Maybe we can implement a --dry-run option to allow the user to see how the request would look like without actually sending it.

It would still require the --debug option to see the actual request.

Tim: OK please somebody be sure that example is given nearby the --debug
option section of the man page.

Also it would be good if there was a built-in way to do it in case it is
inconvenient to install other programs or do extra input output job
starting and waiting on a given system.

Anonymous: the --debug part of the man page doesn't say clearly what it
will give, also --debug might not be compiled in. And in fact --debug
gives more than just the request, and --debug needs one to attempt the
request without any "--dry-run" safety mechanism before going on to the net...

Just open a second console and start
  nc -l -p 8888

Start wget in your first console
  http_proxy=localhost:8888 wget http://www.example.com

nc will now dump everything that Wget sends. You could even generate an answer (e.g. with copy & paste).

Wget just adds a Proxy-Connection header which will not be sent on non-proxy connections.

Sure one could use tcpflow to see what is being sent, but what if it is an https address, and what if we want to see it before we send it?