{"id":1755,"date":"2022-10-30T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-30T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.linuxcloudvps.com\/blog\/?p=1755"},"modified":"2023-08-29T09:26:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T14:26:32","slug":"difference-between-curl-and-wget-commands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.linuxcloudvps.com\/blog\/difference-between-curl-and-wget-commands\/","title":{"rendered":"Difference Between Curl and wget Commands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this tutorial, we are going to explain the main difference between the curl and wget commands in Linux with examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two commands are very often used by system administrators and other Linux users<\/a> on daily basis. Curl is a free and open-source utility that offers to transfer data between remote machines. Wget is also a free command line utility that offers transferring files using HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and FTPS. Wget is a simple transfer utility, while curl offers so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this tutorial we are going to execute the commands on Ubuntu 22.04 but you can choose any Linux distro. Let’s get started!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What is Curl<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Curl is a shortcut of client URL and is used for transferring data using various network protocols. Curl uses libcurl<\/strong> (free client-side URL transfer library) and supports every protocol that libcurl supports. Curl supports downloading and uploading via HTTP, HTPPS, FTP, IMAP, LDAP, and many more protocols. Curl let the user interact with the remote server and it can also work with proxies, support automatic decompression of compressed files and let us download multiple transfers in parallel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installing the Curl<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before we can use the curl<\/strong> command, we need to install it on our system. To do that execute the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sudo apt-get install curl<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
After successfull installation, check the installed curl version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
curl -V<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You should receive an output similar to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@host:~# curl -V\ncurl 7.68.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl\/7.68.0 OpenSSL\/1.1.1f zlib\/1.2.11 brotli\/1.0.7 libidn2\/2.2.0 libpsl\/0.21.0 (+libidn2\/2.2.0) libssh\/0.9.3\/openssl\/zlib nghttp2\/1.40.0 librtmp\/2.3\nRelease-Date: 2020-01-08\nProtocols: dict file ftp ftps gopher http https imap imaps ldap ldaps pop3 pop3s rtmp rtsp scp sftp smb smbs smtp smtps telnet tftp\nFeatures: AsynchDNS brotli GSS-API HTTP2 HTTPS-proxy IDN IPv6 Kerberos Largefile libz NTLM NTLM_WB PSL SPNEGO SSL TLS-SRP UnixSockets<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Some basic Curl commands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In this paragraph, we are going to show you some basic curl commands with examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Download a website and print the output in file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
curl https:\/\/google.com -o google.html<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Once executed, you will receive the following output:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@host:\/opt# curl https:\/\/google.com -o google.html\n  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current\n                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed\n100   220  100   220    0     0    750      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--   750\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The -o<\/strong> flag is used to redirect the output to a file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To return only the HTTP headers, execute the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
curl -I https:\/\/google.com<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You should receive output similar to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@host:\/opt# curl -I https:\/\/google.com\nHTTP\/2 301\nlocation: https:\/\/www.google.com\/\ncontent-type: text\/html; charset=UTF-8\ndate: Fri, 02 Sep 2022 13:22:23 GMT\nexpires: Sun, 02 Oct 2022 13:22:23 GMT\ncache-control: public, max-age=2592000\nserver: gws\ncontent-length: 220\nx-xss-protection: 0\nx-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN\nalt-svc: h3=\":443\"; ma=2592000,h3-29=\":443\"; ma=2592000,h3-Q050=\":443\"; ma=2592000,h3-Q046=\":443\"; ma=2592000,h3-Q043=\":443\"; ma=2592000,quic=\":443\"; ma=2592000; v=\"46,43\"\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
To check if HTTP\/2 is supported, execute the command below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
curl -I --http2 https:\/\/domain.com<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
If the site does support HTTP\/2, you will see HTTP\/2.0 200 in the header instead of HTTP\/1.1 200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HTTP\/2.0 200 OK\nDate: Fri, 02 Sep 2022 13:35:32 GMT\nServer: Apache\/2.4.41 (Ubuntu)\nContent-Type: text\/html;charset=UTF-8<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
What is Wget<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Wget, the same as Curl is a free command line utility that offers to transfer files using the HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and FTPS protocols. Wget retrieves the content recursively from the Web and supports recursive background downloads, mirrors, directories, and many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Installing the Wget<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Before we can use the wget<\/strong> command, we need to install it on our system. To do that, execute the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo apt-get install wget<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
After successfull installation, check the installed wget version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wget -V<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You should receive an output similar to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@host:~# wget -V\nGNU Wget 1.20.3 built on linux-gnu.\n\n-cares +digest -gpgme +https +ipv6 +iri +large-file -metalink +nls\n+ntlm +opie +psl +ssl\/openssl\n\nWgetrc:\n    \/etc\/wgetrc (system)\nLocale:\n    \/usr\/share\/locale<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Some basic Wget commands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To download the website using wget execute the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wget google.com<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The html content of the website will be automatically saved in index.html<\/strong> file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@host:~# wget google.com\n--2022-09-02 19:52:49--  http:\/\/google.com\/\nResolving google.com (google.com)... 172.217.0.174, 2607:f8b0:4009:803::200e\nConnecting to google.com (google.com)|172.217.0.174|:80... connected.\nHTTP request sent, awaiting response... 301 Moved Permanently\nLocation: http:\/\/www.google.com\/ [following]\n--2022-09-02 19:52:49--  http:\/\/www.google.com\/\nResolving www.google.com (www.google.com)... 172.217.4.196, 2607:f8b0:4004:c1b::63, 2607:f8b0:4004:c1b::93, ...\nConnecting to www.google.com (www.google.com)|172.217.4.196|:80... connected.\nHTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK\nLength: unspecified [text\/html]\nSaving to: \u2018index.html\u2019\n\nindex.html                                  [ <=>                                                                                  ]  13.67K  --.-KB\/s    in 0.006s\n\n2022-09-02 19:52:49 (2.36 MB\/s) - \u2018index.html\u2019 saved [13993]<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
To download the web files in the background execute the wget command with -b<\/strong> parameter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wget -b https:\/\/google.com<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You will get the following message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@host:~# wget -b https:\/\/google.com\nContinuing in background, pid 226490.\nOutput will be written to \u2018wget-log\u2019.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Differences between curl and wget commands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In the previous paragraph, we explained the curl and wget separately, and in this paragraph, we will summarize the main differences in a simple list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n