curl

Now let's look at the curl program as it is somewhat similar to wget. One of the main differences between wget and curl is how they handle the output.

The wget program by default displays some progress information on the screen and then downloads the index.html file. In contrast, curl normally displays the file itself on the screen.

Here is an example of curl running on my system using my favorite website (screenshot shortened to save space):

Another way to get the output into a file is by using redirection like this:

You will notice that when redirected to a file the transfer progress is displayed on the screen. Also note that any error output goes into the file if redirected and not the screen.

curl options

Here is a very brief list of the options available in curl:

Curl options	Explanation
-o	Output filename
-s	Silent mode. Shows nothing, not even errors
-S	Show errors if in silent mode
-v	Verbose, useful for debugging

There are many other options to curl, as well as...