Either `curl` or `wget` can be used in this case. All 3 of these commands do the same thing, downloading the file at
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and saving it locally into "my_file.txt".
_Note that in all commands below, I also recommend using the `-L` or `--location` option with `curl` in order to follow HTML 302 redirects to the new location of the file, if it has moved. `wget` requires no additional options to do this, as it does this automatically._
```bash
# save the file locally as my_file.txt
wget
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-O my_file.txt # my favorite--it has a progress bar
curl -L
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-o my_file.txt
curl -L
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> my_file.txt
```
Alternatively, to save the file as the same name locally as it is remotely, use either `wget` by itself, or `curl` with `-O` or `--remote-name`:
```bash
# save the file locally as file.txt
wget
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curl -LO
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curl -L --remote-name
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```
_Notice that the `-O` in all of the commands above is the capital letter "O"._
The nice thing about the `wget` command is it shows a nice progress bar.
You can prove the files downloaded by each of the sets of 3 techniques above are exactly identical by comparing their sha512 hashes. Running `sha512sum my_file.txt` after running each of the commands above, and comparing the results, reveals all 3 files to have the exact same sha hashes (sha sums), meaning the files are exactly identical, byte-for-byte.
## References
1. I learned about the `-L` option with `curl` here: [Is there a way to follow redirects with command line cURL?](
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)
<sub>See also: [`wget` command to download a file and save as a different filename](
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;
]
