UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello,

when im downloading an webpage from command line (CLI) by curl or wget the target website is loaded like i load it from browser? meaning target server connect to database and render data from mysql? Or only static content is downloaded?

Did you try the --post-data or --post-file options to wget?

In principle: yes. A web page is served similar to a multipart/mime-message over e-mail. You have some header information (encoded into the URL), some "framework information" and optionally one or several additional data sources (pictures, videos, programs like flash, ...) embedded in this "framework". A browser receives such messages, displays them (quite like a mail reader would do for mails) and - driven by user actions - replies with a similar sort of messages which can range from very simple to equally complicated and similarly structured (quite like you answer a mail with a reply of your own).

Some of the elements i talked about above only work interactively. Both cURL and wget have (limited) provisions to deal with that. That means, some aspects of a user sitting there and interactively clicking/etc. something can be emulated, some cannot.

I hope this helps.

bakunin