Wget
GNU •
Since 1996
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Official Docs
What is Wget?
Wget is a free GNU command-line utility for downloading files from the web. Supporting HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP protocols, Wget is widely used for mirroring websites, downloading files, and automating downloads. While not a traditional crawler, Wget appears in server logs when used for various purposes including research, archiving, and development. The tool's ability to recursively download entire websites makes it popular for offline browsing and website backup. Wget's long history and reliability have made it a standard tool in the Unix/Linux ecosystem.
User Agent String
Wget/1.21.3
How to Control Wget
Block Completely
To prevent Wget from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block Wget
User-agent: Wget
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: Wget
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /public/
Set Crawl Delay
To slow down the crawl rate (note: not all bots respect this directive):
User-agent: Wget
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify Wget
Verification Method:
User agent string includes Wget version
User agent string includes Wget version
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect Wget in your application:
Basic Pattern
/Wget/i
Strict Pattern
/^Wget/1\.21\.3$/
Flexible Pattern
/Wget[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*GNU.*Wget/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for Wget
function detect_wget() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/Wget/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('Wget detected from IP: ' . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
// Set cache headers
header('Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600');
header('X-Robots-Tag: noarchive');
// Optional: Serve cached version
if (file_exists('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html')) {
readfile('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for Wget
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_wget():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'Wget'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class WgetMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for Wget
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect Wget
function detectWget(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /Wget/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('Wget detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'Wget';
}
next();
}
app.use(detectWget);
# Apache .htaccess rules for Wget
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Wget [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Wget [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Wget" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /Wget/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for Wget
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_wget {
default 0;
~*Wget 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_wget) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_wget) {
root /var/www/cached;
try_files $uri $uri.html $uri/index.html @backend;
}
try_files $uri @backend;
}
# Add headers for bot requests
location @backend {
if ($is_wget) {
add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600";
add_header X-Robots-Tag "noarchive";
}
proxy_pass http://backend;
}
}
Should You Block This Bot?
Recommendations based on your website type:
| Site Type | Recommendation | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | Optional | Evaluate based on bandwidth usage vs. benefits |
| Blog/News | Allow | Increases content reach and discoverability |
| SaaS Application | Block | No benefit for application interfaces; preserve resources |
| Documentation | Selective | Allow for public docs, block for internal docs |
| Corporate Site | Limit | Allow for public pages, block sensitive areas like intranets |
Advanced robots.txt Configurations
E-commerce Site Configuration
User-agent: Wget
Crawl-delay: 5
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /*?sort=
Disallow: /*?filter=
Disallow: /*&page=
Allow: /products/
Allow: /categories/
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Publishing/Blog Configuration
User-agent: Wget
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: Wget
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
Wget
Robots.txt Name
Wget
Category
other
Respects robots.txt
Yes
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