5 ms·

I instinctively go to `wget` when I need to, uhm, get the file into my computer[1]. `curl -O` is a lot more effort :P Other than that, curl is always better.

by Rauchg 11y ago

I instinctively go to `wget` when I need to, uhm, get the file into my computer[1]. `curl -O` is a lot more effort :P Other than that, curl is always better. [1] Aliasing `wget` to ~`curl -O` might be a good idea :)

cm3 11y ago
I use wget for downloads because it follows links by default and resume is just -c. I never figured out how to make curl do the equivalent of -c.
- mooreds 11y ago
  I don't think you can: "[Wget's] ability to recover from a prematurely broken transfer and continue downloading has no counterpart in curl."
  - JoshTriplett 11y ago
    curl -C - -O filename url -C continues from an offset; "-C -" uses the length of the output file as the offset.
    - cm3 11y ago
      That's what I tried a couple years ago and it failed. Might try it again some time.
      - facetube 11y ago
        I guess it's possible that the server didn't support HTTP byte serving via Accept-Ranges:, either for that particular resource or altogether.
- rogerbinns 11y ago
  Lets compare the length of the man page: $ man curl | wc -l 1728 $ man wget | wc -l 1096 How about the --help output? $ curl --help | wc -l 178 $ wget --help | wc -l 176 The wget help is nicer, grouping options together by category and with longer text. curl just has a long list of options in alphabetical order. How many (long) options do they have? $ curl --help | grep -- -- | wc -l 175 $ wget --help | grep -- -- | wc -l 137 I'd say it is a lot quicker to work out the flags etc you need with wget because there is less to look through.
  - LukeShu 11y ago
    "I'm glad I typed `man wget` instead of `wget --help`" -- no one ever You want the `wget --help` text over the man page, 99% of the time. The other 1%, you want the full info manual. The man page is an awful mix between the two; too dense for scanning through for the flag you need, but not containing the full information when you need specifics.
    - ars 11y ago
      > no one ever Except [at least] me. I like man better because it's consistent. Some tools want --help, -help, -h, -H, -\? etc. I like man better because I can search it. I like man better because it gives me the details, not just a list.
      - LukeShu 11y ago
        For all of the reasons you gave (except search--that's what grep is for), I usually reach for `man`. But, for wget the information density of the man page is just wrong. At least these days it has some more information in it--it used to just be a reformatted version of the --help text, plugged into a generic template.
        ars 11y ago
        grep on help output is annoying sometimes since many programs send it on stderr and you need to redirect it if you want to pipe it to grep. Plus even if grep matched something you can't read the context without extra options. man is much easier than doing all that, but the time you have your full search command you would have already gotten your info from man.
        phs2501 11y ago
        |& is useful in these cases, as it redirects both stdout and stderr to the piped process's stdin. It's a cshism, but it works in both zsh and modern bash. Much nicer than typing cmd 2>&1 | cmd. For context try grep -2, where 2 is the desired lines of context. $ wget --help |& grep -2 base -i, --input-file=FILE download URLs found in local or external FILE -F, --force-html treat input file as HTML -B, --base=URL resolves HTML input-file links (-i -F) relative to URL --config=FILE specify config file to use -- existing files (overwriting them) -c, --continue resume getting a partially-downloaded file --start-pos=OFFSET start downloading from zero-based position OFFSET --progress=TYPE select progress gauge type --show-progress display the progress bar in any verbosity mode (Not that I'm arguing that this is an excuse for wget's [and GNU projects' in general] man pages sucking, but it's a useful workaround.)
oblio 11y ago
I don't think curl can mirror.

by Rauchg 11y ago

cm3 11y ago

I use wget for downloads because it follows links by default and resume is just -c. I never figured out how to make curl do the equivalent of -c.

mooreds 11y ago
I don't think you can: "[Wget's] ability to recover from a prematurely broken transfer and continue downloading has no counterpart in curl."
- JoshTriplett 11y ago
  curl -C - -O filename url -C continues from an offset; "-C -" uses the length of the output file as the offset.
  - cm3 11y ago
    That's what I tried a couple years ago and it failed. Might try it again some time.
    - facetube 11y ago
      I guess it's possible that the server didn't support HTTP byte serving via Accept-Ranges:, either for that particular resource or altogether.
rogerbinns 11y ago
Lets compare the length of the man page: $ man curl | wc -l 1728 $ man wget | wc -l 1096 How about the --help output? $ curl --help | wc -l 178 $ wget --help | wc -l 176 The wget help is nicer, grouping options together by category and with longer text. curl just has a long list of options in alphabetical order. How many (long) options do they have? $ curl --help | grep -- -- | wc -l 175 $ wget --help | grep -- -- | wc -l 137 I'd say it is a lot quicker to work out the flags etc you need with wget because there is less to look through.
- LukeShu 11y ago
  "I'm glad I typed `man wget` instead of `wget --help`" -- no one ever You want the `wget --help` text over the man page, 99% of the time. The other 1%, you want the full info manual. The man page is an awful mix between the two; too dense for scanning through for the flag you need, but not containing the full information when you need specifics.
  - ars 11y ago
    > no one ever Except [at least] me. I like man better because it's consistent. Some tools want --help, -help, -h, -H, -\? etc. I like man better because I can search it. I like man better because it gives me the details, not just a list.
    - LukeShu 11y ago
      For all of the reasons you gave (except search--that's what grep is for), I usually reach for `man`. But, for wget the information density of the man page is just wrong. At least these days it has some more information in it--it used to just be a reformatted version of the --help text, plugged into a generic template.
      - ars 11y ago
        grep on help output is annoying sometimes since many programs send it on stderr and you need to redirect it if you want to pipe it to grep. Plus even if grep matched something you can't read the context without extra options. man is much easier than doing all that, but the time you have your full search command you would have already gotten your info from man.
        phs2501 11y ago
        |& is useful in these cases, as it redirects both stdout and stderr to the piped process's stdin. It's a cshism, but it works in both zsh and modern bash. Much nicer than typing cmd 2>&1 | cmd. For context try grep -2, where 2 is the desired lines of context. $ wget --help |& grep -2 base -i, --input-file=FILE download URLs found in local or external FILE -F, --force-html treat input file as HTML -B, --base=URL resolves HTML input-file links (-i -F) relative to URL --config=FILE specify config file to use -- existing files (overwriting them) -c, --continue resume getting a partially-downloaded file --start-pos=OFFSET start downloading from zero-based position OFFSET --progress=TYPE select progress gauge type --show-progress display the progress bar in any verbosity mode (Not that I'm arguing that this is an excuse for wget's [and GNU projects' in general] man pages sucking, but it's a useful workaround.)

oblio 11y ago

I don't think curl can mirror.