How to Disable Proxy in Wget?

When downloading files via the command line, you might occasionally need to bypass your system’s configured proxy settings to connect directly to a server. This quick guide explains exactly which option tells wget to ignore all proxy environment variables, provides clear syntax examples, and covers how to make this behavior permanent for specific domains.

The Short Answer: --no-proxy

To force wget to ignore all proxy environment variables (such as http_proxy or https_proxy) and establish a direct connection to the target server, you must use the --no-proxy option.

Basic Syntax

wget --no-proxy http://example.com/file.zip

By adding this flag, wget completely bypasses any proxy servers defined in your system environment or configuration files for that specific command execution.

Alternative: Bypassing Proxies for Specific Domains

If you don’t want to disable the proxy for every single download, but only want to bypass it for specific local or internal domains, you don’t need to use the --no-proxy flag every time. Instead, you can utilize the no_proxy environment variable.

Using the no_proxy Environment Variable

The no_proxy variable accepts a comma-separated list of domain suffixes or IP addresses that should always be connected to directly.

export no_proxy="localhost,127.0.0.1,internal.domain.local"
wget http://internal.domain.local/data.txt

In this scenario, wget will still use your proxy for external websites, but will automatically bypass it when communicating with the addresses listed in the no_proxy variable.

Making the Change Permanent in .wgetrc

If you want wget to never use a proxy by default, you can hardcode this preference into your personal wget configuration file.

  1. Open or create the ~/.wgetrc file in your home directory.
  2. Add the following line to the file:
use_proxy = off

Saving this setting ensures that wget behaves as if the --no-proxy flag is permanently turned on, allowing you to run standard wget commands without manually typing the option every time.