6.3 Wgetrc Commands

The complete set of commands is listed below. Legal values are listed after the ‘=’. Simple Boolean values can be set or unset using ‘on’ and ‘off’ or ‘1’ and ‘0’.

Some commands take pseudo-arbitrary values. address values can be hostnames or dotted-quad IP addresses. n can be any positive integer, or ‘inf’ for infinity, where appropriate. string values can be any non-empty string.

Most of these commands have direct command-line equivalents. Also, any wgetrc command can be specified on the command line using the ‘--execute’ switch (see section Basic Startup Options.)

accept/reject = string

Same as ‘-A’/‘-R’ (see section Types of Files).

add_hostdir = on/off

Enable/disable host-prefixed file names. ‘-nH’ disables it.

ask_password = on/off

Prompt for a password for each connection established. Cannot be specified when ‘--password’ is being used, because they are mutually exclusive. Equivalent to ‘--ask-password’.

auth_no_challenge = on/off

If this option is given, Wget will send Basic HTTP authentication information (plaintext username and password) for all requests. See ‘--auth-no-challenge’.

background = on/off

Enable/disable going to background—the same as ‘-b’ (which enables it).

backup_converted = on/off

Enable/disable saving pre-converted files with the suffix ‘.orig’—the same as ‘-K’ (which enables it).

backups = number

Use up to number backups for a file. Backups are rotated by adding an incremental counter that starts at ‘1’. The default is ‘0’.

base = string

Consider relative URLs in input files (specified via the ‘input’ command or the ‘--input-file’/‘-i’ option, together with ‘force_html’ or ‘--force-html’) as being relative to string—the same as ‘--base=string’.

bind_address = address

Bind to address, like the ‘--bind-address=address’.

ca_certificate = file

Set the certificate authority bundle file to file. The same as ‘--ca-certificate=file’.

ca_directory = directory

Set the directory used for certificate authorities. The same as ‘--ca-directory=directory’.

cache = on/off

When set to off, disallow server-caching. See the ‘--no-cache’ option.

certificate = file

Set the client certificate file name to file. The same as ‘--certificate=file’.

certificate_type = string

Specify the type of the client certificate, legal values being ‘PEM’ (the default) and ‘DER’ (aka ASN1). The same as ‘--certificate-type=string’.

check_certificate = on/off

If this is set to off, the server certificate is not checked against the specified client authorities. The default is “on”. The same as ‘--check-certificate’.

connect_timeout = n

Set the connect timeout—the same as ‘--connect-timeout’.

content_disposition = on/off

Turn on recognition of the (non-standard) ‘Content-Disposition’ HTTP header—if set to ‘on’, the same as ‘--content-disposition’.

trust_server_names = on/off

If set to on, use the last component of a redirection URL for the local file name.

continue = on/off

If set to on, force continuation of preexistent partially retrieved files. See ‘-c’ before setting it.

convert_links = on/off

Convert non-relative links locally. The same as ‘-k’.

cookies = on/off

When set to off, disallow cookies. See the ‘--cookies’ option.

cut_dirs = n

Ignore n remote directory components. Equivalent to ‘--cut-dirs=n’.

debug = on/off

Debug mode, same as ‘-d’.

default_page = string

Default page name—the same as ‘--default-page=string’.

delete_after = on/off

Delete after download—the same as ‘--delete-after’.

dir_prefix = string

Top of directory tree—the same as ‘-P string’.

dirstruct = on/off

Turning dirstruct on or off—the same as ‘-x’ or ‘-nd’, respectively.

dns_cache = on/off

Turn DNS caching on/off. Since DNS caching is on by default, this option is normally used to turn it off and is equivalent to ‘--no-dns-cache’.

dns_timeout = n

Set the DNS timeout—the same as ‘--dns-timeout’.

domains = string

Same as ‘-D’ (see section Spanning Hosts).

dot_bytes = n

Specify the number of bytes “contained” in a dot, as seen throughout the retrieval (1024 by default). You can postfix the value with ‘k’ or ‘m’, representing kilobytes and megabytes, respectively. With dot settings you can tailor the dot retrieval to suit your needs, or you can use the predefined styles (see section Download Options).

dot_spacing = n

Specify the number of dots in a single cluster (10 by default).

dots_in_line = n

Specify the number of dots that will be printed in each line throughout the retrieval (50 by default).

egd_file = file

Use string as the EGD socket file name. The same as ‘--egd-file=file’.

exclude_directories = string

Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to exclude from download—the same as ‘-X string’ (see section Directory-Based Limits).

exclude_domains = string

Same as ‘--exclude-domains=string’ (see section Spanning Hosts).

follow_ftp = on/off

Follow FTP links from HTML documents—the same as ‘--follow-ftp’.

follow_tags = string

Only follow certain HTML tags when doing a recursive retrieval, just like ‘--follow-tags=string’.

force_html = on/off

If set to on, force the input filename to be regarded as an HTML document—the same as ‘-F’.

ftp_password = string

Set your FTP password to string. Without this setting, the password defaults to ‘-wget@’, which is a useful default for anonymous FTP access.

This command used to be named passwd prior to Wget 1.10.

ftp_proxy = string

Use string as FTP proxy, instead of the one specified in environment.

ftp_user = string

Set FTP user to string.

This command used to be named login prior to Wget 1.10.

glob = on/off

Turn globbing on/off—the same as ‘--glob’ and ‘--no-glob’.

header = string

Define a header for HTTP downloads, like using ‘--header=string’.

adjust_extension = on/off

Add a ‘.html’ extension to ‘text/html’ or ‘application/xhtml+xml’ files that lack one, or a ‘.css’ extension to ‘text/css’ files that lack one, like ‘-E’. Previously named ‘html_extension’ (still acceptable, but deprecated).

http_keep_alive = on/off

Turn the keep-alive feature on or off (defaults to on). Turning it off is equivalent to ‘--no-http-keep-alive’.

http_password = string

Set HTTP password, equivalent to ‘--http-password=string’.

http_proxy = string

Use string as HTTP proxy, instead of the one specified in environment.

http_user = string

Set HTTP user to string, equivalent to ‘--http-user=string’.

https_proxy = string

Use string as HTTPS proxy, instead of the one specified in environment.

ignore_case = on/off

When set to on, match files and directories case insensitively; the same as ‘--ignore-case’.

ignore_length = on/off

When set to on, ignore Content-Length header; the same as ‘--ignore-length’.

ignore_tags = string

Ignore certain HTML tags when doing a recursive retrieval, like ‘--ignore-tags=string’.

include_directories = string

Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to follow when downloading—the same as ‘-I string’.

iri = on/off

When set to on, enable internationalized URI (IRI) support; the same as ‘--iri’.

inet4_only = on/off

Force connecting to IPv4 addresses, off by default. You can put this in the global init file to disable Wget’s attempts to resolve and connect to IPv6 hosts. Available only if Wget was compiled with IPv6 support. The same as ‘--inet4-only’ or ‘-4’.

inet6_only = on/off

Force connecting to IPv6 addresses, off by default. Available only if Wget was compiled with IPv6 support. The same as ‘--inet6-only’ or ‘-6’.

input = file

Read the URLs from string, like ‘-i file’.

keep_session_cookies = on/off

When specified, causes ‘save_cookies = on’ to also save session cookies. See ‘--keep-session-cookies’.

limit_rate = rate

Limit the download speed to no more than rate bytes per second. The same as ‘--limit-rate=rate’.

load_cookies = file

Load cookies from file. See ‘--load-cookies file’.

local_encoding = encoding

Force Wget to use encoding as the default system encoding. See ‘--local-encoding’.

logfile = file

Set logfile to file, the same as ‘-o file’.

max_redirect = number

Specifies the maximum number of redirections to follow for a resource. See ‘--max-redirect=number’.

mirror = on/off

Turn mirroring on/off. The same as ‘-m’.

netrc = on/off

Turn reading netrc on or off.

no_clobber = on/off

Same as ‘-nc’.

no_parent = on/off

Disallow retrieving outside the directory hierarchy, like ‘--no-parent’ (see section Directory-Based Limits).

no_proxy = string

Use string as the comma-separated list of domains to avoid in proxy loading, instead of the one specified in environment.

output_document = file

Set the output filename—the same as ‘-O file’.

page_requisites = on/off

Download all ancillary documents necessary for a single HTML page to display properly—the same as ‘-p’.

passive_ftp = on/off

Change setting of passive FTP, equivalent to the ‘--passive-ftp’ option.

password = string

Specify password string for both FTP and HTTP file retrieval. This command can be overridden using the ‘ftp_password’ and ‘http_password’ command for FTP and HTTP respectively.

post_data = string

Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send string in the request body. The same as ‘--post-data=string’.

post_file = file

Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send the contents of file in the request body. The same as ‘--post-file=file’.

prefer_family = none/IPv4/IPv6

When given a choice of several addresses, connect to the addresses with specified address family first. The address order returned by DNS is used without change by default. The same as ‘--prefer-family’, which see for a detailed discussion of why this is useful.

private_key = file

Set the private key file to file. The same as ‘--private-key=file’.

private_key_type = string

Specify the type of the private key, legal values being ‘PEM’ (the default) and ‘DER’ (aka ASN1). The same as ‘--private-type=string’.

progress = string

Set the type of the progress indicator. Legal types are ‘dot’ and ‘bar’. Equivalent to ‘--progress=string’.

protocol_directories = on/off

When set, use the protocol name as a directory component of local file names. The same as ‘--protocol-directories’.

proxy_password = string

Set proxy authentication password to string, like ‘--proxy-password=string’.

proxy_user = string

Set proxy authentication user name to string, like ‘--proxy-user=string’.

quiet = on/off

Quiet mode—the same as ‘-q’.

quota = quota

Specify the download quota, which is useful to put in the global ‘wgetrc’. When download quota is specified, Wget will stop retrieving after the download sum has become greater than quota. The quota can be specified in bytes (default), kbytes ‘k’ appended) or mbytes (‘m’ appended). Thus ‘quota = 5m’ will set the quota to 5 megabytes. Note that the user’s startup file overrides system settings.

random_file = file

Use file as a source of randomness on systems lacking ‘/dev/random’.

random_wait = on/off

Turn random between-request wait times on or off. The same as ‘--random-wait’.

read_timeout = n

Set the read (and write) timeout—the same as ‘--read-timeout=n’.

reclevel = n

Recursion level (depth)—the same as ‘-l n’.

recursive = on/off

Recursive on/off—the same as ‘-r’.

referer = string

Set HTTP ‘Referer:’ header just like ‘--referer=string’. (Note that it was the folks who wrote the HTTP spec who got the spelling of “referrer” wrong.)

relative_only = on/off

Follow only relative links—the same as ‘-L’ (see section Relative Links).

remote_encoding = encoding

Force Wget to use encoding as the default remote server encoding. See ‘--remote-encoding’.

remove_listing = on/off

If set to on, remove FTP listings downloaded by Wget. Setting it to off is the same as ‘--no-remove-listing’.

restrict_file_names = unix/windows

Restrict the file names generated by Wget from URLs. See ‘--restrict-file-names’ for a more detailed description.

retr_symlinks = on/off

When set to on, retrieve symbolic links as if they were plain files; the same as ‘--retr-symlinks’.

retry_connrefused = on/off

When set to on, consider “connection refused” a transient error—the same as ‘--retry-connrefused’.

robots = on/off

Specify whether the norobots convention is respected by Wget, “on” by default. This switch controls both the ‘/robots.txt’ and the ‘nofollow’ aspect of the spec. See section Robot Exclusion, for more details about this. Be sure you know what you are doing before turning this off.

save_cookies = file

Save cookies to file. The same as ‘--save-cookies file’.

save_headers = on/off

Same as ‘--save-headers’.

secure_protocol = string

Choose the secure protocol to be used. Legal values are ‘auto’ (the default), ‘SSLv2’, ‘SSLv3’, and ‘TLSv1’. The same as ‘--secure-protocol=string’.

server_response = on/off

Choose whether or not to print the HTTP and FTP server responses—the same as ‘-S’.

show_all_dns_entries = on/off

When a DNS name is resolved, show all the IP addresses, not just the first three.

span_hosts = on/off

Same as ‘-H’.

spider = on/off

Same as ‘--spider’.

strict_comments = on/off

Same as ‘--strict-comments’.

timeout = n

Set all applicable timeout values to n, the same as ‘-T n’.

timestamping = on/off

Turn timestamping on/off. The same as ‘-N’ (see section Time-Stamping).

use_server_timestamps = on/off

If set to ‘off’, Wget won’t set the local file’s timestamp by the one on the server (same as ‘--no-use-server-timestamps’).

tries = n

Set number of retries per URL—the same as ‘-t n’.

use_proxy = on/off

When set to off, don’t use proxy even when proxy-related environment variables are set. In that case it is the same as using ‘--no-proxy’.

user = string

Specify username string for both FTP and HTTP file retrieval. This command can be overridden using the ‘ftp_user’ and ‘http_user’ command for FTP and HTTP respectively.

user_agent = string

User agent identification sent to the HTTP Server—the same as ‘--user-agent=string’.

verbose = on/off

Turn verbose on/off—the same as ‘-v’/‘-nv’.

wait = n

Wait n seconds between retrievals—the same as ‘-w n’.

wait_retry = n

Wait up to n seconds between retries of failed retrievals only—the same as ‘--waitretry=n’. Note that this is turned on by default in the global ‘wgetrc’.

This document was generated on February 2, 2014 using texi2html 5.0.