---
name: "lwp-download"
section: "1p"
platform: "linux"
package: "perl-libwww"
version: "6.83-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/lwp-download"
---

# lwp-download(1p)

Fetch large files from the web

## NAME

lwp-download - Fetch large files from the web

## SYNOPSIS

```
 lwp-download [-a] [-s] <url> [<local path>]
 Options:
   -a   save the file in ASCII mode
   -s   use HTTP headers to guess output filename
```

## DESCRIPTION

The **lwp-download** program will save the file at *url* to a local file.

If *local path* is not specified, then the current directory is assumed.

If *local path* is a directory, then the last segment of the path of the *url* is appended to form a local filename.  If the *url* path ends with slash the name "index" is used.  With the **-s** option pick up the last segment of the filename from server provided sources like the Content-Disposition header or any redirect URLs.  A file extension to match the server reported Content-Type might also be appended.  If a file with the produced filename already exists, then **lwp-download** will prompt before it overwrites and will fail if its standard input is not a terminal.  This form of invocation will also fail is no acceptable filename can be derived from the sources mentioned above.

If *local path* is not a directory, then it is simply used as the path to save into.  If the file already exists it's overwritten.

The *lwp-download* program is implemented using the *libwww-perl* library.  It is better suited to down load big files than the *lwp-request* program because it does not store the file in memory. Another benefit is that it will keep you updated about its progress and that you don't have much options to worry about.

Use the `"-a"` option to save the file in text (ASCII) mode.  Might make a difference on DOSish systems.

## EXAMPLE

Fetch the newest and greatest perl version:

```
 $ lwp-download http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/latest.tar.gz
 Saving to 'latest.tar.gz'...
 11.4 MB received in 8 seconds (1.43 MB/sec)
```

## AUTHOR

Gisle Aas \<gisle@aas.no\>