Overview
Wget is a program that retrieves content from web servers. At DreamHost, you use Wget over SSH to download files from a remote server directly to your DreamHost server.
Prerequisites
This article assumes you have Created a Shell user and are logged into your server via SSH.
Background
Wget is a program that retrieves content from web servers. It is named after the World Wide Web and Get.
When should I use Wget?
Wget is often used after logging into your server via SSH to download files from a remote server to your DreamHost server. This is a much faster and easier option than manually downloading the files via FTP from the source and then uploading them to your server.
rsync may be a better (and faster, less complicated) option for users moving data between two servers (such as moving files from Shared to VPS hosting).
How do I use Wget?
You can use the Wget command to run simple and advanced tasks on your server.
How do I view the manual?
To view the manual page for Wget, run the following in your terminal:
[server]$ man wget
How do I download a file?
To download a file to your server:
Type in wget followed by the full URL of the file you wish to download. For example, run the following command to download the .tar.gz file for Python version 3.8.1:
[server]$ wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.8.1/Python-3.8.1.tgz
- This downloads the .tgz file to the directory where you ran the command.
- If the file you download is compressed, decompress the file using gunzip, unzip, or tar to expand and unpack the download.
If you need to pass variables to a script, enclose the URL in single quotes, which prevents the ampersand character from being interpreted as the shell command:
[server]$ wget 'https://www.example.com/myscript.php?var1=foo&var2=bar'
See also
DreamHost links
Third-party links