wget.texi

wget (command line browser) source code

same cookie upon further requests.  Since cookies allow the server
owners to keep track of visitors and for sites to exchange this
information, some consider them a breach of privacy.  The default is to
use cookies; however, @emph{storing} cookies is not on by default.

@cindex loading cookies
@cindex cookies, loading
@item --load-cookies @var{file}
Load cookies from @var{file} before the first HTTP retrieval.
@var{file} is a textual file in the format originally used by Netscape's
@file{cookies.txt} file.

You will typically use this option when mirroring sites that require
that you be logged in to access some or all of their content.  The login
process typically works by the web server issuing an @sc{http} cookie
upon receiving and verifying your credentials.  The cookie is then
resent by the browser when accessing that part of the site, and so
proves your identity.

Mirroring such a site requires Wget to send the same cookies your
browser sends when communicating with the site.  This is achieved by
@samp{--load-cookies}---simply point Wget to the location of the
@file{cookies.txt} file, and it will send the same cookies your browser
would send in the same situation.  Different browsers keep textual
cookie files in different locations:

@table @asis
@item Netscape 4.x.
The cookies are in @file{~/.netscape/cookies.txt}.

@item Mozilla and Netscape 6.x.
Mozilla's cookie file is also named @file{cookies.txt}, located
somewhere under @file{~/.mozilla}, in the directory of your profile.
The full path usually ends up looking somewhat like
@file{~/.mozilla/default/@var{some-weird-string}/cookies.txt}.

@item Internet Explorer.
You can produce a cookie file Wget can use by using the File menu,
Import and Export, Export Cookies.  This has been tested with Internet
Explorer 5; it is not guaranteed to work with earlier versions.

@item Other browsers.
If you are using a different browser to create your cookies,
@samp{--load-cookies} will only work if you can locate or produce a
cookie file in the Netscape format that Wget expects.
@end table

If you cannot use @samp{--load-cookies}, there might still be an
alternative.  If your browser supports a ``cookie manager'', you can use
it to view the cookies used when accessing the site you're mirroring.
Write down the name and value of the cookie, and manually instruct Wget
to send those cookies, bypassing the ``official'' cookie support:

@example
wget --cookies=off --header "Cookie: @var{name}=@var{value}"
@end example

@cindex saving cookies
@cindex cookies, saving
@item --save-cookies @var{file}
Save cookies to @var{file} at the end of session.  Cookies whose expiry
time is not specified, or those that have already expired, are not
saved.

@cindex Content-Length, ignore
@cindex ignore length
@item --ignore-length
Unfortunately, some @sc{http} servers (@sc{cgi} programs, to be more
precise) send out bogus @code{Content-Length} headers, which makes Wget
go wild, as it thinks not all the document was retrieved.  You can spot
this syndrome if Wget retries getting the same document again and again,
each time claiming that the (otherwise normal) connection has closed on
the very same byte.

With this option, Wget will ignore the @code{Content-Length} header---as
if it never existed.

@cindex header, add
@item --header=@var{additional-header}
Define an @var{additional-header} to be passed to the @sc{http} servers.
Headers must contain a @samp{:} preceded by one or more non-blank
characters, and must not contain newlines.

You may define more than one additional header by specifying
@samp{--header} more than once.

@example
@group
wget --header='Accept-Charset: iso-8859-2' \
     --header='Accept-Language: hr'        \
       http://fly.srk.fer.hr/
@end group
@end example

Specification of an empty string as the header value will clear all
previous user-defined headers.

@cindex proxy user
@cindex proxy password
@cindex proxy authentication
@item --proxy-user=@var{user}
@itemx --proxy-passwd=@var{password}
Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} for
authentication on a proxy server.  Wget will encode them using the
@code{basic} authentication scheme.

Security considerations similar to those with @samp{--http-passwd}
pertain here as well.

@cindex http referer
@cindex referer, http
@item --referer=@var{url}
Include `Referer: @var{url}' header in HTTP request.  Useful for
retrieving documents with server-side processing that assume they are
always being retrieved by interactive web browsers and only come out
properly when Referer is set to one of the pages that point to them.

@cindex server response, save
@item -s
@itemx --save-headers
Save the headers sent by the @sc{http} server to the file, preceding the
actual contents, with an empty line as the separator.

@cindex user-agent
@item -U @var{agent-string}
@itemx --user-agent=@var{agent-string}
Identify as @var{agent-string} to the @sc{http} server.

The @sc{http} protocol allows the clients to identify themselves using a
@code{User-Agent} header field.  This enables distinguishing the
@sc{www} software, usually for statistical purposes or for tracing of
protocol violations.  Wget normally identifies as
@samp{Wget/@var{version}}, @var{version} being the current version
number of Wget.

However, some sites have been known to impose the policy of tailoring
the output according to the @code{User-Agent}-supplied information.
While conceptually this is not such a bad idea, it has been abused by
servers denying information to clients other than @code{Mozilla} or
Microsoft @code{Internet Explorer}.  This option allows you to change
the @code{User-Agent} line issued by Wget.  Use of this option is
discouraged, unless you really know what you are doing.

@cindex POST
@item --post-data=@var{string}
@itemx --post-file=@var{file}
Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send the specified data
in the request body.  @code{--post-data} sends @var{string} as data,
whereas @code{--post-file} sends the contents of @var{file}.  Other than
that, they work in exactly the same way.

Please be aware that Wget needs to know the size of the POST data in
advance.  Therefore the argument to @code{--post-file} must be a regular
file; specifying a FIFO or something like @file{/dev/stdin} won't work.
It's not quite clear how to work around this limitation inherent in
HTTP/1.0.  Although HTTP/1.1 introduces @dfn{chunked} transfer that
doesn't require knowing the request length in advance, a client can't
use chunked unless it knows it's talking to an HTTP/1.1 server.  And it
can't know that until it receives a response, which in turn requires the
request to have been completed -- a chicken-and-egg problem.

Note: if Wget is redirected after the POST request is completed, it will
not send the POST data to the redirected URL.  This is because URLs that
process POST often respond with a redirection to a regular page
(although that's technically disallowed), which does not desire or
accept POST.  It is not yet clear that this behavior is optimal; if it
doesn't work out, it will be changed.

This example shows how to log to a server using POST and then proceed to
download the desired pages, presumably only accessible to authorized
users:

@example
@group
# @r{Log in to the server.  This can be done only once.}
wget --save-cookies cookies.txt \
     --post-data 'user=foo&password=bar' \
     http://server.com/auth.php

# @r{Now grab the page or pages we care about.}
wget --load-cookies cookies.txt \
     -p http://server.com/interesting/article.php
@end group
@end example
@end table

@node FTP Options, Recursive Retrieval Options, HTTP Options, Invoking
@section FTP Options

@table @samp
@cindex .listing files, removing
@item -nr
@itemx --dont-remove-listing
Don't remove the temporary @file{.listing} files generated by @sc{ftp}
retrievals.  Normally, these files contain the raw directory listings
received from @sc{ftp} servers.  Not removing them can be useful for
debugging purposes, or when you want to be able to easily check on the
contents of remote server directories (e.g. to verify that a mirror
you're running is complete).

Note that even though Wget writes to a known filename for this file,
this is not a security hole in the scenario of a user making
@file{.listing} a symbolic link to @file{/etc/passwd} or something and
asking @code{root} to run Wget in his or her directory.  Depending on
the options used, either Wget will refuse to write to @file{.listing},
making the globbing/recursion/time-stamping operation fail, or the
symbolic link will be deleted and replaced with the actual
@file{.listing} file, or the listing will be written to a
@file{.listing.@var{number}} file.

Even though this situation isn't a problem, though, @code{root} should
never run Wget in a non-trusted user's directory.  A user could do
something as simple as linking @file{index.html} to @file{/etc/passwd}
and asking @code{root} to run Wget with @samp{-N} or @samp{-r} so the file
will be overwritten.

@cindex globbing, toggle
@item -g on/off
@itemx --glob=on/off
Turn @sc{ftp} globbing on or off.  Globbing means you may use the
shell-like special characters (@dfn{wildcards}), like @samp{*},
@samp{?}, @samp{[} and @samp{]} to retrieve more than one file from the
same directory at once, like:

@example
wget ftp://gnjilux.srk.fer.hr/*.msg
@end example

By default, globbing will be turned on if the @sc{url} contains a
globbing character.  This option may be used to turn globbing on or off
permanently.

You may have to quote the @sc{url} to protect it from being expanded by
your shell.  Globbing makes Wget look for a directory listing, which is
system-specific.  This is why it currently works only with Unix @sc{ftp}
servers (and the ones emulating Unix @code{ls} output).

@cindex passive ftp
@item --passive-ftp
Use the @dfn{passive} @sc{ftp} retrieval scheme, in which the client
initiates the data connection.  This is sometimes required for @sc{ftp}
to work behind firewalls.

@cindex symbolic links, retrieving
@item --retr-symlinks
Usually, when retrieving @sc{ftp} directories recursively and a symbolic
link is encountered, the linked-to file is not downloaded.  Instead, a
matching symbolic link is created on the local filesystem.  The
pointed-to file will not be downloaded unless this recursive retrieval
would have encountered it separately and downloaded it anyway.

When @samp{--retr-symlinks} is specified, however, symbolic links are
traversed and the pointed-to files are retrieved.  At this time, this
option does not cause Wget to traverse symlinks to directories and
recurse through them, but in the future it should be enhanced to do
this.

Note that when retrieving a file (not a directory) because it was
specified on the command-line, rather than because it was recursed to,
this option has no effect.  Symbolic links are always traversed in this
case.
@end table

@node Recursive Retrieval Options, Recursive Accept/Reject Options, FTP Options, Invoking
@section Recursive Retrieval Options

@table @samp
@item -r
@itemx --recursive
Turn on recursive retrieving.  @xref{Recursive Retrieval}, for more
details.

@item -l @var{depth}
@itemx --level=@var{depth}
Specify recursion maximum depth level @var{depth} (@pxref{Recursive
Retrieval}).  The default maximum depth is 5.

@cindex proxy filling
@cindex delete after retrieval
@cindex filling proxy cache
@item --delete-after
This option tells Wget to delete every single file it downloads,
@emph{after} having done so.  It is useful for pre-fetching popular
pages through a proxy, e.g.:

@example
wget -r -nd --delete-after http://whatever.com/~popular/page/
@end example

The @samp{-r} option is to retrieve recursively, and @samp{-nd} to not
create directories.  

Note that @samp{--delete-after} deletes files on the local machine.  It
does not issue the @samp{DELE} command to remote FTP sites, for
instance.  Also note that when @samp{--delete-after} is specified,
@samp{--convert-links} is ignored, so @samp{.orig} files are simply not
created in the first place.

@cindex conversion of links
@cindex link conversion
@item -k
@itemx --convert-links
After the download is complete, convert the links in the document to
make them suitable for local viewing.  This affects not only the visible
hyperlinks, but any part of the document that links to external content,
such as embedded images, links to style sheets, hyperlinks to non-@sc{html}
content, etc.

Each link will be changed in one of the two ways:

@itemize @bullet
@item
The links to files that have been downloaded by Wget will be changed to
refer to the file they point to as a relative link.

Example: if the downloaded file @file{/foo/doc.html} links to
@file{/bar/img.gif}, also downloaded, then the link in @file{doc.html}
will be modified to point to @samp{../bar/img.gif}.  This kind of
transformation works reliably for arbitrary combinations of directories.

@item
The links to files that have not been downloaded by Wget will be changed
to include host name and absolute path of the location they point to.

Example: if the downloaded file @file{/foo/doc.html} links to
@file{/bar/img.gif} (or to @file{../bar/img.gif}), then the link in
@file{doc.html} will be modified to point to
@file{http://@var{hostname}/bar/img.gif}.
@end itemize

Because of this, local browsing works reliably: if a linked file was
downloaded, the link will refer to its local name; if it was not
downloaded, the link will refer to its full Internet address rather than