---
name: "phttpget"
section: "8"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/phttpget"
---

# phttpget(8)

retrieve multiple files via pipelined HTTP

## NAME

**phttpget** – retrieve multiple files via pipelined HTTP

## SYNOPSIS

**phttpget** *server* *file* *...*

## DESCRIPTION

The **phttpget** utility is a minimalist pipelined HTTP client, which is used to retrieve multiple *file*s from one *server*, and saves the downloaded files in the current working directory, using the last portion of their download path as file names.

By making several "in flight" HTTP requests, it can dramatically increase performance when a large number of small files need to be downloaded.

The [freebsd-update(8)](/freebsd-update/8.md) tool uses **phttpget** to download binary patch files.

## ENVIRONMENT

- HTTP\_PROXY

  URL of the proxy to use for HTTP requests.

- HTTP\_PROXY\_AUTH

  Authorization parameters for the HTTP proxy.

- HTTP\_USER\_AGENT

  The User-Agent string to use for HTTP requests. The default is “phttpget/0.1”.

- HTTP\_TIMEOUT

  Timeout for HTTP request in seconds.

## SEE ALSO

[fetch(1)](/fetch/1.md), [freebsd-update(8)](/freebsd-update/8.md)

## AUTHORS

The **phttpget** utility was written by Colin Percival ⟨*cperciva@FreeBSD.org*⟩ initially for use with portsnap(8) (now removed) and has been used by [freebsd-update(8)](/freebsd-update/8.md). This manual page was written by Xin LI ⟨*delphij@FreeBSD.org*⟩.