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CLI Magic: Lynx
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CommentsGetting started using Lynx is easy. Just enter this at the CLI:
lynx
Without any arguments at all, Lynx opens to its own help page. But the Lynx commands are so easy to learn and to use that you won't need to spend much time at the help page. If you know which arrow is up, you're halfway home already.
For example, let's take a look at Linux.com as she is seen by a Lynx user. Enter this:
lynx linux.com
You'll get results similar to those shown below. The first thing you'll see is the Lynx message bar at the bottom of your terminal window. It will take a second or two to figure out that a "www." is needed before the "linux.com", then Linux.com will be loaded.
The top line of the Lynx window displays the current site, page number, and number of pages for the link. That number of pages does not refef to the number of HTML pages, that is a constant of one. It's the number of screens of information Lynx has to display about the current page. Use Pg Up/Pg Dwn keys to travel between the pages.
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Throw in the Q (or q) key to quit Lynx, and you've already got the basics down. But of course, you know there must be more. And there is, plenty more.
Here are a few handy CTL key combinations for your Lynx surfing pleasure:
- CTL-A Go to beginning of current document
- CTL-E Go to end of current document
- CTL-N Advance 2 lines
- CTL-P Go back 2 lines
On most systems, the Ins/Del keys match up with CTL-N and CTL-P. And one keypress always beats a pair.
What else? Well, it can handle the gopher protocol, browse FTP directories, and display text files in those directories, as well. I've read elsewhere that it is possible to do binary file downloads with Lynx, but when I tried it I had no luck. Perhaps one of our more knowledgeable readers will speak up and let us know if this is doable or not, and if it is, explain how to do it.
You can also browse files on your local system with Lynx. Try this:
lynx /etc/services
When viewing text files like this one, the up and down arrow keys will forward and back a full screen each time you press them.
As always, I refer you to the man -- and the Help Page, and the Users Guide -- to further your enjoyment of this cool little tool.
Comments
on CLI Magic: LynxNote: Comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for their content.
<A HREF="http://www.boingboing.net/2005/01/27/jailed_for_using_a_n.html" title="boingboing.net">http://www.boingboing.net/2005/01/27/jailed_for_u<nobr>s<wbr></nobr> ing_a_n.html</a boingboing.net>
Makes you want to weep
Robert
which works very well for fast navigation and
the print-to-mail option listing all the links
on the page, after the page.
Linkname: Blynx
URL: http://leb.net/blinux/blynx/
All my lynxen are set up to Blynx settings and
peoplw are shocked that I can "see" and analyze
a pages underlying structure so well.
I am not visually impaired, but any tool for
the handicapped makes this a better world for
the abled.
Sometimes I need to download some source code and compile it, and the FTP site, if there's one at all, is already maxed out on connections. I simply fire up Lynx and download my source code. It works in CLI environments, is fast, and gets the job done.
And yep, I've been known to use Links to do the same stuff when Lynx was not installed. They both work well for my needs, and I'll happily use either. I simply have been using Lynx for longer (and again, it does what I need), so I usually run that one first simply out of habit.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
<TT>lynx -mime_headers http://icculus.org/~chunky/</TT>And it shows you all the http headers being sent down to you [plus source].
<TT>lynx -dump http://icculus.org/~chunky/</TT>Show a pre-rendered-to-text version of a webpage.
Lynx also has vi keybindings if you so choose [don't forget to also use the -tla option<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)]. My entire desktop is based on vi keybindings, and it's nice for a browser to do the same.
I use mutt, and in my<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.mailcap I have this:
<TT>text/html;<nobr> <wbr></nobr>/usr/bin/lynx -dump -force_html '%s';copiousoutput;description=HTML;nametemplate=<nobr>%<wbr></nobr> s.htmlWhich lets mutt automatically render html. Then put this in your<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.muttrc:
text/html;<nobr> <wbr></nobr>/usr/bin/lynx -force_html '%s';needsterminal;description=HTML;nametemplate=<nobr>%<wbr></nobr> s.html</TT>
<TT>alternative_order text/plain text/htmlAnd all those irritating people-who-only-send-html problems go away.
auto_view text/html</TT>
Gary (-;
They say memory is the second thing to go. I can't recall the first.
I still love elinks. Others may like like links, links2, hacked links, w3m, or others.
These all make lynx look a little old (and, indeed, links or links2 is often included in distros by default instead of lynx). If you'd like to view a single image on the CLI, use zgv.
Re:Link to your older article
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on February 01, 2005 10:38 PMLynx does not render many pages correctly and does not support CSS/javascript (some versions of links do, and even support mouse input inside a terminal!).
It is a beautiful thing to be able to ssh into a server, and download updates, patches, new versions, etc. quickly and easily. Also, rendering performance and the fact that the server has at least a T3 makes browsing the web unbelievably and refreshingly fast. Furthermore, because of the rendering performance, it makes my 200MHz laptop seem brand new.
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