How To Download Files From A Website Using Cmd

Newer isn't ever improve, and the wget command is proof. Get-go released back in 1996, this application is still one of the all-time download managers on the planet. Whether you desire to download a single file, an entire folder, or even mirror an entire website, wget lets yous do information technology with just a few keystrokes.

Of course, in that location's a reason not everyone uses wget: it's a command line application, and as such takes a bit of time for beginners to learn. Here are the nuts, so y'all can become started.

How to Install wget

Earlier yous tin use wget, yous need to install it. How to practise so varies depending on your estimator:

Most (if not all) Linux distros come up with wget by default. So Linux users don't have to do anything!
macOS systems do not come with wget, but you tin can install control line tools using Homebrew. Once y'all've set upwards Homebrew, but run brew install wget in the Terminal.
Windows users don't have easy access to wget in the traditional Command Prompt, though Cygwin provides wget and other GNU utilities, and Windows 10's Ubuntu's Bash shell also comes with wget.

One time you lot've installed wget, you tin starting time using it immediately from the command line. Permit's download some files!

Download a Single File

Permit'south start with something uncomplicated. Copy the URL for a file you'd like to download in your browser.

Now caput dorsum to the Last and type wget followed by the pasted URL. The file will download, and you'll see progress in realtime as it does.

RELATED: How to Manage Files from the Linux Final: 11 Commands You Need to Know

Note that the file will download to your Terminal'south current binder, so you lot'll desire to cd to a different binder if y'all desire it stored elsewhere. If you're not certain what that means, check out our guide to managing files from the command line. The article mentions Linux, but the concepts are the same on macOS systems, and Windows systems running Bash.

Go along an Incomplete Download

If, for whatever reason, you stopped a download before it could finish, don't worry: wget can pick upward right where it left off. Just use this command:

wget -c file

The key here is -c, which is an "pick" in command line parlance. This particular option tells wget that you'd like to continue an existing download.

Mirror an Unabridged Website

If yous want to download an unabridged website, wget tin do the job.

wget -k http://example.com

By default, this will download everything on the site example.com, but you're probably going to want to use a few more options for a usable mirror.

--convert-links changes links inside each downloaded page so that they point to each other, not the web.
--page-requisites downloads things like style sheets, so pages will look right offline.
--no-parent stops wget from downloading parent sites. So if you lot desire to download http://example.com/subexample, you won't end up with the parent page.

Combine these options to taste, and you'll end upward with a copy of whatever website that you can scan on your computer.

Note that mirroring an unabridged website on the modern Cyberspace is going to take upward a massive corporeality of space, so limit this to modest sites unless you have about-unlimited storage.

Download an Entire Directory

If you're browsing an FTP server and find an entire folder you'd like to download, only run:

wget -r ftp://instance.com/binder

The r in this case tells wget you want a recursive download. Y'all can also include --noparent if you want to avert downloading folders and files to a higher place the electric current level.

Download a List of Files at Once

If you tin can't discover an unabridged folder of the downloads you lot desire, wget can notwithstanding help. Just put all of the download URLs into a single TXT file.

and then signal wget to that certificate with the -i option. Like this:

wget -i download.txt

Do this and your computer volition download all files listed in the text document, which is handy if you want to get out a bunch of downloads running overnight.

A Few More than Tricks

We could go on: wget offers a lot of options. But this tutorial is just intended to give you a launching off point. To learn more about what wget can practise, blazon human being wget in the terminal and read what comes up. You'll learn a lot.

Having said that, here are a few other options I think are peachy:

If you want your download to run in the background, just include the option -b.
If you lot want wget to continue trying to download even if there is a 404 error, utilise the option -t x. That will endeavor to download 10 times; yous can use whatever number you like.
If you want to manage your bandwidth, the pick--limit-rate=200k will cap your download speed at 200KB/s. Modify the number to alter the rate.

There'due south a lot more to learn here. You can look into downloading PHP source, or setting up an automated downloader, if you want to become more advanced.