symbolic link will be deleted and replaced with the actual
1493 @file{.listing} file, or the listing will be written to a
1494 @file{.listing.@var{number}} file.
1496 Even though this situation isn't a problem, though, @code{root} should
1497 never run Wget in a non-trusted user's directory. A user could do
1498 something as simple as linking @file{index.html} to @file{/etc/passwd}
1499 and asking @code{root} to run Wget with @samp{-N} or @samp{-r} so the file
1500 will be overwritten.
1502 @cindex globbing, toggle
1504 Turn off @sc{ftp} globbing. Globbing refers to the use of shell-like
1505 special characters (@dfn{wildcards}), like @samp{*}, @samp{?}, @samp{[}
1506 and @samp{]} to retrieve more than one file from the same directory at
1510 wget ftp://gnjilux.srk.fer.hr/*.msg
1513 By default, globbing will be turned on if the @sc{url} contains a
1514 globbing character. This option may be used to turn globbing on or off
1517 You may have to quote the @sc{url} to protect it from being expanded by
1518 your shell. Globbing makes Wget look for a directory listing, which is
1519 system-specific. This is why it currently works only with Unix @sc{ftp}
1520 servers (and the ones emulating Unix @code{ls} output).
1523 @item --no-passive-ftp
1524 Disable the use of the @dfn{passive} FTP transfer mode. Passive FTP
1525 mandates that the client connect to the server to establish the data
1526 connection rather than the other way around.
1528 If the machine is connected to the Internet directly, both passive and
1529 active FTP should work equally well. Behind most firewall and NAT
1530 configurations passive FTP has a better chance of working. However,
1531 in some rare firewall configurations, active FTP actually works when
1532 passive FTP doesn't. If you suspect this to be the case, use this
1533 option, or set @code{passive_ftp=off} in your init file.
1535 @cindex symbolic links, retrieving
1536 @item --retr-symlinks
1537 Usually, when retrieving @sc{ftp} directories recursively and a symbolic
1538 link is encountered, the linked-to file is not downloaded. Instead, a
1539 matching symbolic link is created on the local filesystem. The
1540 pointed-to file will not be downloaded unless this recursive retrieval
1541 would have encountered it separately and downloaded it anyway.
1543 When @samp{--retr-symlinks} is specified, however, symbolic links are
1544 traversed and the pointed-to files are retrieved. At this time, this
1545 option does not cause Wget to traverse symlinks to directories and
1546 recurse through them, but in the future it should be enhanced to do
1549 Note that when retrieving a file (not a directory) because it was
1550 specified on the command-line, rather than because it was recursed to,
1551 this option has no effect. Symbolic links are always traversed in this
1554 @cindex Keep-Alive, turning off
1555 @cindex Persistent Connections, disabling
1556 @item --no-http-keep-alive
1557 Turn off the ``keep-alive'' feature for HTTP downloads. Normally, Wget
1558 asks the server to keep the connection open so that, when you download
1559 more than one document from the same server, they get transferred over
1560 the same TCP connection. This saves time and at the same time reduces
1561 the load on the server.
1563 This option is useful when, for some reason, persistent (keep-alive)
1564 connections don't work for you, for example due to a server bug or due
1565 to the inability of server-side scripts to cope with the connections.
1568 @node Recursive Retrieval Options
1569 @section Recursive Retrieval Options
1574 Turn on recursive retrieving. @xref{Recursive Download}, for more
1577 @item -l @var{depth}
1578 @itemx --level=@var{depth}
1579 Specify recursion maximum depth level @var{depth} (@pxref{Recursive
1580 Download}). The default maximum depth is 5.
1582 @cindex proxy filling
1583 @cindex delete after retrieval
1584 @cindex filling proxy cache
1585 @item --delete-after
1586 This option tells Wget to delete every single file it downloads,
1587 @emph{after} having done so. It is useful for pre-fetching popular
1588 pages through a proxy, e.g.:
1591 wget -r -nd --delete-after http://whatever.com/~popular/page/
1594 The @samp{-r} option is to retrieve recursively, and @samp{-nd} to not
1597 Note that @samp{--delete-after} deletes files on the local machine. It
1598 does not issue the @samp{DELE} command to remote FTP sites, for
1599 instance. Also note that when @samp{--delete-after} is specified,
1600 @samp{--convert-links} is ignored, so @samp{.orig} files are simply not
1601 created in the first place.
1603 @cindex conversion of links
1604 @cindex link conversion
1606 @itemx --convert-links
1607 After the download is complete, convert the links in the document to
1608 make them suitable for local viewing. This affects not only the visible
1609 hyperlinks, but any part of the document that links to external content,
1610 such as embedded images, links to style sheets, hyperlinks to non-@sc{html}
1613 Each link will be changed in one of the two ways:
1617 The links to files that have been downloaded by Wget will be changed to
1618 refer to the file they point to as a relative link.
1620 Example: if the downloaded file @file{/foo/doc.html} links to
1621 @file{/bar/img.gif}, also downloaded, then the link in @file{doc.html}
1622 will be modified to point to @samp{../bar/img.gif}. This kind of
1623 transformation works reliably for arbitrary combinations of directories.
1626 The links to files that have not been downloaded by Wget will be changed
1627 to include host name and absolute path of the location they point to.
1629 Example: if the downloaded file @file{/foo/doc.html} links to
1630 @file{/bar/img.gif} (or to @file{../bar/img.gif}), then the link in
1631 @file{doc.html} will be modified to point to
1632 @file{http://@var{hostname}/bar/img.gif}.
1635 Because of this, local browsing works reliably: if a linked file was
1636 downloaded, the link will refer to its local name; if it was not
1637 downloaded, the link will refer to its full Internet address rather than
1638 presenting a broken link. The fact that the former links are converted
1639 to relative links ensures that you can move the downloaded hierarchy to
1642 Note that only at the end of the download can Wget know which links have
1643 been downloaded. Because of that, the work done by @samp{-k} will be
1644 performed at the end of all the downloads.
1646 @cindex backing up converted files
1648 @itemx --backup-converted
1649 When converting a file, back up the original version with a @samp{.orig}
1650 suffix. Affects the behavior of @samp{-N} (@pxref{HTTP Time-Stamping
1655 Turn on options suitable for mirroring. This option turns on recursion
1656 and time-stamping, sets infinite recursion depth and keeps @sc{ftp}
1657 directory listings. It is currently equivalent to
1658 @samp{-r -N -l inf --no-remove-listing}.
1660 @cindex page requisites
1661 @cindex required images, downloading
1663 @itemx --page-requisites
1664 This option causes Wget to download all the files that are necessary to
1665 properly display a given @sc{html} page. This includes such things as
1666 inlined images, sounds, and referenced stylesheets.
1668 Ordinarily, when downloading a single @sc{html} page, any requisite documents
1669 that may be needed to display it properly are not downloaded. Using
1670 @samp{-r} together with @samp{-l} can help, but since Wget does not
1671 ordinarily distinguish between external and inlined documents, one is
1672 generally left with ``leaf documents'' that are missing their
1675 For instance, say document @file{1.html} contains an @code{<IMG>} tag
1676 referencing @file{1.gif} and an @code{<A>} tag pointing to external
1677 document @file{2.html}. Say that @file{2.html} is similar but that its
1678 image is @file{2.gif} and it links to @file{3.html}. Say this
1679 continues up to some arbitrarily high number.
1681 If one executes the command:
1684 wget -r -l 2 http://@var{site}/1.html
1687 then @file{1.html}, @file{1.gif}, @file{2.html}, @file{2.gif}, and
1688 @file{3.html} will be downloaded. As you can see, @file{3.html} is
1689 without its requisite @file{3.gif} because Wget is simply counting the
1690 number of hops (up to 2) away from @file{1.html} in order to determine
1691 where to stop the recursion. However, with this command:
1694 wget -r -l 2 -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1697 all the above files @emph{and} @file{3.html}'s requisite @file{3.gif}
1698 will be downloaded. Similarly,
1701 wget -r -l 1 -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1704 will cause @file{1.html}, @file{1.gif}, @file{2.html}, and @file{2.gif}
1705 to be downloaded. One might think that:
1708 wget -r -l 0 -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1711 would download just @file{1.html} and @file{1.gif}, but unfortunately
1712 this is not the case, because @samp{-l 0} is equivalent to
1713 @samp{-l inf}---that is, infinite recursion. To download a single @sc{html}
1714 page (or a handful of them, all specified on the command-line or in a
1715 @samp{-i} @sc{url} input file) and its (or their) requisites, simply leave off
1716 @samp{-r} and @samp{-l}:
1719 wget -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1722 Note that Wget will behave as if @samp{-r} had been specified, but only
1723 that single page and its requisites will be downloaded. Links from that
1724 page to external documents will not be followed. Actually, to download
1725 a single page and all its requisites (even if they exist on separate
1726 websites), and make sure the lot displays properly locally, this author
1727 likes to use a few options in addition to @samp{-p}:
1730 wget -E -H -k -K -p http://@var{site}/@var{document}
1733 To finish off this topic, it's worth knowing that Wget's idea of an
1734 external document link is any URL specified in an @code{<A>} tag, an
1735 @code{<AREA>} tag, or a @code{<LINK>} tag other than @code{<LINK
1738 @cindex @sc{html} comments
1739 @cindex comments, @sc{html}
1740 @item --strict-comments
1741 Turn on strict parsing of @sc{html} comments. The default is to terminate
1742 comments at the first occurrence of @samp{-->}.
1744 According to specifications, @sc{html} comments are expressed as @sc{sgml}
1745 @dfn{declarations}. Declaration is special markup that begins with
1746 @samp{<!} and ends with @samp{>}, such as @samp{<!DOCTYPE ...>}, that
1747 may contain comments between a pair of @samp{--} delimiters. @sc{html}
1748 comments are ``empty declarations'', @sc{sgml} declarations without any
1749 non-comment text. Therefore, @samp{<!--foo-->} is a valid comment, and
1750 so is @samp{<!--one-- --two-->}, but @samp{<!--1--2-->} is not.
1752 On the other hand, most @sc{html} writers don't perceive comments as anything
1753 other than text delimited with @samp{<!--} and @samp{-->}, which is not
1754 quite the same. For example, something like @samp{<!------------>}
1755 works as a valid comment as long as the number of dashes is a multiple
1756 of four (!). If not, the comment technically lasts until the next
1757 @samp{--}, which may be at the other end of the document. Because of
1758 this, many popular browsers completely ignore the specification and
1759 implement what users have come to expect: comments delimited with
1760 @samp{<!--} and @samp{-->}.
1762 Until version 1.9, Wget interpreted comments strictly, which resulted in
1763 missing links in many web pages that displayed fine in browsers, but had
1764 the misfortune of containing non-compliant comments. Beginning with
1765 version 1.9, Wget has joined the ranks of clients that implements
1766 ``naive'' comments, terminating each comment at the first occurrence of
1769 If, for whatever reason, you want strict comment parsing, use this
1770 option to turn it on.
1773 @node Recursive Accept/Reject Options
1774 @section Recursive Accept/Reject Options
1777 @item -A @var{acclist} --accept @var{acclist}
1778 @itemx -R @var{rejlist} --reject @var{rejlist}
1779 Specify comma-separated lists of file name suffixes or patterns to
1780 accept or reject (@pxref{Types of Files} for more details).
1782 @item -D @var{domain-list}
1783 @itemx --domains=@var{domain-list}
1784 Set domains to be followed. @var{domain-list} is a comma-separated list
1785 of domains. Note that it does @emph{not} turn on @samp{-H}.
1787 @item --exclude-domains @var{domain-list}
1788 Specify the domains that are @emph{not} to be followed.
1789 (@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
1791 @cindex follow FTP links
1793 Follow @sc{ftp} links from @sc{html} documents. Without this option,
1794 Wget will ignore all the @sc{ftp} links.
1796 @cindex tag-based recursive pruning
1797 @item --follow-tags=@var{list}
1798 Wget has an internal table of @sc{html} tag / attribute pairs that it
1799 considers when looking for linked documents during a recursive
1800 retrieval. If a user wants only a subset of those tags to be
1801 considered, however, he or she should be specify such tags in a
1802 comma-separated @var{list} with this option.
1804 @item --ignore-tags=@var{list}
1805 This is the opposite of the @samp{--follow-tags} option. To skip
1806 certain @sc{html} tags when recursively looking for documents to download,
1807 specify them in a comma-separated @var{list}.
1809 In the past, this option was the best bet for downloading a single page
1810 and its requisites, using a command-line like:
1813 wget --ignore-tags=a,area -H -k -K -r http://@var{site}/@var{document}
1816 However, the author of this option came across a page with tags like
1817 @code{<LINK REL="home" HREF="/">} and came to the realization that
1818 specifying tags to ignore was not enough. One can't just tell Wget to
1819 ignore @code{<LINK>}, because then stylesheets will not be downloaded.
1820 Now the best bet for downloading a single page and its requisites is the
1821 dedicated @samp{--page-requisites} option.
1825 Enable spanning across hosts when doing recursive retrieving
1826 (@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
1830 Follow relative links only. Useful for retrieving a specific home page
1831 without any distractions, not even those from the same hosts
1832 (@pxref{Relative Links}).
1835 @itemx --include-directories=@var{list}
1836 Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to follow when
1837 downloading (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits} for more details.) Elements
1838 of @var{list} may contain wildcards.
1841 @itemx --exclude-directories=@var{list}
1842 Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to exclude from
1843 download (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits} for more details.) Elements of
1844 @var{list} may contain wildcards.
1848 Do not ever ascend to the parent directory when retrieving recursively.
1849 This is a useful option, since it guarantees that only the files
1850 @emph{below} a certain hierarchy will be downloaded.
1851 @xref{Directory-Based Limits}, for more details.
1856 @node Recursive Download
1857 @chapter Recursive Download
1860 @cindex recursive download
1862 GNU Wget is capable of traversing parts of the Web (or a single
1863 @sc{http} or @sc{ftp} server), following links and directory structure.
1864 We refer to this as to @dfn{recursive retrieval}, or @dfn{recursion}.
1866 With @sc{http} @sc{url}s, Wget retrieves and parses the @sc{html} from
1867 the given @sc{url}, documents, retrieving the files the @sc{html}
1868 document was referring to, through markup like @code{href}, or
1869 @code{src}. If the freshly downloaded file is also of type
1870 @code{text/html} or @code{application/xhtml+xml}, it will be parsed and
1873 Recursive retrieval of @sc{http} and @sc{html} content is
1874 @dfn{breadth-first}. This means that Wget first downloads the requested
1875 @sc{html} document, then the documents linked from that document, then the
1876 documents linked by them, and so on. In other words, Wget first
1877 downloads the documents at depth 1, then those at depth 2, and so on
1878 until the specified maximum depth.
1880 The maximum @dfn{depth} to which the retrieval may descend is specified
1881 with the @samp{-l} option. The default maximum depth is five layers.
1883 When retrieving an @sc{ftp} @sc{url} recursively, Wget will retrieve all
1884 the data from the given directory tree (including the subdirectories up
1885 to the specified depth) on the remote server, creating its mirror image
1886 locally. @sc{ftp} retrieval is also limited by the @code{depth}
1887 parameter. Unlike @sc{http} recursion, @sc{ftp} recursion is performed
1890 By default, Wget will create a local directory tree, corresponding to
1891 the one found on the remote server.
1893 Recursive retrieving can find a number of applications, the most
1894 important of which is mirroring. It is also useful for @sc{www}
1895 presentations, and any other opportunities where slow network
1896 connections should be bypassed by storing the files locally.
1898 You should be warned that recursive downloads can overload the remote
1899 servers. Because of that, many administrators frown upon them and may
1900 ban access from your site if they detect very fast downloads of big
1901 amounts of content. When downloading from Internet servers, consider
1902 using the @samp{-w} option to introduce a delay between accesses to the
1903 server. The download will take a while longer, but the server
1904 administrator will not be alarmed by your rudeness.
1906 Of course, recursive download may cause problems on your machine. If
1907 left to run unchecked, it can easily fill up the disk. If downloading
1908 from local network, it can also take bandwidth on the system, as well as
1909 consume memory and CPU.
1911 Try to specify the criteria that match the kind of download you are
1912 trying to achieve. If you want to download only one page, use
1913 @samp{--page-requisites} without any additional recursion. If you want
1914 to download things under one directory, use @samp{-np} to avoid
1915 downloading things from other directories. If you want to download all
1916 the files from one directory, use @samp{-l 1} to make sure the recursion
1917 depth never exceeds one. @xref{Following Links}, for more information
1920 Recursive retrieval should be used with care. Don't say you were not
1923 @node Following Links
1924 @chapter Following Links
1926 @cindex following links
1928 When retrieving recursively, one does not wish to retrieve loads of
1929 unnecessary data. Most of the time the users bear in mind exactly what
1930 they want to download, and want Wget to follow only specific links.
1932 For example, if you wish to download the music archive from
1933 @samp{fly.srk.fer.hr}, you will not want to download all the home pages
1934 that happen to be referenced by an obscure part of the archive.
1936 Wget possesses several mechanisms that allows you to fine-tune which
1937 links it will follow.
1940 * Spanning Hosts:: (Un)limiting retrieval based on host name.
1941 * Types of Files:: Getting only certain files.
1942 * Directory-Based Limits:: Getting only certain directories.
1943 * Relative Links:: Follow relative links only.
1944 * FTP Links:: Following FTP links.
1947 @node Spanning Hosts
1948 @section Spanning Hosts
1949 @cindex spanning hosts
1950 @cindex hosts, spanning
1952 Wget's recursive retrieval normally refuses to visit hosts different
1953 than the one you specified on the command line. This is a reasonable
1954 default; without it, every retrieval would have the potential to turn
1955 your Wget into a small version of google.
1957 However, visiting different hosts, or @dfn{host spanning,} is sometimes
1958 a useful option. Maybe the images are served from a different server.
1959 Maybe you're mirroring a site that consists of pages interlinked between
1960 three servers. Maybe the server has two equivalent names, and the @sc{html}
1961 pages refer to both interchangeably.
1964 @item Span to any host---@samp{-H}
1966 The @samp{-H} option turns on host spanning, thus allowing Wget's
1967 recursive run to visit any host referenced by a link. Unless sufficient
1968 recursion-limiting criteria are applied depth, these foreign hosts will
1969 typically link to yet more hosts, and so on until Wget ends up sucking
1970 up much more data than you have intended.
1972 @item Limit spanning to certain domains---@samp{-D}
1974 The @samp{-D} option allows you to specify the domains that will be
1975 followed, thus limiting the recursion only to the hosts that belong to
1976 these domains. Obviously, this makes sense only in conjunction with
1977 @samp{-H}. A typical example would be downloading the contents of
1978 @samp{www.server.com}, but allowing downloads from
1979 @samp{images.server.com}, etc.:
1982 wget -rH -Dserver.com http://www.server.com/
1985 You can specify more than one address by separating them with a comma,
1986 e.g. @samp{-Ddomain1.com,domain2.com}.
1988 @item Keep download off certain domains---@samp{--exclude-domains}
1990 If there are domains you want to exclude specifically, you can do it
1991 with @samp{--exclude-domains}, which accepts the same type of arguments
1992 of @samp{-D}, but will @emph{exclude} all the listed domains. For
1993 example, if you want to download all the hosts from @samp{foo.edu}
1994 domain, with the exception of @samp{sunsite.foo.edu}, you can do it like
1998 wget -rH -Dfoo.edu --exclude-domains sunsite.foo.edu \
2004 @node Types of Files
2005 @section Types of Files
2006 @cindex types of files
2008 When downloading material from the web, you will often want to restrict
2009 the retrieval to only certain file types. For example, if you are
2010 interested in downloading @sc{gif}s, you will not be overjoyed to get
2011 loads of PostScript documents, and vice versa.
2013 Wget offers two options to deal with this problem. Each option
2014 description lists a short name, a long name, and the equivalent command
2017 @cindex accept wildcards
2018 @cindex accept suffixes
2019 @cindex wildcards, accept
2020 @cindex suffixes, accept
2022 @item -A @var{acclist}
2023 @itemx --accept @var{acclist}
2024 @itemx accept = @var{acclist}
2025 The argument to @samp{--accept} option is a list of file suffixes or
2026 patterns that Wget will download during recursive retrieval. A suffix
2027 is the ending part of a file, and consists of ``normal'' letters,
2028 e.g. @samp{gif} or @samp{.jpg}. A matching pattern contains shell-like
2029 wildcards, e.g. @samp{books*} or @samp{zelazny*196[0-9]*}.
2031 So, specifying @samp{wget -A gif,jpg} will make Wget download only the
2032 files ending with @samp{gif} or @samp{jpg}, i.e. @sc{gif}s and
2033 @sc{jpeg}s. On the other hand, @samp{wget -A "zelazny*196[0-9]*"} will
2034 download only files beginning with @samp{zelazny} and containing numbers
2035 from 1960 to 1969 anywhere within. Look up the manual of your shell for
2036 a description of how pattern matching works.
2038 Of course, any number of suffixes and patterns can be combined into a
2039 comma-separated list, and given as an argument to @samp{-A}.
2041 @cindex reject wildcards
2042 @cindex reject suffixes
2043 @cindex wildcards, reject
2044 @cindex suffixes, reject
2045 @item -R @var{rejlist}
2046 @itemx --reject @var{rejlist}
2047 @itemx reject = @var{rejlist}
2048 The @samp{--reject} option works the same way as @samp{--accept}, only
2049 its logic is the reverse; Wget will download all files @emph{except} the
2050 ones matching the suffixes (or patterns) in the list.
2052 So, if you want to download a whole page except for the cumbersome
2053 @sc{mpeg}s and @sc{.au} files, you can use @samp{wget -R mpg,mpeg,au}.
2054 Analogously, to download all files except the ones beginning with
2055 @samp{bjork}, use @samp{wget -R "bjork*"}. The quotes are to prevent
2056 expansion by the shell.
2059 The @samp{-A} and @samp{-R} options may be combined to achieve even
2060 better fine-tuning of which files to retrieve. E.g. @samp{wget -A
2061 "*zelazny*" -R .ps} will download all the files having @samp{zelazny} as
2062 a part of their name, but @emph{not} the PostScript files.
2064 Note that these two options do not affect the downloading of @sc{html}
2065 files; Wget must load all the @sc{html}s to know where to go at
2066 all---recursive retrieval would make no sense otherwise.
2068 @node Directory-Based Limits
2069 @section Directory-Based Limits
2071 @cindex directory limits
2073 Regardless of other link-following facilities, it is often useful to
2074 place the restriction of what files to retrieve based on the directories
2075 those files are placed in. There can be many reasons for this---the
2076 home pages may be organized in a reasonable directory structure; or some
2077 directories may contain useless information, e.g. @file{/cgi-bin} or
2078 @file{/dev} directories.
2080 Wget offers three different options to deal with this requirement. Each
2081 option description lists a short name, a long name, and the equivalent
2082 command in @file{.wgetrc}.
2084 @cindex directories, include
2085 @cindex include directories
2086 @cindex accept directories
2089 @itemx --include @var{list}
2090 @itemx include_directories = @var{list}
2091 @samp{-I} option accepts a comma-separated list of directories included
2092 in the retrieval. Any other directories will simply be ignored. The
2093 directories are absolute paths.
2095 So, if you wish to download from @samp{http://host/people/bozo/}
2096 following only links to bozo's colleagues in the @file{/people}
2097 directory and the bogus scripts in @file{/cgi-bin}, you can specify:
2100 wget -I /people,/cgi-bin http://host/people/bozo/
2103 @cindex directories, exclude
2104 @cindex exclude directories
2105 @cindex reject directories
2107 @itemx --exclude @var{list}
2108 @itemx exclude_directories = @var{list}
2109 @samp{-X} option is exactly the reverse of @samp{-I}---this is a list of
2110 directories @emph{excluded} from the download. E.g. if you do not want
2111 Wget to download things from @file{/cgi-bin} directory, specify @samp{-X
2112 /cgi-bin} on the command line.
2114 The same as with @samp{-A}/@samp{-R}, these two options can be combined
2115 to get a better fine-tuning of downloading subdirectories. E.g. if you
2116 want to load all the files from @file{/pub} hierarchy except for
2117 @file{/pub/worthless}, specify @samp{-I/pub -X/pub/worthless}.
2122 @itemx no_parent = on
2123 The simplest, and often very useful way of limiting directories is
2124 disallowing retrieval of the links that refer to the hierarchy
2125 @dfn{above} than the beginning directory, i.e. disallowing ascent to the
2126 parent directory/directories.
2128 The @samp{--no-parent} option (short @samp{-np}) is useful in this case.
2129 Using it guarantees that you will never leave the existing hierarchy.
2130 Supposing you issue Wget with:
2133 wget -r --no-parent http://somehost/~luzer/my-archive/
2136 You may rest assured that none of the references to
2137 @file{/~his-girls-homepage/} or @file{/~luzer/all-my-mpegs/} will be
2138 followed. Only the archive you are interested in will be downloaded.
2139 Essentially, @samp{--no-parent} is similar to
2140 @samp{-I/~luzer/my-archive}, only it handles redirections in a more
2141 intelligent fashion.
2144 @node Relative Links
2145 @section Relative Links
2146 @cindex relative links
2148 When @samp{-L} is turned on, only the relative links are ever followed.
2149 Relative links are here defined those that do not refer to the web
2150 server root. For example, these links are relative:
2154 <a href="foo/bar.gif">
2155 <a href="../foo/bar.gif">
2158 These links are not relative:
2162 <a href="/foo/bar.gif">
2163 <a href="http://www.server.com/foo/bar.gif">
2166 Using this option guarantees that recursive retrieval will not span
2167 hosts, even without @samp{-H}. In simple cases it also allows downloads
2168 to ``just work'' without having to convert links.
2170 This option is probably not very useful and might be removed in a future
2174 @section Following FTP Links
2175 @cindex following ftp links
2177 The rules for @sc{ftp} are somewhat specific, as it is necessary for
2178 them to be. @sc{ftp} links in @sc{html} documents are often included
2179 for purposes of reference, and it is often inconvenient to download them
2182 To have @sc{ftp} links followed from @sc{html} documents, you need to
2183 specify the @samp{--follow-ftp} option. Having done that, @sc{ftp}
2184 links will span hosts regardless of @samp{-H} setting. This is logical,
2185 as @sc{ftp} links rarely point to the same host where the @sc{http}
2186 server resides. For similar reasons, the @samp{-L} options has no
2187 effect on such downloads. On the other hand, domain acceptance
2188 (@samp{-D}) and suffix rules (@samp{-A} and @samp{-R}) apply normally.
2190 Also note that followed links to @sc{ftp} directories will not be
2191 retrieved recursively further.
2194 @chapter Time-Stamping
2195 @cindex time-stamping
2196 @cindex timestamping
2197 @cindex updating the archives
2198 @cindex incremental updating
2200 One of the most important aspects of mirroring information from the
2201 Internet is updating your archives.
2203 Downloading the whole archive again and again, just to replace a few
2204 changed files is expensive, both in terms of wasted bandwidth and money,
2205 and the time to do the update. This is why all the mirroring tools
2206 offer the option of incremental updating.
2208 Such an updating mechanism means that the remote server is scanned in
2209 search of @dfn{new} files. Only those new files will be downloaded in
2210 the place of the old ones.
2212 A file is considered new if one of these two conditions are met:
2216 A file of that name does not already exist locally.
2219 A file of that name does exist, but the remote file was modified more
2220 recently than the local file.
2223 To implement this, the program needs to be aware of the time of last
2224 modification of both local and remote files. We call this information the
2225 @dfn{time-stamp} of a file.
2227 The time-stamping in GNU Wget is turned on using @samp{--timestamping}
2228 (@samp{-N}) option, or through @code{timestamping = on} directive in
2229 @file{.wgetrc}. With this option, for each file it intends to download,
2230 Wget will check whether a local file of the same name exists. If it
2231 does, and the remote file is older, Wget will not download it.
2233 If the local file does not exist, or the sizes of the files do not
2234 match, Wget will download the remote file no matter what the time-stamps
2238 * Time-Stamping Usage::
2239 * HTTP Time-Stamping Internals::
2240 * FTP Time-Stamping Internals::
2243 @node Time-Stamping Usage
2244 @section Time-Stamping Usage
2245 @cindex time-stamping usage
2246 @cindex usage, time-stamping
2248 The usage of time-stamping is simple. Say you would like to download a
2249 file so that it keeps its date of modification.
2252 wget -S http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/
2255 A simple @code{ls -l} shows that the time stamp on the local file equals
2256 the state of the @code{Last-Modified} header, as returned by the server.
2257 As you can see, the time-stamping info is preserved locally, even
2258 without @samp{-N} (at least for @sc{http}).
2260 Several days later, you would like Wget to check if the remote file has
2261 changed, and download it if it has.
2264 wget -N http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/
2267 Wget will ask the server for the last-modified date. If the local file
2268 has the same timestamp as the server, or a newer one, the remote file
2269 will not be re-fetched. However, if the remote file is more recent,
2270 Wget will proceed to fetch it.
2272 The same goes for @sc{ftp}. For example:
2275 wget "ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no/pub/emacs/gnus/*"
2278 (The quotes around that URL are to prevent the shell from trying to
2279 interpret the @samp{*}.)
2281 After download, a local directory listing will show that the timestamps
2282 match those on the remote server. Reissuing the command with @samp{-N}
2283 will make Wget re-fetch @emph{only} the files that have been modified
2284 since the last download.
2286 If you wished to mirror the GNU archive every week, you would use a
2287 command like the following, weekly:
2290 wget --timestamping -r ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/
2293 Note that time-stamping will only work for files for which the server
2294 gives a timestamp. For @sc{http}, this depends on getting a
2295 @code{Last-Modified} header. For @sc{ftp}, this depends on getting a
2296 directory listing with dates in a format that Wget can parse
2297 (@pxref{FTP Time-Stamping Internals}).
2299 @node HTTP Time-Stamping Internals
2300 @section HTTP Time-Stamping Internals
2301 @cindex http time-stamping
2303 Time-stamping in @sc{http} is implemented by checking of the
2304 @code{Last-Modified} header. If you wish to retrieve the file
2305 @file{foo.html} through @sc{http}, Wget will check whether
2306 @file{foo.html} exists locally. If it doesn't, @file{foo.html} will be
2307 retrieved unconditionally.
2309 If the file does exist locally, Wget will first check its local
2310 time-stamp (similar to the way @code{ls -l} checks it), and then send a
2311 @code{HEAD} request to the remote server, demanding the information on
2314 The @code{Last-Modified} header is examined to find which file was
2315 modified more recently (which makes it ``newer''). If the remote file
2316 is newer, it will be downloaded; if it is older, Wget will give
2317 up.@footnote{As an additional check, Wget will look at the
2318 @code{Content-Length} header, and compare the sizes; if they are not the
2319 same, the remote file will be downloaded no matter what the time-stamp
2322 When @samp{--backup-converted} (@samp{-K}) is specified in conjunction
2323 with @samp{-N}, server file @samp{@var{X}} is compared to local file
2324 @samp{@var{X}.orig}, if extant, rather than being compared to local file
2325 @samp{@var{X}}, which will always differ if it's been converted by
2326 @samp{--convert-links} (@samp{-k}).
2328 Arguably, @sc{http} time-stamping should be implemented using the
2329 @code{If-Modified-Since} request.
2331 @node FTP Time-Stamping Internals
2332 @section FTP Time-Stamping Internals
2333 @cindex ftp time-stamping
2335 In theory, @sc{ftp} time-stamping works much the same as @sc{http}, only
2336 @sc{ftp} has no headers---time-stamps must be ferreted out of directory
2339 If an @sc{ftp} download is recursive or uses globbing, Wget will use the
2340 @sc{ftp} @code{LIST} command to get a file listing for the directory
2341 containing the desired file(s). It will try to analyze the listing,
2342 treating it like Unix @code{ls -l} output, extracting the time-stamps.
2343 The rest is exactly the same as for @sc{http}. Note that when
2344 retrieving individual files from an @sc{ftp} server without using
2345 globbing or recursion, listing files will not be downloaded (and thus
2346 files will not be time-stamped) unless @samp{-N} is specified.
2348 Assumption that every directory listing is a Unix-style listing may
2349 sound extremely constraining, but in practice it is not, as many
2350 non-Unix @sc{ftp} servers use the Unixoid listing format because most
2351 (all?) of the clients understand it. Bear in mind that @sc{rfc959}
2352 defines no standard way to get a file list, let alone the time-stamps.
2353 We can only hope that a future standard will define this.
2355 Another non-standard solution includes the use of @code{MDTM} command
2356 that is supported by some @sc{ftp} servers (including the popular
2357 @code{wu-ftpd}), which returns the exact time of the specified file.
2358 Wget may support this command in the future.
2361 @chapter Startup File
2362 @cindex startup file
2368 Once you know how to change default settings of Wget through command
2369 line arguments, you may wish to make some of those settings permanent.
2370 You can do that in a convenient way by creating the Wget startup
2371 file---@file{.wgetrc}.
2373 Besides @file{.wgetrc} is the ``main'' initialization file, it is
2374 convenient to have a special facility for storing passwords. Thus Wget
2375 reads and interprets the contents of @file{$HOME/.netrc}, if it finds
2376 it. You can find @file{.netrc} format in your system manuals.
2378 Wget reads @file{.wgetrc} upon startup, recognizing a limited set of
2382 * Wgetrc Location:: Location of various wgetrc files.
2383 * Wgetrc Syntax:: Syntax of wgetrc.
2384 * Wgetrc Commands:: List of available commands.
2385 * Sample Wgetrc:: A wgetrc example.
2388 @node Wgetrc Location
2389 @section Wgetrc Location
2390 @cindex wgetrc location
2391 @cindex location of wgetrc
2393 When initializing, Wget will look for a @dfn{global} startup file,
2394 @file{/usr/local/etc/wgetrc} by default (or some prefix other than
2395 @file{/usr/local}, if Wget was not installed there) and read commands
2396 from there, if it exists.
2398 Then it will look for the user's file. If the environmental variable
2399 @code{WGETRC} is set, Wget will try to load that file. Failing that, no
2400 further attempts will be made.
2402 If @code{WGETRC} is not set, Wget will try to load @file{$HOME/.wgetrc}.
2404 The fact that user's settings are loaded after the system-wide ones
2405 means that in case of collision user's wgetrc @emph{overrides} the
2406 system-wide wgetrc (in @file{/usr/local/etc/wgetrc} by default).
2407 Fascist admins, away!
2410 @section Wgetrc Syntax
2411 @cindex wgetrc syntax
2412 @cindex syntax of wgetrc
2414 The syntax of a wgetrc command is simple:
2420 The @dfn{variable} will also be called @dfn{command}. Valid
2421 @dfn{values} are different for different commands.
2423 The commands are case-insensitive and underscore-insensitive. Thus
2424 @samp{DIr__PrefiX} is the same as @samp{dirprefix}. Empty lines, lines
2425 beginning with @samp{#} and lines containing white-space only are
2428 Commands that expect a comma-separated list will clear the list on an
2429 empty command. So, if you wish to reset the rejection list specified in
2430 global @file{wgetrc}, you can do it with:
2436 @node Wgetrc Commands
2437 @section Wgetrc Commands
2438 @cindex wgetrc commands
2440 The complete set of commands is listed below. Legal values are listed
2441 after the @samp{=}. Simple Boolean values can be set or unset using
2442 @samp{on} and @samp{off} or @samp{1} and @samp{0}. A fancier kind of
2443 Boolean allowed in some cases is the @dfn{lockable Boolean}, which may
2444 be set to @samp{on}, @samp{off}, @samp{always}, or @samp{never}. If an
2445 option is set to @samp{always} or @samp{never}, that value will be
2446 locked in for the duration of the Wget invocation---command-line options
2449 Some commands take pseudo-arbitrary values. @var{address} values can be
2450 hostnames or dotted-quad IP addresses. @var{n} can be any positive
2451 integer, or @samp{inf} for infinity, where appropriate. @var{string}
2452 values can be any non-empty string.
2454 Most of these commands have direct command-line equivalents. Also, any
2455 wgetrc command can be specified on the command line using the
2456 @samp{--execute} switch (@pxref{Basic Startup Options}.)
2459 @item accept/reject = @var{string}
2460 Same as @samp{-A}/@samp{-R} (@pxref{Types of Files}).
2462 @item add_hostdir = on/off
2463 Enable/disable host-prefixed file names. @samp{-nH} disables it.
2465 @item continue = on/off
2466 If set to on, force continuation of preexistent partially retrieved
2467 files. See @samp{-c} before setting it.
2469 @item background = on/off
2470 Enable/disable going to background---the same as @samp{-b} (which
2473 @item backup_converted = on/off
2474 Enable/disable saving pre-converted files with the suffix
2475 @samp{.orig}---the same as @samp{-K} (which enables it).
2477 @c @item backups = @var{number}
2478 @c #### Document me!
2480 @item base = @var{string}
2481 Consider relative @sc{url}s in @sc{url} input files forced to be
2482 interpreted as @sc{html} as being relative to @var{string}---the same as
2483 @samp{--base=@var{string}}.
2485 @item bind_address = @var{address}
2486 Bind to @var{address}, like the @samp{--bind-address=@var{address}}.
2488 @item ca_certificate = @var{file}
2489 Set the certificate authority bundle file to @var{file}. The same
2490 as @samp{--ca-certificate=@var{file}}.
2492 @item ca_directory = @var{directory}
2493 Set the directory used for certificate authorities. The same as
2494 @samp{--ca-directory=@var{directory}}.
2496 @item cache = on/off
2497 When set to off, disallow server-caching. See the @samp{--no-cache}
2500 @item certificate = @var{file}
2501 Set the client certificate file name to @var{file}. The same as
2502 @samp{--certificate=@var{file}}.
2504 @item certificate_type = @var{string}
2505 Specify the type of the client certificate, legal values being
2506 @samp{PEM} (the default) and @samp{DER} (aka ASN1). The same as
2507 @samp{--certificate-type=@var{string}}.
2509 @item check_certificate = on/off
2510 If this is set to off, the server certificate is not checked against
2511 the specified client authorities. The default is ``on''. The same as
2512 @samp{--check-certificate}.
2514 @item convert_links = on/off
2515 Convert non-relative links locally. The same as @samp{-k}.
2517 @item cookies = on/off
2518 When set to off, disallow cookies. See the @samp{--cookies} option.
2520 @item connect_timeout = @var{n}
2521 Set the connect timeout---the same as @samp{--connect-timeout}.
2523 @item cut_dirs = @var{n}
2524 Ignore @var{n} remote directory components. Equivalent to
2525 @samp{--cut-dirs=@var{n}}.
2527 @item debug = on/off
2528 Debug mode, same as @samp{-d}.
2530 @item delete_after = on/off
2531 Delete after download---the same as @samp{--delete-after}.
2533 @item dir_prefix = @var{string}
2534 Top of directory tree---the same as @samp{-P @var{string}}.
2536 @item dirstruct = on/off
2537 Turning dirstruct on or off---the same as @samp{-x} or @samp{-nd},
2540 @item dns_cache = on/off
2541 Turn DNS caching on/off. Since DNS caching is on by default, this
2542 option is normally used to turn it off and is equivalent to
2543 @samp{--no-dns-cache}.
2545 @item dns_timeout = @var{n}
2546 Set the DNS timeout---the same as @samp{--dns-timeout}.
2548 @item domains = @var{string}
2549 Same as @samp{-D} (@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
2551 @item dot_bytes = @var{n}
2552 Specify the number of bytes ``contained'' in a dot, as seen throughout
2553 the retrieval (1024 by default). You can postfix the value with
2554 @samp{k} or @samp{m}, representing kilobytes and megabytes,
2555 respectively. With dot settings you can tailor the dot retrieval to
2556 suit your needs, or you can use the predefined @dfn{styles}
2557 (@pxref{Download Options}).
2559 @item dots_in_line = @var{n}
2560 Specify the number of dots that will be printed in each line throughout
2561 the retrieval (50 by default).
2563 @item dot_spacing = @var{n}
2564 Specify the number of dots in a single cluster (10 by default).
2566 @item egd_file = @var{file}
2567 Use @var{string} as the EGD socket file name. The same as
2568 @samp{--egd-file=@var{file}}.
2570 @item exclude_directories = @var{string}
2571 Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to exclude from
2572 download---the same as @samp{-X @var{string}} (@pxref{Directory-Based
2575 @item exclude_domains = @var{string}
2576 Same as @samp{--exclude-domains=@var{string}} (@pxref{Spanning
2579 @item follow_ftp = on/off
2580 Follow @sc{ftp} links from @sc{html} documents---the same as
2581 @samp{--follow-ftp}.
2583 @item follow_tags = @var{string}
2584 Only follow certain @sc{html} tags when doing a recursive retrieval,
2585 just like @samp{--follow-tags=@var{string}}.
2587 @item force_html = on/off
2588 If set to on, force the input filename to be regarded as an @sc{html}
2589 document---the same as @samp{-F}.
2591 @item ftp_password = @var{string}
2592 Set your @sc{ftp} password to @var{string}. Without this setting, the
2593 password defaults to @samp{-wget@@}, which is a useful default for
2594 anonymous @sc{ftp} access.
2596 This command used to be named @code{passwd} prior to Wget 1.10.
2598 @item ftp_proxy = @var{string}
2599 Use @var{string} as @sc{ftp} proxy, instead of the one specified in
2602 @item ftp_user = @var{string}
2603 Set @sc{ftp} user to @var{string}.
2605 This command used to be named @code{login} prior to Wget 1.10.
2608 Turn globbing on/off---the same as @samp{--glob} and @samp{--no-glob}.
2610 @item header = @var{string}
2611 Define a header for HTTP doewnloads, like using
2612 @samp{--header=@var{string}}.
2614 @item html_extension = on/off
2615 Add a @samp{.html} extension to @samp{text/html} or
2616 @samp{application/xhtml+xml} files without it, like @samp{-E}.
2618 @item http_keep_alive = on/off
2619 Turn the keep-alive feature on or off (defaults to on). Turning it
2620 off is equivalent to @samp{--no-http-keep-alive}.
2622 @item http_password = @var{string}
2623 Set @sc{http} password, equivalent to
2624 @samp{--http-password=@var{string}}.
2626 @item http_proxy = @var{string}
2627 Use @var{string} as @sc{http} proxy, instead of the one specified in
2630 @item http_user = @var{string}
2631 Set @sc{http} user to @var{string}, equivalent to
2632 @samp{--http-user=@var{string}}.
2634 @item ignore_length = on/off
2635 When set to on, ignore @code{Content-Length} header; the same as
2636 @samp{--ignore-length}.
2638 @item ignore_tags = @var{string}
2639 Ignore certain @sc{html} tags when doing a recursive retrieval, like
2640 @samp{--ignore-tags=@var{string}}.
2642 @item include_directories = @var{string}
2643 Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to follow when
2644 downloading---the same as @samp{-I @var{string}}.
2646 @item inet4_only = on/off
2647 Force connecting to IPv4 addresses, off by default. You can put this
2648 in the global init file to disable Wget's attempts to resolve and
2649 connect to IPv6 hosts. Available only if Wget was compiled with IPv6
2650 support. The same as @samp{--inet4-only} or @samp{-4}.
2652 @item inet6_only = on/off
2653 Force connecting to IPv6 addresses, off by default. Available only if
2654 Wget was compiled with IPv6 support. The same as @samp{--inet6-only}
2657 @item input = @var{file}
2658 Read the @sc{url}s from @var{string}, like @samp{-i @var{file}}.
2660 @item kill_longer = on/off
2661 Consider data longer than specified in content-length header as invalid
2662 (and retry getting it). The default behavior is to save as much data
2663 as there is, provided there is more than or equal to the value in
2664 @code{Content-Length}.
2666 @item limit_rate = @var{rate}
2667 Limit the download speed to no more than @var{rate} bytes per second.
2668 The same as @samp{--limit-rate=@var{rate}}.
2670 @item load_cookies = @var{file}
2671 Load cookies from @var{file}. See @samp{--load-cookies @var{file}}.
2673 @item logfile = @var{file}
2674 Set logfile to @var{file}, the same as @samp{-o @var{file}}.
2676 @item mirror = on/off
2677 Turn mirroring on/off. The same as @samp{-m}.
2679 @item netrc = on/off
2680 Turn reading netrc on or off.
2682 @item noclobber = on/off
2685 @item no_parent = on/off
2686 Disallow retrieving outside the directory hierarchy, like
2687 @samp{--no-parent} (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits}).
2689 @item no_proxy = @var{string}
2690 Use @var{string} as the comma-separated list of domains to avoid in
2691 proxy loading, instead of the one specified in environment.
2693 @item output_document = @var{file}
2694 Set the output filename---the same as @samp{-O @var{file}}.
2696 @item page_requisites = on/off
2697 Download all ancillary documents necessary for a single @sc{html} page to
2698 display properly---the same as @samp{-p}.
2700 @item passive_ftp = on/off/always/never
2701 Change setting of passive @sc{ftp}, equivalent to the
2702 @samp{--passive-ftp} option. Some scripts and @samp{.pm} (Perl
2703 module) files download files using @samp{wget --passive-ftp}. If your
2704 firewall does not allow this, you can set @samp{passive_ftp = never}
2705 to override the command-line.
2707 @itemx password = @var{string}
2708 Specify password @var{string} for both @sc{ftp} and @sc{http} file retrieval.
2709 This command can be overridden using the @samp{ftp_password} and
2710 @samp{http_password} command for @sc{ftp} and @sc{http} respectively.
2712 @item post_data = @var{string}
2713 Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send @var{string} in
2714 the request body. The same as @samp{--post-data=@var{string}}.
2716 @item post_file = @var{file}
2717 Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send the contents of
2718 @var{file} in the request body. The same as
2719 @samp{--post-file=@var{file}}.
2721 @item prefer_family = IPv4/IPv6/none
2722 When given a choice of several addresses, connect to the addresses
2723 with specified address family first. IPv4 addresses are preferred by
2724 default. The same as @samp{--prefer-family}, which see for a detailed
2725 discussion of why this is useful.
2727 @item private_key = @var{file}
2728 Set the private key file to @var{file}. The same as
2729 @samp{--private-key=@var{file}}.
2731 @item private_key_type = @var{string}
2732 Specify the type of the private key, legal values being @samp{PEM}
2733 (the default) and @samp{DER} (aka ASN1). The same as
2734 @samp{--private-type=@var{string}}.
2736 @item progress = @var{string}
2737 Set the type of the progress indicator. Legal types are @samp{dot}
2738 and @samp{bar}. Equivalent to @samp{--progress=@var{string}}.
2740 @item protocol_directories = on/off
2741 When set, use the protocol name as a directory component of local file
2742 names. The same as @samp{--protocol-directories}.
2744 @item proxy_user = @var{string}
2745 Set proxy authentication user name to @var{string}, like
2746 @samp{--proxy-user=@var{string}}.
2748 @item proxy_password = @var{string}
2749 Set proxy authentication password to @var{string}, like
2750 @samp{--proxy-password=@var{string}}.
2752 @item quiet = on/off
2753 Quiet mode---the same as @samp{-q}.
2755 @item quota = @var{quota}
2756 Specify the download quota, which is useful to put in the global
2757 @file{wgetrc}. When download quota is specified, Wget will stop
2758 retrieving after the download sum has become greater than quota. The
2759 quota can be specified in bytes (default), kbytes @samp{k} appended) or
2760 mbytes (@samp{m} appended). Thus @samp{quota = 5m} will set the quota
2761 to 5 megabytes. Note that the user's startup file overrides system
2764 @item random_file = @var{file}
2765 Use @var{file} as a source of randomness on systems lacking
2768 @item read_timeout = @var{n}
2769 Set the read (and write) timeout---the same as
2770 @samp{--read-timeout=@var{n}}.
2772 @item reclevel = @var{n}
2773 Recursion level (depth)---the same as @samp{-l @var{n}}.
2775 @item recursive = on/off
2776 Recursive on/off---the same as @samp{-r}.
2778 @item referer = @var{string}
2779 Set HTTP @samp{Referer:} header just like
2780 @samp{--referer=@var{string}}. (Note it was the folks who wrote the
2781 @sc{http} spec who got the spelling of ``referrer'' wrong.)
2783 @item relative_only = on/off
2784 Follow only relative links---the same as @samp{-L} (@pxref{Relative
2787 @item remove_listing = on/off
2788 If set to on, remove @sc{ftp} listings downloaded by Wget. Setting it
2789 to off is the same as @samp{--no-remove-listing}.
2791 @item restrict_file_names = unix/windows
2792 Restrict the file names generated by Wget from URLs. See
2793 @samp{--restrict-file-names} for a more detailed description.
2795 @item retr_symlinks = on/off
2796 When set to on, retrieve symbolic links as if they were plain files; the
2797 same as @samp{--retr-symlinks}.
2799 @item retry_connrefused = on/off
2800 When set to on, consider ``connection refused'' a transient
2801 error---the same as @samp{--retry-connrefused}.
2803 @item robots = on/off
2804 Specify whether the norobots convention is respected by Wget, ``on'' by
2805 default. This switch controls both the @file{/robots.txt} and the
2806 @samp{nofollow} aspect of the spec. @xref{Robot Exclusion}, for more
2807 details about this. Be sure you know what you are doing before turning
2810 @item save_cookies = @var{file}
2811 Save cookies to @var{file}. The same as @samp{--save-cookies
2814 @item secure_protocol = @var{string}
2815 Choose the secure protocol to be used. Legal values are @samp{auto}
2816 (the default), @samp{SSLv2}, @samp{SSLv3}, and @samp{TLSv1}. The same
2817 as @samp{--secure-protocol=@var{string}}.
2819 @item server_response = on/off
2820 Choose whether or not to print the @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} server
2821 responses---the same as @samp{-S}.
2823 @item span_hosts = on/off
2826 @item strict_comments = on/off
2827 Same as @samp{--strict-comments}.
2829 @item timeout = @var{n}
2830 Set all applicable timeout values to @var{n}, the same as @samp{-T
2833 @item timestamping = on/off
2834 Turn timestamping on/off. The same as @samp{-N} (@pxref{Time-Stamping}).
2836 @item tries = @var{n}
2837 Set number of retries per @sc{url}---the same as @samp{-t @var{n}}.
2839 @item use_proxy = on/off
2840 When set to off, don't use proxy even when proxy-related environment
2841 variables are set. In that case it is the same as using
2844 @item user = @var{string}
2845 Specify username @var{string} for both @sc{ftp} and @sc{http} file retrieval.
2846 This command can be overridden using the @samp{ftp_user} and
2847 @samp{http_user} command for @sc{ftp} and @sc{http} respectively.
2849 @item verbose = on/off
2850 Turn verbose on/off---the same as @samp{-v}/@samp{-nv}.
2852 @item wait = @var{n}
2853 Wait @var{n} seconds between retrievals---the same as @samp{-w
2856 @item waitretry = @var{n}
2857 Wait up to @var{n} seconds between retries of failed retrievals
2858 only---the same as @samp{--waitretry=@var{n}}. Note that this is
2859 turned on by default in the global @file{wgetrc}.
2861 @item randomwait = on/off
2862 Turn random between-request wait times on or off. The same as
2863 @samp{--random-wait}.
2867 @section Sample Wgetrc
2868 @cindex sample wgetrc
2870 This is the sample initialization file, as given in the distribution.
2871 It is divided in two section---one for global usage (suitable for global
2872 startup file), and one for local usage (suitable for
2873 @file{$HOME/.wgetrc}). Be careful about the things you change.
2875 Note that almost all the lines are commented out. For a command to have
2876 any effect, you must remove the @samp{#} character at the beginning of
2880 @include sample.wgetrc.munged_for_texi_inclusion
2887 @c man begin EXAMPLES
2888 The examples are divided into three sections loosely based on their
2892 * Simple Usage:: Simple, basic usage of the program.
2893 * Advanced Usage:: Advanced tips.
2894 * Very Advanced Usage:: The hairy stuff.
2898 @section Simple Usage
2902 Say you want to download a @sc{url}. Just type:
2905 wget http://fly.srk.fer.hr/
2909 But what will happen if the connection is slow, and the file is lengthy?
2910 The connection will probably fail before the whole file is retrieved,
2911 more than once. In this case, Wget will try getting the file until it
2912 either gets the whole of it, or exceeds the default number of retries
2913 (this being 20). It is easy to change the number of tries to 45, to
2914 insure that the whole file will arrive safely:
2917 wget --tries=45 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/jpg/flyweb.jpg
2921 Now let's leave Wget to work in the background, and write its progress
2922 to log file @file{log}. It is tiring to type @samp{--tries}, so we
2923 shall use @samp{-t}.
2926 wget -t 45 -o log http://fly.srk.fer.hr/jpg/flyweb.jpg &
2929 The ampersand at the end of the line makes sure that Wget works in the
2930 background. To unlimit the number of retries, use @samp{-t inf}.
2933 The usage of @sc{ftp} is as simple. Wget will take care of login and
2937 wget ftp://gnjilux.srk.fer.hr/welcome.msg
2941 If you specify a directory, Wget will retrieve the directory listing,
2942 parse it and convert it to @sc{html}. Try:
2945 wget ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/
2950 @node Advanced Usage
2951 @section Advanced Usage
2955 You have a file that contains the URLs you want to download? Use the
2962 If you specify @samp{-} as file name, the @sc{url}s will be read from
2966 Create a five levels deep mirror image of the GNU web site, with the
2967 same directory structure the original has, with only one try per
2968 document, saving the log of the activities to @file{gnulog}:
2971 wget -r http://www.gnu.org/ -o gnulog
2975 The same as the above, but convert the links in the @sc{html} files to
2976 point to local files, so you can view the documents off-line:
2979 wget --convert-links -r http://www.gnu.org/ -o gnulog
2983 Retrieve only one @sc{html} page, but make sure that all the elements needed
2984 for the page to be displayed, such as inline images and external style
2985 sheets, are also downloaded. Also make sure the downloaded page
2986 references the downloaded links.
2989 wget -p --convert-links http://www.server.com/dir/page.html
2992 The @sc{html} page will be saved to @file{www.server.com/dir/page.html}, and
2993 the images, stylesheets, etc., somewhere under @file{www.server.com/},
2994 depending on where they were on the remote server.
2997 The same as the above, but without the @file{www.server.com/} directory.
2998 In fact, I don't want to have all those random server directories
2999 anyway---just save @emph{all} those files under a @file{download/}
3000 subdirectory of the current directory.
3003 wget -p --convert-links -nH -nd -Pdownload \
3004 http://www.server.com/dir/page.html
3008 Retrieve the index.html of @samp{www.lycos.com}, showing the original
3012 wget -S http://www.lycos.com/
3016 Save the server headers with the file, perhaps for post-processing.
3019 wget --save-headers http://www.lycos.com/
3024 Retrieve the first two levels of @samp{wuarchive.wustl.edu}, saving them
3028 wget -r -l2 -P/tmp ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/
3032 You want to download all the @sc{gif}s from a directory on an @sc{http}
3033 server. You tried @samp{wget http://www.server.com/dir/*.gif}, but that
3034 didn't work because @sc{http} retrieval does not support globbing. In
3038 wget -r -l1 --no-parent -A.gif http://www.server.com/dir/
3041 More verbose, but the effect is the same. @samp{-r -l1} means to
3042 retrieve recursively (@pxref{Recursive Download}), with maximum depth
3043 of 1. @samp{--no-parent} means that references to the parent directory
3044 are ignored (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits}), and @samp{-A.gif} means to
3045 download only the @sc{gif} files. @samp{-A "*.gif"} would have worked
3049 Suppose you were in the middle of downloading, when Wget was
3050 interrupted. Now you do not want to clobber the files already present.
3054 wget -nc -r http://www.gnu.org/
3058 If you want to encode your own username and password to @sc{http} or
3059 @sc{ftp}, use the appropriate @sc{url} syntax (@pxref{URL Format}).
3062 wget ftp://hniksic:mypassword@@unix.server.com/.emacs
3065 Note, however, that this usage is not advisable on multi-user systems
3066 because it reveals your password to anyone who looks at the output of
3069 @cindex redirecting output
3071 You would like the output documents to go to standard output instead of
3075 wget -O - http://jagor.srce.hr/ http://www.srce.hr/
3078 You can also combine the two options and make pipelines to retrieve the
3079 documents from remote hotlists:
3082 wget -O - http://cool.list.com/ | wget --force-html -i -
3086 @node Very Advanced Usage
3087 @section Very Advanced Usage
3092 If you wish Wget to keep a mirror of a page (or @sc{ftp}
3093 subdirectories), use @samp{--mirror} (@samp{-m}), which is the shorthand
3094 for @samp{-r -l inf -N}. You can put Wget in the crontab file asking it
3095 to recheck a site each Sunday:
3099 0 0 * * 0 wget --mirror http://www.gnu.org/ -o /home/me/weeklog
3103 In addition to the above, you want the links to be converted for local
3104 viewing. But, after having read this manual, you know that link
3105 conversion doesn't play well with timestamping, so you also want Wget to
3106 back up the original @sc{html} files before the conversion. Wget invocation
3107 would look like this:
3110 wget --mirror --convert-links --backup-converted \
3111 http://www.gnu.org/ -o /home/me/weeklog
3115 But you've also noticed that local viewing doesn't work all that well
3116 when @sc{html} files are saved under extensions other than @samp{.html},
3117 perhaps because they were served as @file{index.cgi}. So you'd like
3118 Wget to rename all the files served with content-type @samp{text/html}
3119 or @samp{application/xhtml+xml} to @file{@var{name}.html}.
3122 wget --mirror --convert-links --backup-converted \
3123 --html-extension -o /home/me/weeklog \
3127 Or, with less typing:
3130 wget -m -k -K -E http://www.gnu.org/ -o /home/me/weeklog
3139 This chapter contains all the stuff that could not fit anywhere else.
3142 * Proxies:: Support for proxy servers
3143 * Distribution:: Getting the latest version.
3144 * Mailing List:: Wget mailing list for announcements and discussion.
3145 * Reporting Bugs:: How and where to report bugs.
3146 * Portability:: The systems Wget works on.
3147 * Signals:: Signal-handling performed by Wget.
3154 @dfn{Proxies} are special-purpose @sc{http} servers designed to transfer
3155 data from remote servers to local clients. One typical use of proxies
3156 is lightening network load for users behind a slow connection. This is
3157 achieved by channeling all @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} requests through the
3158 proxy which caches the transferred data. When a cached resource is
3159 requested again, proxy will return the data from cache. Another use for
3160 proxies is for companies that separate (for security reasons) their
3161 internal networks from the rest of Internet. In order to obtain
3162 information from the Web, their users connect and retrieve remote data
3163 using an authorized proxy.
3165 Wget supports proxies for both @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} retrievals. The
3166 standard way to specify proxy location, which Wget recognizes, is using
3167 the following environment variables:
3171 This variable should contain the @sc{url} of the proxy for @sc{http}
3175 This variable should contain the @sc{url} of the proxy for @sc{ftp}
3176 connections. It is quite common that @sc{http_proxy} and @sc{ftp_proxy}
3177 are set to the same @sc{url}.
3180 This variable should contain a comma-separated list of domain extensions
3181 proxy should @emph{not} be used for. For instance, if the value of
3182 @code{no_proxy} is @samp{.mit.edu}, proxy will not be used to retrieve
3186 In addition to the environment variables, proxy location and settings
3187 may be specified from within Wget itself.
3193 @itemx proxy = on/off
3194 This option may be used to turn the proxy support on or off. Proxy
3195 support is on by default, provided that the appropriate environment
3198 @item http_proxy = @var{URL}
3199 @itemx ftp_proxy = @var{URL}
3200 @itemx no_proxy = @var{string}
3201 These startup file variables allow you to override the proxy settings
3202 specified by the environment.
3205 Some proxy servers require authorization to enable you to use them. The
3206 authorization consists of @dfn{username} and @dfn{password}, which must
3207 be sent by Wget. As with @sc{http} authorization, several
3208 authentication schemes exist. For proxy authorization only the
3209 @code{Basic} authentication scheme is currently implemented.
3211 You may specify your username and password either through the proxy
3212 @sc{url} or through the command-line options. Assuming that the
3213 company's proxy is located at @samp{proxy.company.com} at port 8001, a
3214 proxy @sc{url} location containing authorization data might look like
3218 http://hniksic:mypassword@@proxy.company.com:8001/
3221 Alternatively, you may use the @samp{proxy-user} and
3222 @samp{proxy-password} options, and the equivalent @file{.wgetrc}
3223 settings @code{proxy_user} and @code{proxy_password} to set the proxy
3224 username and password.
3227 @section Distribution
3228 @cindex latest version
3230 Like all GNU utilities, the latest version of Wget can be found at the
3231 master GNU archive site ftp.gnu.org, and its mirrors. For example,
3232 Wget @value{VERSION} can be found at
3233 @url{ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/wget/wget-@value{VERSION}.tar.gz}
3236 @section Mailing List
3237 @cindex mailing list
3240 There are several Wget-related mailing lists, all hosted by
3241 SunSITE.dk. The general discussion list is at
3242 @email{wget@@sunsite.dk}. It is the preferred place for bug reports
3243 and suggestions, as well as for discussion of development. You are
3244 invited to subscribe.
3246 To subscribe, simply send mail to @email{wget-subscribe@@sunsite.dk}
3247 and follow the instructions. Unsubscribe by mailing to
3248 @email{wget-unsubscribe@@sunsite.dk}. The mailing list is archived at
3249 @url{http://www.mail-archive.com/wget%40sunsite.dk/} and at
3250 @url{http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.wget.general}.
3252 The second mailing list is at @email{wget-patches@@sunsite.dk}, and is
3253 used to submit patches for review by Wget developers. A ``patch'' is
3254 a textual representation of change to source code, readable by both
3255 humans and programs. The file @file{PATCHES} that comes with Wget
3256 covers the creation and submitting of patches in detail. Please don't
3257 send general suggestions or bug reports to @samp{wget-patches}; use it
3258 only for patch submissions.
3260 To subscribe, simply send mail to @email{wget-subscribe@@sunsite.dk}
3261 and follow the instructions. Unsubscribe by mailing to
3262 @email{wget-unsubscribe@@sunsite.dk}. The mailing list is archived at
3263 @url{http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.wget.patches}.
3265 Finally, there is a read-only list at @email{wget-cvs@@sunsite.dk}
3266 that tracks commits to the Wget CVS repository. To subscribe to that
3267 list, send mail to @email{wget-cvs-subscribe@@sunsite.dk}. The list
3270 @node Reporting Bugs
3271 @section Reporting Bugs
3273 @cindex reporting bugs
3277 You are welcome to send bug reports about GNU Wget to
3278 @email{bug-wget@@gnu.org}.
3280 Before actually submitting a bug report, please try to follow a few
3285 Please try to ascertain that the behavior you see really is a bug. If
3286 Wget crashes, it's a bug. If Wget does not behave as documented,
3287 it's a bug. If things work strange, but you are not sure about the way
3288 they are supposed to work, it might well be a bug.
3291 Try to repeat the bug in as simple circumstances as possible. E.g. if
3292 Wget crashes while downloading @samp{wget -rl0 -kKE -t5 -Y0
3293 http://yoyodyne.com -o /tmp/log}, you should try to see if the crash is
3294 repeatable, and if will occur with a simpler set of options. You might
3295 even try to start the download at the page where the crash occurred to
3296 see if that page somehow triggered the crash.
3298 Also, while I will probably be interested to know the contents of your
3299 @file{.wgetrc} file, just dumping it into the debug message is probably
3300 a bad idea. Instead, you should first try to see if the bug repeats
3301 with @file{.wgetrc} moved out of the way. Only if it turns out that
3302 @file{.wgetrc} settings affect the bug, mail me the relevant parts of
3306 Please start Wget with @samp{-d} option and send us the resulting
3307 output (or relevant parts thereof). If Wget was compiled without
3308 debug support, recompile it---it is @emph{much} easier to trace bugs
3309 with debug support on.
3311 Note: please make sure to remove any potentially sensitive information
3312 from the debug log before sending it to the bug address. The
3313 @code{-d} won't go out of its way to collect sensitive information,
3314 but the log @emph{will} contain a fairly complete transcript of Wget's
3315 communication with the server, which may include passwords and pieces
3316 of downloaded data. Since the bug address is publically archived, you
3317 may assume that all bug reports are visible to the public.
3320 If Wget has crashed, try to run it in a debugger, e.g. @code{gdb `which
3321 wget` core} and type @code{where} to get the backtrace. This may not
3322 work if the system administrator has disabled core files, but it is
3328 @section Portability
3330 @cindex operating systems
3332 Like all GNU software, Wget works on the GNU system. However, since it
3333 uses GNU Autoconf for building and configuring, and mostly avoids using
3334 ``special'' features of any particular Unix, it should compile (and
3335 work) on all common Unix flavors.
3337 Various Wget versions have been compiled and tested under many kinds
3338 of Unix systems, including GNU/Linux, Solaris, SunOS 4.x, OSF (aka
3339 Digital Unix or Tru64), Ultrix, *BSD, IRIX, AIX, and others. Some of
3340 those systems are no longer in widespread use and may not be able to
3341 support recent versions of Wget. If Wget fails to compile on your
3342 system, we would like to know about it.
3344 Thanks to kind contributors, this version of Wget compiles and works
3345 on 32-bit Microsoft Windows platforms. It has been compiled
3346 successfully using MS Visual C++ 6.0, Watcom, Borland C, and GCC
3347 compilers. Naturally, it is crippled of some features available on
3348 Unix, but it should work as a substitute for people stuck with
3349 Windows. Note that Windows-specific portions of Wget are not
3350 guaranteed to be supported in the future, although this has been the
3351 case in practice for many years now. All questions and problems in
3352 Windows usage should be reported to Wget mailing list at
3353 @email{wget@@sunsite.dk} where the volunteers who maintain the
3354 Windows-related features might look at them.
3358 @cindex signal handling
3361 Since the purpose of Wget is background work, it catches the hangup
3362 signal (@code{SIGHUP}) and ignores it. If the output was on standard
3363 output, it will be redirected to a file named @file{wget-log}.
3364 Otherwise, @code{SIGHUP} is ignored. This is convenient when you wish
3365 to redirect the output of Wget after having started it.
3368 $ wget http://www.gnus.org/dist/gnus.tar.gz &
3371 SIGHUP received, redirecting output to `wget-log'.
3374 Other than that, Wget will not try to interfere with signals in any way.
3375 @kbd{C-c}, @code{kill -TERM} and @code{kill -KILL} should kill it alike.
3380 This chapter contains some references I consider useful.
3383 * Robot Exclusion:: Wget's support for RES.
3384 * Security Considerations:: Security with Wget.
3385 * Contributors:: People who helped.
3388 @node Robot Exclusion
3389 @section Robot Exclusion
3390 @cindex robot exclusion
3392 @cindex server maintenance
3394 It is extremely easy to make Wget wander aimlessly around a web site,
3395 sucking all the available data in progress. @samp{wget -r @var{site}},
3396 and you're set. Great? Not for the server admin.
3398 As long as Wget is only retrieving static pages, and doing it at a
3399 reasonable rate (see the @samp{--wait} option), there's not much of a
3400 problem. The trouble is that Wget can't tell the difference between the
3401 smallest static page and the most demanding CGI. A site I know has a
3402 section handled by a CGI Perl script that converts Info files to @sc{html} on
3403 the fly. The script is slow, but works well enough for human users
3404 viewing an occasional Info file. However, when someone's recursive Wget
3405 download stumbles upon the index page that links to all the Info files
3406 through the script, the system is brought to its knees without providing
3407 anything useful to the user (This task of converting Info files could be
3408 done locally and access to Info documentation for all installed GNU
3409 software on a system is available from the @code{info} command).
3411 To avoid this kind of accident, as well as to preserve privacy for
3412 documents that need to be protected from well-behaved robots, the
3413 concept of @dfn{robot exclusion} was invented. The idea is that
3414 the server administrators and document authors can specify which
3415 portions of the site they wish to protect from robots and those
3416 they will permit access.
3418 The most popular mechanism, and the @i{de facto} standard supported by
3419 all the major robots, is the ``Robots Exclusion Standard'' (RES) written
3420 by Martijn Koster et al. in 1994. It specifies the format of a text
3421 file containing directives that instruct the robots which URL paths to
3422 avoid. To be found by the robots, the specifications must be placed in
3423 @file{/robots.txt} in the server root, which the robots are expected to
3426 Although Wget is not a web robot in the strictest sense of the word, it
3427 can downloads large parts of the site without the user's intervention to
3428 download an individual page. Because of that, Wget honors RES when
3429 downloading recursively. For instance, when you issue:
3432 wget -r http://www.server.com/
3435 First the index of @samp{www.server.com} will be downloaded. If Wget
3436 finds that it wants to download more documents from that server, it will
3437 request @samp{http://www.server.com/robots.txt} and, if found, use it
3438 for further downloads. @file{robots.txt} is loaded only once per each
3441 Until version 1.8, Wget supported the first version of the standard,
3442 written by Martijn Koster in 1994 and available at
3443 @url{http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html}. As of version 1.8,
3444 Wget has supported the additional directives specified in the internet
3445 draft @samp{<draft-koster-robots-00.txt>} titled ``A Method for Web
3446 Robots Control''. The draft, which has as far as I know never made to
3447 an @sc{rfc}, is available at
3448 @url{http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots-rfc.txt}.
3450 This manual no longer includes the text of the Robot Exclusion Standard.
3452 The second, less known mechanism, enables the author of an individual
3453 document to specify whether they want the links from the file to be
3454 followed by a robot. This is achieved using the @code{META} tag, like
3458 <meta name="robots" content="nofollow">
3461 This is explained in some detail at
3462 @url{http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/meta-user.html}. Wget supports this
3463 method of robot exclusion in addition to the usual @file{/robots.txt}
3466 If you know what you are doing and really really wish to turn off the
3467 robot exclusion, set the @code{robots} variable to @samp{off} in your
3468 @file{.wgetrc}. You can achieve the same effect from the command line
3469 using the @code{-e} switch, e.g. @samp{wget -e robots=off @var{url}...}.
3471 @node Security Considerations
3472 @section Security Considerations
3475 When using Wget, you must be aware that it sends unencrypted passwords
3476 through the network, which may present a security problem. Here are the
3477 main issues, and some solutions.
3481 The passwords on the command line are visible using @code{ps}. The best
3482 way around it is to use @code{wget -i -} and feed the @sc{url}s to
3483 Wget's standard input, each on a separate line, terminated by @kbd{C-d}.
3484 Another workaround is to use @file{.netrc} to store passwords; however,
3485 storing unencrypted passwords is also considered a security risk.
3488 Using the insecure @dfn{basic} authentication scheme, unencrypted
3489 passwords are transmitted through the network routers and gateways.
3492 The @sc{ftp} passwords are also in no way encrypted. There is no good
3493 solution for this at the moment.
3496 Although the ``normal'' output of Wget tries to hide the passwords,
3497 debugging logs show them, in all forms. This problem is avoided by
3498 being careful when you send debug logs (yes, even when you send them to
3503 @section Contributors
3504 @cindex contributors
3507 GNU Wget was written by Hrvoje Nik@v{s}i@'{c} @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org}.
3510 GNU Wget was written by Hrvoje Niksic @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org}.
3512 However, its development could never have gone as far as it has, were it
3513 not for the help of many people, either with bug reports, feature
3514 proposals, patches, or letters saying ``Thanks!''.
3516 Special thanks goes to the following people (no particular order):
3520 Karsten Thygesen---donated system resources such as the mailing list,
3521 web space, and @sc{ftp} space, along with a lot of time to make these
3525 Shawn McHorse---bug reports and patches.
3528 Kaveh R. Ghazi---on-the-fly @code{ansi2knr}-ization. Lots of
3532 Gordon Matzigkeit---@file{.netrc} support.
3536 Zlatko @v{C}alu@v{s}i@'{c}, Tomislav Vujec and Dra@v{z}en
3537 Ka@v{c}ar---feature suggestions and ``philosophical'' discussions.
3540 Zlatko Calusic, Tomislav Vujec and Drazen Kacar---feature suggestions
3541 and ``philosophical'' discussions.
3545 Darko Budor---initial port to Windows.
3548 Antonio Rosella---help and suggestions, plus the Italian translation.
3552 Tomislav Petrovi@'{c}, Mario Miko@v{c}evi@'{c}---many bug reports and
3556 Tomislav Petrovic, Mario Mikocevic---many bug reports and suggestions.
3561 Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many thorough bug reports and discussions.
3564 Francois Pinard---many thorough bug reports and discussions.
3568 Karl Eichwalder---lots of help with internationalization and other
3572 Junio Hamano---donated support for Opie and @sc{http} @code{Digest}
3576 The people who provided donations for development, including Brian
3580 The following people have provided patches, bug/build reports, useful
3581 suggestions, beta testing services, fan mail and all the other things
3582 that make maintenance so much fun:
3602 Kristijan @v{C}onka@v{s},
3611 Bertrand Demiddelaer,
3624 Aleksandar Erkalovi@'{c},
3627 Aleksandar Erkalovic,
3648 Erik Magnus Hulthen,
3667 Goran Kezunovi@'{c},
3680 $\Sigma\acute{\iota}\mu o\varsigma\;
3681 \Xi\varepsilon\nu\iota\tau\acute{\epsilon}\lambda\lambda\eta\varsigma$
3682 (Simos KSenitellis),
3691 Nicol@'{a}s Lichtmeier,
3697 Alexander V. Lukyanov,
3731 @c Texinfo doesn't grok @'{@i}, so we have to use TeX itself.
3733 Juan Jos\'{e} Rodr\'{\i}guez,
3736 Juan Jose Rodriguez,
3753 Szakacsits Szabolcs,
3767 Douglas E. Wegscheid,
3778 Apologies to all who I accidentally left out, and many thanks to all the
3779 subscribers of the Wget mailing list.
3786 @cindex free software
3788 GNU Wget is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL),
3789 which makes it @dfn{free software}. Please note that ``free'' in ``free
3790 software'' refers to liberty, not price. As some people like to point
3791 out, it's the ``free'' of ``free speech'', not the ``free'' of ``free
3794 The exact and legally binding distribution terms are spelled out below.
3795 The GPL guarantees that you have the right (freedom) to run and change
3796 GNU Wget and distribute it to others, and even---if you want---charge
3797 money for doing any of those things. With these rights comes the
3798 obligation to distribute the source code along with the software and to
3799 grant your recipients the same rights and impose the same restrictions.
3801 This licensing model is also known as @dfn{open source} because it,
3802 among other things, makes sure that all recipients will receive the
3803 source code along with the program, and be able to improve it. The GNU
3804 project prefers the term ``free software'' for reasons outlined at
3805 @url{http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html}.
3807 The exact license terms are defined by this paragraph and the GNU
3808 General Public License it refers to:
3811 GNU Wget is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
3812 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
3813 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
3814 option) any later version.
3816 GNU Wget is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
3817 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
3818 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
3821 A copy of the GNU General Public License is included as part of this
3822 manual; if you did not receive it, write to the Free Software
3823 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
3826 In addition to this, this manual is free in the same sense:
3829 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
3830 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
3831 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
3832 Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'' and ``GNU Free
3833 Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
3834 Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
3835 entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
3838 @c #### Maybe we should wrap these licenses in ifinfo? Stallman says
3839 @c that the GFDL needs to be present in the manual, and to me it would
3840 @c suck to include the license for the manual and not the license for
3843 The full texts of the GNU General Public License and of the GNU Free
3844 Documentation License are available below.
3847 * GNU General Public License::
3848 * GNU Free Documentation License::
3851 @node GNU General Public License
3852 @section GNU General Public License
3853 @center Version 2, June 1991
3856 Copyright @copyright{} 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3857 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
3859 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
3860 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
3863 @unnumberedsec Preamble
3865 The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
3866 freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public
3867 License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
3868 software---to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
3869 General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
3870 Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
3871 using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
3872 the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
3875 When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
3876 price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
3877 have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
3878 this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
3879 if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
3880 in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
3882 To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
3883 anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
3884 These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
3885 distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
3887 For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
3888 gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
3889 you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
3890 source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
3893 We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
3894 (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
3895 distribute and/or modify the software.
3897 Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
3898 that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
3899 software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
3900 want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so
3901 that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
3902 authors' reputations.
3904 Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
3905 patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
3906 program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the
3907 program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
3908 patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
3910 The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
3911 modification follow.
3914 @unnumberedsec TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
3917 @center TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
3922 This License applies to any program or other work which contains
3923 a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
3924 under the terms of this General Public License. The ``Program'', below,
3925 refers to any such program or work, and a ``work based on the Program''
3926 means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law:
3927 that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
3928 either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another
3929 language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in
3930 the term ``modification''.) Each licensee is addressed as ``you''.
3932 Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
3933 covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of
3934 running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program
3935 is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the
3936 Program (independent of having been made by running the Program).
3937 Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.
3940 You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
3941 source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
3942 conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
3943 copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the
3944 notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty;
3945 and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License
3946 along with the Program.
3948 You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
3949 you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
3952 You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
3953 of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
3954 distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
3955 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
3959 You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
3960 stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
3963 You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
3964 whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
3965 part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
3966 parties under the terms of this License.
3969 If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
3970 when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
3971 interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
3972 announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
3973 notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
3974 a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
3975 these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
3976 License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
3977 does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
3978 the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
3981 These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
3982 identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
3983 and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
3984 themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
3985 sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you
3986 distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
3987 on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
3988 this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
3989 entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
3991 Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
3992 your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
3993 exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
3994 collective works based on the Program.
3996 In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
3997 with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
3998 a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
3999 the scope of this License.
4002 You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
4003 under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
4004 Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
4008 Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
4009 source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
4010 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
4013 Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
4014 years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
4015 cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
4016 machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
4017 distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
4018 customarily used for software interchange; or,
4021 Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
4022 to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
4023 allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
4024 received the program in object code or executable form with such
4025 an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
4028 The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
4029 making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
4030 code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
4031 associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to
4032 control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a
4033 special exception, the source code distributed need not include
4034 anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
4035 form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
4036 operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
4037 itself accompanies the executable.
4039 If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
4040 access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
4041 access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
4042 distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
4043 compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
4046 You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
4047 except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
4048 otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
4049 void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
4050 However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under
4051 this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
4052 parties remain in full compliance.
4055 You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
4056 signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
4057 distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are
4058 prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by
4059 modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
4060 Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
4061 all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
4062 the Program or works based on it.
4065 Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
4066 Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
4067 original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
4068 these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
4069 restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
4070 You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
4074 If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
4075 infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
4076 conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
4077 otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
4078 excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot
4079 distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this
4080 License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you
4081 may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent
4082 license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
4083 all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
4084 the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to
4085 refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
4087 If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
4088 any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
4089 apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other
4092 It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
4093 patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
4094 such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
4095 integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
4096 implemented by public license practices. Many people have made
4097 generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
4098 through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
4099 system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing
4100 to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot
4103 This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
4104 be a consequence of the rest of this License.
4107 If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
4108 certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
4109 original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
4110 may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
4111 those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
4112 countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates
4113 the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
4116 The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions
4117 of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will
4118 be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
4119 address new problems or concerns.
4121 Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
4122 specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and ``any
4123 later version'', you have the option of following the terms and conditions
4124 either of that version or of any later version published by the Free
4125 Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of
4126 this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software
4130 If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
4131 programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author
4132 to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free
4133 Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes
4134 make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals
4135 of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and
4136 of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
4139 @heading NO WARRANTY
4147 BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
4148 FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN
4149 OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
4150 PROVIDE THE PROGRAM ``AS IS'' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
4151 OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
4152 MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS
4153 TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
4154 PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
4155 REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
4158 IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
4159 WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
4160 REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
4161 INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
4162 OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
4163 TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
4164 YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
4165 PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
4166 POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
4170 @heading END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
4173 @center END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
4177 @unnumberedsec How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
4179 If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
4180 possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
4181 free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
4183 To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
4184 to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
4185 convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
4186 the ``copyright'' line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
4189 @var{one line to give the program's name and an idea of what it does.}
4190 Copyright (C) 20@var{yy} @var{name of author}
4192 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
4193 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
4194 as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
4195 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
4197 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
4198 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
4199 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
4200 GNU General Public License for more details.
4202 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
4203 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
4204 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
4207 Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
4209 If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
4210 when it starts in an interactive mode:
4213 Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 20@var{yy} @var{name of author}
4214 Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details
4215 type `show w'. This is free software, and you are welcome
4216 to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c'
4220 The hypothetical commands @samp{show w} and @samp{show c} should show
4221 the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the
4222 commands you use may be called something other than @samp{show w} and
4223 @samp{show c}; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items---whatever
4226 You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
4227 school, if any, to sign a ``copyright disclaimer'' for the program, if
4228 necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
4232 Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright
4233 interest in the program `Gnomovision'
4234 (which makes passes at compilers) written
4237 @var{signature of Ty Coon}, 1 April 1989
4238 Ty Coon, President of Vice
4242 This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into
4243 proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may
4244 consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the
4245 library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General
4246 Public License instead of this License.
4251 @unnumbered Concept Index