starting a web-download from cmd line

[JattilaB]

ia there a way to start a download of a file from a command line?

[Syini666]

It depends really, in windows the most you can do to my knowledge from the command line is initiate a FTP download. In Linux however you can do alot more, you can start a download with CVS, Lynx/Links, FTP, Wget, and there are even some command line p2p apps.

[spools.exe]

you can ftp to the site, but i belive as for a command like "download http://files.com/file.zip" one does not exist without having to download an EXE and installing it.

FTP COMMANDS

!
delete
literal
prompt
send
?
debug
ls
put
status
append
dir
mdelete
pwd
trace
ascii
disconnect
mdir
quit
type
bell
get
mget
quote
user
binary
glob
mkdir
recv
verbose
bye
hash
mls
remotehelp
cd
help
mput
rename
close
lcd
open
rmdir

[skiddieleet]

This was at the nessus website:
CAUTION: don't run this command unless you want nessus installed on your computer.

 lynx -source http://install.nessus.org | sh

CAUTION: don't run this command unless you want nessus installed on your computer.
Also if you do want nessus installed on your computer I suggest you go to their site and read because they also gave this caution about this command:

The easy and dangerous way (ala ximian gnome)
If you are installing Nessus from a computer directly connected to the internet that has lynx installed, type this command (NOT as root! ) :

lynx -source http://install.nessus.org | sh

This method is considered as dangerous in the sense that if you do it, you are running commands that directly come from the internet. If someone is poisoning your domain name server, he may have you execute arbitrary commands as the user you will type this command as. The good point is that it completely automates the installation of Nessus, so if you are not under attack, you'll save some time.

I guess you would do something similar to that to download something from a site with lynx. Maybe try lynx /? or man lynx. Hope this helped.

[phishphreek]

FOR WINDOWS:

I have seen some command line file transfers other than ftp...

SecureTransport Clients
SecureTransport provides one of the broadest arrays of client access solutions in the file transfer market. The clients cover the range of needs, from ad-hoc interactive transfers through Web browser to fully automated batch transfer jobs on mainframe platforms.

Windows Client
A small client with the GUI and command line capabilities, it can be downloaded and installed in minutes. It provides all of the reliability and security features, including smartcard authentication, supports HTTP/S and FTP/SSL transfers with multiple connection profiles, and offers batch capabilities and a built-in scheduler for automated, scheduled transfers with full calendar support for multiple events.

http://www.valicert.com/products/ST_...s.html#windows

Be prepared to shell out some cash of course...

ON LINUX: People have already given you some options.

COMBINATION OF BOTH:

You could always log into a shell, download files needed, then transfer your files back to the windows box. ssh would be good for this, along with smb or ftp.

[seabass55]

on the lynx thing..... leave the |sh out. If you don't know what you are posting then don't post.

Your best bet on a linux system is to use wget which comes with most distros. For general internet browsing while in CLI mode then lynx ofcourse.

[rcgreen]

http://wget.sunsite.dk/

[phishphreek]

rcgreen: how sweet is that? I didn't know they had wget for m$...

Thanks!

[rcgreen]

In fact there is a whole suite of utilities

http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/

Win32 ports of common unix utilities.

[cleanbash]

In linux you can use wget as rcgreen already mentioned. Use it like this:

wget http://httpd.apache.org/dist/httpd/apache_1.3.19.tar.gz