wget.info: Wgetrc Commands

Startup File

Sample Wgetrc

Wgetrc Syntax

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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 (Note: Basic Startup Options.)

accept/reject = STRING
     Same as ‘-A’/‘-R’ (Note: 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, construct the local file name from redirection URLs
     rather than original URLs.

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’ (Note: 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” (Note:
     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’ (Note: Directory-Based
     Limits).

exclude_domains = STRING
     Same as ‘--exclude-domains=STRING’ (Note: 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’.

compression = STRING
     Choose the compression type to be used.  Legal values are ‘auto’
     (the default), ‘gzip’, and ‘none’.  The same as
     ‘--compression=STRING’.

adjust_extension = on/off
     Add a ‘.html’ extension to ‘text/html’ or ‘application/xhtml+xml’
     files that lack one, a ‘.css’ extension to ‘text/css’ files that
     lack one, and a ‘.br’, ‘.Z’, ‘.zlib’ or ‘.gz’ to compressed files
     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_only = on/off
     When in recursive mode, only HTTPS links are followed (defaults to
     off).

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’ (Note: 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’ (Note: 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.  Note: 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’ (Note:
     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’.