man > lynx(1)

⚡ TLDR: lynx (tldr-pages)

Command-line web browser.

  • Visit a website
    lynx {{example.com}}
  • Apply restrictions for anonymous account
    lynx -anonymous {{example.com}}
  • Turn on mouse support, if available
    lynx -use_mouse {{example.com}}
  • Force color mode on, if available
    lynx -color {{example.com}}
  • Open a link, using a specific file to read and write cookies
    lynx -cookie_file={{path/to/file}} {{example.com}}
  • Navigate forwards and backwards through the links on a page
    {{<ArrowUp>|<ArrowDown>}}
  • Go back to the previously displayed page
    {{<ArrowLeft>|<u>}}
  • Exit
    <q><y>
LYNX(1)                              Lynx – the text web browser                             LYNX(1)

NAME
       lynx - a general purpose distributed information browser for the World Wide Web

SYNOPSIS
       lynx [options] [optional paths or URLs]

       lynx [options] [path or URL] -get_data
       data
       --

       lynx [options] [path or URL] -post_data
       data
       --

       Use “lynx -help” to display a complete list of current options.

DESCRIPTION
       Lynx  is  a  fully-featured World Wide Web (WWW) client for users running cursor-addressable,
       character-cell display devices (e.g., vt100 terminals, vt100 emulators running on Windows  or
       any  POSIX  platform,  or  any  other  “curses-oriented” display).  It will display hypertext
       markup language (HTML) documents containing links to files residing on the local  system,  as
       well as files residing on remote systems running Gopher, HTTP, FTP, WAIS, and NNTP servers.

       Lynx  has been ported to many systems, including all variants of Unix, Windows (since Windows
       95), DOS DJGPP and OS/2, as well as VMS and OS/390.

       Lynx can be used to access information on the World Wide Web, or to build information systems
       intended primarily for local access.  For example, Lynx has been used to build several Campus
       Wide Information Systems (CWIS).  In addition, Lynx can be used  to  build  systems  isolated
       within a single LAN.

OPTIONS
       At  start up, Lynx will load any local file or remote URL specified at the command line.  For
       help with URLs, press “?”  or “H” while running Lynx.  Then follow the link titled, “Help  on
       URLs.”

       If  more than one local file or remote URL is listed on the command line, Lynx will open only
       the last interactively.  All of the names (local files and remote  URLs)  are  added  to  the
       G)oto history.

       Lynx  uses  only  long  option  names.  Option names can begin with double dash “--” as well,
       underscores and dashes can be intermixed in option names (in the reference below, options are
       shown with one dash “-” before them, and with underscores “_”).

       Lynx provides many command-line options.  Some options require a  value  (string,  number  or
       keyword).   These  are noted in the reference below.  The other options set boolean values in
       the program.  There are three types of boolean options: set, unset and toggle.  If no  option
       value  is  given,  these have the obvious meaning: set (to true), unset (to false), or toggle
       (between true/false).  For any of these, an explicit value can be given in different forms to
       allow for operating system constraints, e.g.,

           -center:off
           -center=off
           -center-

       Lynx recognizes “1”, “+”, “on” and “true” for true values, and “0”, “-”,  “off”  and  “false”
       for false values.  Other option-values are ignored.

       The  default  boolean,  number  and  string  option  values  that  are compiled into Lynx are
       displayed in the help-message provided by lynx -help.  Some of those may differ according  to
       how  Lynx  was  built;  see  the  help  message itself for these values.  The -help option is
       processed in the third pass of options-processing, so any option which sets a value, as  well
       as runtime configuration values are reflected in the help-message.

       -      If  the  argument  is  only  “-”,  then Lynx expects to receive the arguments from the
              standard input.  This is to allow for the potentially very long command line that  can
              be  associated with the -get_data or -post_data arguments (see below).  It can also be
              used to avoid having sensitive information in the invoking command line  (which  would
              be  visible  to  other processes on most systems), especially when the -auth or -pauth
              options are used.

       -accept_all_cookies
              accept all cookies.

       -anonymous
              apply restrictions for anonymous account, see also -restrictions.

       -assume_charset=MIMEname
              charset for documents that do not specify it.

       -assume_local_charset=MIMEname
              charset assumed for local files, i.e., files which Lynx creates such as internal pages
              for the options menu.

       -assume_unrec_charset=MIMEname
              use this instead of unrecognized charsets.

       -auth=ID:PASSWD
              set authorization ID and password for protected documents  at  startup.   Be  sure  to
              protect any script files which use this switch.

       -base  prepend a request URL comment and BASE tag to text/html outputs for -source dumps.

       -bibhost=URL
              specify a local bibp server (default http://bibhost/).

       -blink forces  high intensity background colors for color mode, if available and supported by
              the terminal.  This applies to the slang library (for a few terminal emulators), or to
              OS/2 EMX with ncurses.

       -book  use the bookmark page as the startfile.  The default  or  command  line  startfile  is
              still  set  for  the  Main  screen  command,  and will be used if the bookmark page is
              unavailable or blank.

       -buried_news
              toggles scanning of news articles for buried references, and  converts  them  to  news
              links.   Not  recommended  because  email addresses enclosed in angle brackets will be
              converted to false news links, and uuencoded messages can be trashed.

       -cache=NUMBER
              set the NUMBER of documents cached in memory.  The default is 10.

       -case  enable case-sensitive string searching.

       -center
              toggles center alignment in HTML TABLE.  Normally table  cells  are  centered  on  the
              table grid.  Set this option “on” to disable centering.  The default is “off”.

       -cfg=FILENAME
              specifies a Lynx configuration file other than the default lynx.cfg.

       -child exit  on  left-arrow  in startfile, and disable save to disk and associated print/mail
              options.

       -child_relaxed
              exit on left-arrow in startfile, but allow save  to  disk  and  associated  print/mail
              options.

       -cmd_log=FILENAME
              write keystroke commands and related information to the specified file.

       -cmd_script=FILENAME
              read  keystroke  commands from the specified file.  You can use the data written using
              the -cmd_log option.  Lynx will ignore other information which the command-logging may
              have written to the logfile.  Each line  of  the  command  script  contains  either  a
              comment beginning with “#”, or a keyword:

              exit
                 causes the script to stop, and forces Lynx to exit immediately.

              key
                 the character value, in printable form.  Cursor and other special keys are given as
                 names,  e.g.,  “Down  Arrow”.   Printable  7-bit  ASCII  codes are given as-is, and
                 hexadecimal values represent other 8-bit codes.

              set
                 followed by a “name=value” allows one to override values set  in  the  lynx.cfg  or
                 .lynxrc files.  Lynx tries the cfg-file setting first.

       -collapse_br_tags
              toggles collapsing of BR tags.

       -color forces  color  mode  on, if available.  Default color control sequences which work for
              many terminal types are assumed  if  the  terminal  capability  description  does  not
              specify  how  to  handle  color.  Lynx needs to be compiled with the slang library for
              this flag, it is equivalent to setting the COLORTERM environment variable.  (If  color
              support  is  instead  provided  by  a  color-capable curses library like ncurses, Lynx
              relies completely on the terminal description  to  determine  whether  color  mode  is
              possible,   and   this   flag   is   not   needed  and  thus  unavailable.)   A  saved
              show_color=always setting found in a .lynxrc file at startup has the same  effect.   A
              saved show_color=never found in .lynxrc on startup is overridden by this flag.

       -connect_timeout=N
              Sets the connection timeout, where N is given in seconds.

       -cookie_file=FILENAME
              specifies  a  file to use to read cookies.  If none is specified, the default value is
              ~/.lynx_cookies for most systems, but ~/cookies for MS-DOS.

       -cookie_save_file=FILENAME
              specifies a file to use to store cookies.  If none is specified, the  value  given  by
              -cookie_file is used.

       -cookies
              toggles handling of Set-Cookie headers.

       -core  toggles  forced core dumps on fatal errors.  Turn this option off to ask Lynx to force
              a core dump if a fatal error occurs.

       -crawl with -traversal, output each page to a  file.   with  -dump,  format  output  as  with
              -traversal, but to the standard output.

       -curses_pads
              toggles  the  use  of  curses “pad” feature which supports left/right scrolling of the
              display.  The feature is normally available for curses configurations,  but  inactive.
              To  activate  it, use the “|” character or the LINEWRAP_TOGGLE command.  Toggling this
              option makes the feature altogether unavailable.

       -debug_partial
              separate incremental display stages with MessageSecs delay

       -default_colors
              toggles the default-colors feature which is normally set in the lynx.cfg file.

       -delay add DebugSecs delay after each progress-message

       -display=DISPLAY
              set the display variable for X rexec-ed programs.

       -display_charset=MIMEname
              set the charset for the terminal output.

       -dont_wrap_pre
              inhibit wrapping of text when -dump'ing and -crawl'ing, mark wrapped lines of <pre> in
              interactive session.

       -dump  dumps the formatted output of the default document or those specified on  the  command
              line  to standard output.  Unlike interactive mode, all documents are processed.  This
              can be used in the following way:

                  lynx -dump http://www.subir.com/lynx.html

              Files specified on the command line are formatted as HTML if their names end with  one
              of the standard web suffixes such as “.htm” or “.html”.  Use the -force_html option to
              format files whose names do not follow this convention.

       -editor=EDITOR
              enable external editing, using the specified EDITOR.  (vi, ed, emacs, etc.)

       -emacskeys
              enable emacs-like key movement.

       -enable_scrollback
              toggles   compatibility   with   communication   programs'  scrollback  keys  (may  be
              incompatible with some curses packages).

       -error_file=FILE
              define a file where Lynx will report HTTP access codes.

       -exec  enable local program execution (normally not configured).

       -fileversions
              include all versions of files in local VMS directory listings.

       -find_leaks
              toggle memory leak-checking.  Normally this is not compiled-into your executable,  but
              when it is, it can be disabled for a session.

       -force_empty_hrefless_a
              force HREF-less “A” elements to be empty (close them as soon as they are seen).

       -force_html
              forces the first document to be interpreted as HTML.

              This  is most useful when processing files specified on the command line which have an
              unrecognized suffix (or the suffix is associated with a non-HTML type, such as  “.txt”
              for plain text files).

              Lynx recognizes these file suffixes as HTML:

                  “.ht3”,
                  “.htm”,
                  “.html3”,
                  “.html”,
                  “.htmlx”,
                  “.php3”,
                  “.php”,
                  “.phtml”,
                  “.sht”, and
                  “.shtml”.

       -force_secure
              toggles forcing of the secure flag for SSL cookies.

       -forms_options
              toggles whether the Options Menu is key-based or form-based.

       -from  toggles transmissions of From headers.

       -ftp   disable ftp access.

       -get_data
              properly  formatted data for a get form are read in from the standard input and passed
              to the form.  Input is terminated by a line that starts with “---”.

              Lynx issues an HTTP GET, sending the form to the path or URL given on the command-line
              and prints the response of the server.  If no path or URL is  given,  Lynx  sends  the
              form to the start-page.

       -head  send a HEAD request for the mime headers.

       -help  print the Lynx command syntax usage message, and exit.

       -hiddenlinks=[option]
              control the display of hidden links.

              merge
                 hidden  links  show  up  as  bracketed numbers and are numbered together with other
                 links in the sequence of their occurrence in the document.

              listonly
                 hidden links are shown only on L)ist screens and listings  generated  by  -dump  or
                 from the P)rint menu, but appear separately at the end of those lists.  This is the
                 default behavior.

              ignore
                 hidden links do not appear even in listings.

       -historical
              toggles use of “>” or “-->” as a terminator for comments.

       -homepage=URL
              set homepage separate from start page.

       -image_links
              toggles inclusion of links for all images.

       -index=URL
              set the default index file to the specified URL.

       -ismap toggles inclusion of ISMAP links when client-side MAPs are present.

       -justify
              do justification of text.

       -link=NUMBER
              starting count for lnk#.dat files produced by -crawl.

       -list_decoded
              for -dump, show URL-encoded links decoded.

       -list_inline
              for -dump, show the links inline with the text.

       -listonly
              for -dump, show only the list of links.

       -localhost
              disable URLs that point to remote hosts.

       -locexec
              enable  local program execution from local files only (if Lynx was compiled with local
              execution enabled).

       -lss=FILENAME
              specify filename containing color-style information.  The default is lynx.lss.  If you
              give an empty filename, Lynx uses a built-in monochrome scheme which imitates the non-
              color-style configuration.

       -mime_header
              prints the MIME header of a fetched document along with its source.

       -minimal
              toggles minimal versus valid comment parsing.

       -nested_tables
              toggles nested-tables logic (for debugging).

       -newschunksize=NUMBER
              number of articles in chunked news listings.

       -newsmaxchunk=NUMBER
              maximum news articles in listings before chunking.

       -nobold
              disable bold video-attribute.

       -nobrowse
              disable directory browsing.

       -nocc  disable Cc: prompts for self copies of mailings.  Note that this does not disable  any
              CCs which are incorporated within a mailto URL or form ACTION.

       -nocolor
              force color mode off, overriding terminal capabilities and any -color flags, COLORTERM
              variable, and saved .lynxrc settings.

       -noexec
              disable local program execution.  (DEFAULT)

       -nofilereferer
              disable transmissions of Referer headers for file URLs.

       -nolist
              disable the link list feature in dumps.

       -nolog disable mailing of error messages to document owners.

       -nomargins
              disable left/right margins in the default style sheet.

       -nomore
              disable -more- string in statusline messages.

       -nonrestarting_sigwinch
              This  flag  is  not  available  on  all  systems,  Lynx  needs  to  be  compiled  with
              HAVE_SIGACTION defined.  If  available,  this  flag  may  cause  Lynx  to  react  more
              immediately to window changes when run within an xterm.

       -nonumbers
              disable link- and field-numbering.  This overrides -number_fields and -number_links.

       -nopause
              disable forced pauses for statusline messages.

       -noprint
              disable most print functions.

       -noredir
              prevents automatic redirection and prints a message with a link to the new URL.

       -noreferer
              disable transmissions of Referer headers.

       -noreverse
              disable reverse video-attribute.

       -nosocks
              disable SOCKS proxy usage by a SOCKSified Lynx.

       -nostatus
              disable the retrieval status messages.

       -notitle
              disable title and blank line from top of page.

       -nounderline
              disable underline video-attribute.

       -number_fields
              force numbering of links as well as form input fields

       -number_links
              force numbering of links.

       -partial
              toggles display partial pages while loading.

       -partial_thres=NUMBER
              number of lines to render before repainting display with partial-display logic

       -passive_ftp
              toggles passive ftp connections.

       -pauth=ID:PASSWD
              set authorization ID and password for a protected proxy server at startup.  Be sure to
              protect any script files which use this switch.

       -popup toggles  handling  of  single-choice  SELECT  options via popup windows or as lists of
              radio buttons.

       -post_data
              properly formatted data for a post form are read in from the standard input and passed
              to the form.  Input is terminated by a line that starts with “---”.

              Lynx issues an HTTP POST, sending the form to the path or URL given  on  the  command-
              line  and  prints  the response of the server.  If no path or URL is given, Lynx sends
              the form to the start-page.

       -preparsed
              show HTML source preparsed and reformatted when used with -source or in source view.

       -prettysrc
              show HTML source view with lexical elements and tags in color.

       -print enable print functions.  (default)

       -pseudo_inlines
              toggles pseudo-ALTs for inline images with no ALT string.

       -raw   toggles default setting of 8-bit character translations or CJK mode  for  the  startup
              character set.

       -realm restricts access to URLs in the starting realm.

       -read_timeout=N
              Sets the read-timeout, where N is given in seconds.

       -reload
              flushes the cache on a proxy server (only the first document given on the command-line
              is affected).

       -restrictions=[option][,option][,option]...
              allows  a  list  of  services  to  be disabled selectively.  Dashes and underscores in
              option names can be intermixed.  The following list  is  printed  if  no  options  are
              specified.

              all
                 restricts all options listed below.

              bookmark
                 disallow changing the location of the bookmark file.

              bookmark_exec
                 disallow execution links via the bookmark file.

              change_exec_perms
                 disallow  changing  the  eXecute  permission  on  files  (but  still  allow  it for
                 directories) when local file management is enabled.

              default
                 same as command line option -anonymous.  Disables default  services  for  anonymous
                 users.    Set   to  all  restricted,  except  for:  inside_telnet,  outside_telnet,
                 inside_ftp, outside_ftp, inside_rlogin, outside_rlogin, inside_news,  outside_news,
                 telnet_port, jump, mail, print, exec, and goto.  The settings for these, as well as
                 additional  goto  restrictions  for specific URL schemes that are also applied, are
                 derived from definitions within userdefs.h.

              dired_support
                 disallow local file management.

              disk_save
                 disallow saving to disk in the download and print menus.

              dotfiles
                 disallow access to, or creation of, hidden (dot) files.

              download
                 disallow  some  downloaders  in  the  download  menu  (does  not  imply   disk_save
                 restriction).

              editor
                 disallow external editing.

              exec
                 disable execution scripts.

              exec_frozen
                 disallow the user from changing the local execution option.

              externals
                 disallow  some  “EXTERNAL”  configuration  lines  if  support  for  passing URLs to
                 external applications (with the EXTERN command) is compiled in.

              file_url
                 disallow using G)oto, served links or bookmarks for file: URLs.

              goto
                 disable the “g” (goto) command.

              inside_ftp
                 disallow ftps for  people  coming  from  inside  your  domain  (utmp  required  for
                 selectivity).

              inside_news
                 disallow  USENET  news  posting  for  people  coming  from inside your domain (utmp
                 required for selectivity).

              inside_rlogin
                 disallow rlogins for people coming from  inside  your  domain  (utmp  required  for
                 selectivity).

              inside_telnet
                 disallow  telnets  for  people  coming  from  inside your domain (utmp required for
                 selectivity).

              jump
                 disable the “j” (jump) command.

              multibook
                 disallow multiple bookmarks.

              mail
                 disallow mail.

              news_post
                 disallow USENET News posting.

              options_save
                 disallow saving options in .lynxrc.

              outside_ftp
                 disallow ftps for people  coming  from  outside  your  domain  (utmp  required  for
                 selectivity).

              outside_news
                 disallow USENET news reading and posting for people coming from outside your domain
                 (utmp  required  for  selectivity).   This  restriction  applies to “news”, “nntp”,
                 “newspost”, and “newsreply” URLs, but not to “snews”, “snewspost”, or  “snewsreply”
                 in case they are supported.

              outside_rlogin
                 disallow  rlogins  for  people  coming  from outside your domain (utmp required for
                 selectivity).

              outside_telnet
                 disallow telnets for people coming from outside  your  domain  (utmp  required  for
                 selectivity).

              print
                 disallow most print options.

              shell
                 disallow shell escapes and lynxexec or lynxprog G)oto's.

              suspend
                 disallow Unix Control-Z suspends with escape to shell.

              telnet_port
                 disallow specifying a port in telnet G)oto's.

              useragent
                 disallow modifications of the User-Agent header.

       -resubmit_posts
              toggles  forced  resubmissions (no-cache) of forms with method POST when the documents
              they returned are sought with the PREV_DOC command or from the History List.

       -rlogin
              disable recognition of rlogin commands.

       -scrollbar
              toggles showing scrollbar.

       -scrollbar_arrow
              toggles showing arrows at ends of the scrollbar.

       -selective
              require .www_browsable files to browse directories.

       -session=FILENAME
              resumes from specified file on startup and saves session to that file on exit.

       -sessionin=FILENAME
              resumes session from specified file.

       -sessionout=FILENAME
              saves session to specified file.

       -short_url
              show very long URLs in the status line with  “...”  to  represent  the  portion  which
              cannot  be  displayed.   The  beginning  and end of the URL are displayed, rather than
              suppressing the end.

       -show_cfg
              Print the configuration settings, e.g., as read from “lynx.cfg”, and exit.

       -show_cursor
              If enabled the cursor will not be hidden in the right hand corner but will instead  be
              positioned  at  the  start of the currently selected link.  Show cursor is the default
              for systems without FANCY_CURSES  capabilities.   The  default  configuration  can  be
              changed in userdefs.h or lynx.cfg.  The command line switch toggles the default.

       -show_rate
              If  enabled the transfer rate is shown in bytes/second.  If disabled, no transfer rate
              is shown.  Use lynx.cfg or the options menu to select KB/second and/or ETA.

       -socks5_proxy=URL
              (Via  which)  SOCKS5  proxy  to  connect:  any  network  traffic,  including  all  DNS
              resolutions  but  the one for URL itself, will be redirected through the SOCKS5 proxy.
              URL may be given as “proxy.example.com”, “proxy.example.com:1080”,  “192.168.0.1”,  or
              “192.168.0.1:1080”  (and  IPv6  notation if so supported).  A SOCKS5 proxy may also be
              specified via the environment variable SOCKS5_PROXY.  This option controls the builtin
              SOCKS5 support, which is unrelated to the option -nosocks.

       -soft_dquotes
              toggles emulation of the old Netscape and Mosaic  bug  which  treated  “>”  as  a  co-
              terminator for double-quotes and tags.

       -source
              works the same as dump but outputs HTML source instead of formatted text.  For example

                  lynx -source . >foo.html

              generates HTML source listing the files in the current directory.  Each file is marked
              by  an HREF relative to the parent directory.  Add a trailing slash to make the HREF's
              relative to the current directory:

                  lynx -source ./ >foo.html

       -stack_dump
              disable SIGINT cleanup handler

       -startfile_ok
              allow non-http startfile and homepage with -validate.

       -stderr
              When dumping a document using -dump or -source, Lynx normally does not  display  alert
              (error)  messages  that  you  see  on  the screen in the status line.  Use the -stderr
              option to tell Lynx to write these messages to the standard error.

       -stdin read the startfile from standard input (UNIX only).

       -syslog=text
              information for syslog call.

       -syslog_urls
              log requested URLs with syslog.

       -tagsoup
              initialize parser, using Tag Soup DTD rather than SortaSGML.

       -telnet
              disable recognition of telnet commands.

       -term=TERM
              tell Lynx what terminal type to assume it is talking to.   (This  may  be  useful  for
              remote execution, when, for example, Lynx connects to a remote TCP/IP port that starts
              a script that, in turn, starts another Lynx process.)

       -timeout=N
              For win32, sets the network read-timeout, where N is given in seconds.

       -tlog  toggles between using a Lynx Trace Log and stderr for trace output from the session.

       -tna   turns on “Textfields Need Activation” mode.

       -trace turns on Lynx trace mode.  Destination of trace output depends on -tlog.

       -trace_mask=value
              turn on optional traces, which may result in very large trace files.  Logically OR the
              values to combine options:

              1  SGML character parsing states

              2  color-style

              4  TRST (table layout)

              8  configuration (lynx.cfg, .lynxrc, .lynx-keymaps, mime.types and mailcap contents)

              16 binary string copy/append, used in form data construction.

              32 cookies

              64 character sets

              128
                 GridText parsing

              256
                 timing

              512
                 detailed URL parsing

       -traversal
              traverse all http links derived from startfile.  When used with -crawl, each link that
              begins with the same string as startfile is output to a file, intended for indexing.

              See CRAWL.announce for more information.

       -trim_blank_lines
              toggles  trimming  of  trailing  blank  lines as well as the related trimming of blank
              lines while collapsing BR tags.

       -trim_input_fields
              trim input text/textarea fields in forms.

       -underline_links
              toggles use of underline/bold attribute for links.

       -underscore
              toggles use of _underline_ format in dumps.

       -unique_urls
              check for duplicate link numbers in each page and corresponding lists, and  reuse  the
              original link number.

       -update_term_title
              enables  updating the title in terminal emulators.  Use only if your terminal emulator
              supports that escape code.  Has no effect when used with -notitle.

       -use_mouse
              turn on mouse support, if available.   Clicking  the  left  mouse  button  on  a  link
              traverses  it.   Clicking  the right mouse button pops back.  Click on the top line to
              scroll up.  Click on the bottom line to scroll down.  The first few positions  in  the
              top  and  bottom  line  may  invoke  additional functions.  Lynx must be compiled with
              ncurses or slang to support this feature.  If ncurses is  used,  clicking  the  middle
              mouse button pops up a simple menu.  Mouse clicks may only work reliably while Lynx is
              idle waiting for input.

       -useragent=Name
              set alternate Lynx User-Agent header.

       -validate
              accept  only  http  URLs  (for  validation).   Complete security restrictions also are
              implemented.

       -verbose
              toggle [LINK], [IMAGE] and [INLINE] comments with filenames of these images.

       -version
              print version information, and exit.

       -vikeys
              enable vi-like key movement.

       -wdebug
              enable Waterloo tcp/ip packet debug (print to watt debugfile).  This applies  only  to
              DOS versions compiled with WATTCP or WATT-32.

       -width=NUMBER
              number  of  columns  for  formatting  of dumps, default is 80.  This is limited by the
              number of columns that Lynx could display, typically 1024 (the MAX_LINE symbol).

       -with_backspaces
              emit backspaces in output if -dump'ing or -crawl'ing (like man does)

       -xhtml_parsing
              tells Lynx that it can ignore certain tags which have  no  content  in  an  XHTML  1.0
              document.  For example “<p/>” will be discarded.

COMMANDS
       More than one key can be mapped to a given command.  Here are some of the most useful:

       •   Use Up arrow and Down arrow to scroll through hypertext links.

       •   Right arrow or Return will follow a highlighted hypertext link.

       •   Left Arrow or “u” will retreat from a link.

       •   Type “H”, “?”, or F1 for online help and descriptions of key-stroke commands.

       •   Type “k” or “K” for a list of the current key-stroke command mappings.

           If  the  same command is mapped to the same letter differing only by upper/lowercase only
           the lowercase mapping is shown.

       •   Type Delete to view history list.

ENVIRONMENT
       In addition to various “standard” environment variables such as DISPLAY, HOME,  PATH,  SHELL,
       TMPDIR, USER, etc., Lynx utilizes several Lynx-specific environment variables, if they exist.

       Others  may  be created or modified by Lynx to pass data to an external program, or for other
       reasons.  These are listed separately below.

       See also the sections on SIMULATED CGI SUPPORT and NATIVE LANGUAGE SUPPORT, below.

       Note:  Not all environment variables apply to all  types  of  platforms  supported  by  Lynx,
       though most do.  Feedback on platform dependencies is solicited.

       Environment Variables Used By Lynx:

       COLORTERM           If  set,  color capability for the terminal is forced on at startup time.
                           The actual value assigned to the variable is ignored.  This  variable  is
                           only  meaningful  if  Lynx  was  built  using  the  slang screen-handling
                           library.

       LYNX_CFG            This variable, if set, will override the default location and name of the
                           global configuration file (normally, lynx.cfg) that was  defined  by  the
                           LYNX_CFG_FILE constant in the userdefs.h file, during installation.

                           See the userdefs.h file for more information.

       LYNX_CFG_PATH       If   set,   this   variable  overrides  the  compiled-in  search-list  of
                           directories used to find the  configuration  files,  e.g.,  lynx.cfg  and
                           lynx.lss.   The  list is delimited with ":" (or ";" for Windows) like the
                           PATH environment variable.

       LYNX_HELPFILE       If set, this variable overrides the  compiled-in  URL  and  configuration
                           file URL for the Lynx help file.

       LYNX_LOCALEDIR      If  set,  this  variable overrides the compiled-in location of the locale
                           directory which contains native language (NLS) message text.

       LYNX_LSS            This variable, if  set,  specifies  the  location  of  the  default  Lynx
                           character style sheet file.  [Currently only meaningful if Lynx was built
                           using curses color style support.]

       LYNX_SAVE_SPACE     This  variable,  if  set, will override the default path prefix for files
                           saved to disk that is defined in the lynx.cfg SAVE_SPACE: statement.

                           See the lynx.cfg file for more information.

       LYNX_TEMP_SPACE     This variable,  if  set,  will  override  the  default  path  prefix  for
                           temporary  files  that  was  defined  during installation, as well as any
                           value that may be assigned to the TMPDIR variable.

       MAIL                This variable specifies the default inbox Lynx will check for  new  mail,
                           if such checking is enabled in the lynx.cfg file.

       NEWS_ORGANIZATION   This  variable,  if  set,  provides  the string used in the Organization:
                           header of USENET news postings.  It will  override  the  setting  of  the
                           ORGANIZATION  environment  variable, if it is also set (and, on UNIX, the
                           contents of an /etc/organization file, if present).

       NNTPSERVER          If set, this variable specifies the default NNTP server that will be used
                           for USENET news reading and posting with Lynx, via news: URL's.

       ORGANIZATION        This variable, if set, provides the  string  used  in  the  Organization:
                           header  of  USENET news postings.  On UNIX, it will override the contents
                           of an /etc/organization file, if present.

       PROTOCOL_proxy      Lynx supports the use of proxy servers that can act as firewall  gateways
                           and  caching  servers.   They are preferable to the older gateway servers
                           (see WWW_access_GATEWAY, below).

                           Each protocol used by Lynx, (http,  ftp,  gopher,  etc),  can  be  mapped
                           separately  by  setting environment variables of the form PROTOCOL_proxy.
                           Protocols are indicated in a URI by the name before “:”, e.g., “http”  in
                           “http://some.server.dom:port/” for HTML.

                           Depending  on  your  system  configuration  and  supported protocols, the
                           environment variables recognized by lynx may include

                               cso_proxy
                               finger_proxy
                               ftp_proxy
                               gopher_proxy
                               http_proxy
                               https_proxy
                               news_proxy
                               newspost_proxy
                               newsreply_proxy
                               nntp_proxy
                               no_proxy
                               rlogin_proxy
                               snews_proxy
                               snewspost_proxy
                               snewsreply_proxy
                               telnet_proxy
                               tn3270_proxy
                               wais_proxy

                           See Lynx Users Guide for additional details and examples.

       RL_CLCOPY_CMD       Pipe the contents of the current link using this command as the target.

       RL_PASTE_CMD        Open a pipe to read from  this  command,  pasting  it  into  the  current
                           editable-field or command-prompt.

       SOCKS5_PROXY        Is inspected if -socks5_proxy has not been used (for the same content).

       SSL_CERT_DIR        Set to the directory containing trusted certificates.

       SSL_CERT_FILE       Set to the full path and filename for your file of trusted certificates.

       WWW_access_GATEWAY  Lynx  still  supports  use of gateway servers, with the servers specified
                           via “WWW_access_GATEWAY” variables (where “access” is lower case and  can
                           be “http”, “ftp”, “gopher” or “wais”).  However most gateway servers have
                           been  discontinued.   Note  that  you  do  not include a terminal “/” for
                           gateways, but do for  proxies  specified  by  PROTOCOL_proxy  environment
                           variables.

                           See Lynx Users Guide for details.

       WWW_HOME            This variable, if set, will override the default startup URL specified in
                           any of the Lynx configuration files.

       Environment Variables Set or Modified By Lynx:

       LYNX_PRINT_DATE     This  variable  is  set by the Lynx p(rint) function, to the Date: string
                           seen in the document's “Information about” page (= cmd), if any.   It  is
                           created for use by an external program, as defined in a lynx.cfg PRINTER:
                           definition  statement.  If the field does not exist for the document, the
                           variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or “No Date” under VMS.

       LYNX_PRINT_LASTMOD  This variable is set by the Lynx  p(rint)  function,  to  the  Last  Mod:
                           string  seen  in the document's “Information about” page (= cmd), if any.
                           It is created for use by an external program, as defined  in  a  lynx.cfg
                           PRINTER:  definition  statement.   If  the  field  does not exist for the
                           document, the variable is set  to  a  null  string  under  UNIX,  or  “No
                           LastMod” under VMS.

       LYNX_PRINT_TITLE    This  variable  is  set  by  the  Lynx p(rint) function, to the Linkname:
                           string seen in the document's “Information about” page (= cmd),  if  any.
                           It  is  created  for use by an external program, as defined in a lynx.cfg
                           PRINTER: definition statement.  If the  field  does  not  exist  for  the
                           document,  the variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or “No Title”
                           under VMS.

       LYNX_PRINT_URL      This variable is set by the Lynx p(rint) function,  to  the  URL:  string
                           seen  in  the document's “Information about” page (= cmd), if any.  It is
                           created for use by an external program, as defined in a lynx.cfg PRINTER:
                           definition statement.  If the field does not exist for the document,  the
                           variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or “No URL” under VMS.

       LYNX_TRACE          If  set,  causes  Lynx to write a trace file as if the -trace option were
                           supplied.

       LYNX_TRACE_FILE     If set, overrides the compiled-in name of the trace file, which is either
                           Lynx.trace or LY-TRACE.LOG (the latter  on  the  DOS/Windows  platforms).
                           The trace file is in either case relative to the home directory.

       LYNX_VERSION        This  variable  is  always  set  by  Lynx, and may be used by an external
                           program to determine if it was invoked by Lynx.

                           See also the comments in the  distribution's  sample  mailcap  file,  for
                           notes on usage in such a file.

       TERM                Normally,  this  variable  is used by Lynx to determine the terminal type
                           being used to invoke Lynx.  If, however, it is unset at startup time  (or
                           has  the  value  “unknown”),  or if the -term command-line option is used
                           (see OPTIONS section above), Lynx will set or modify  its  value  to  the
                           user specified terminal type (for the Lynx execution environment).  Note:
                           If  set/modified  by  Lynx,  the  values  of  the  LINES  and/or  COLUMNS
                           environment variables may also be changed.

   Simulated CGI Support
       If built with the cgi-links option enabled, Lynx allows  access  to  a  cgi  script  directly
       without the need for an http daemon.

       When  executing  such  “lynxcgi scripts” (if enabled), the following variables may be set for
       simulating a CGI environment:

       CONTENT_LENGTH

       CONTENT_TYPE

       DOCUMENT_ROOT

       HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET

       HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE

       HTTP_USER_AGENT

       PATH_INFO

       PATH_TRANSLATED

       QUERY_STRING

       REMOTE_ADDR

       REMOTE_HOST

       REQUEST_METHOD

       SERVER_SOFTWARE

       Other environment variables are not inherited by the script, unless they are provided  via  a
       LYNXCGI_ENVIRONMENT  statement  in  the  configuration  file.  See the lynx.cfg file, and the
       (draft) CGI 1.1 Specification  <http://Web.Golux.Com/coar/cgi/draft-coar-cgi-v11-00.txt>  for
       the definition and usage of these variables.

       The  CGI  Specification,  and other associated documentation, should be consulted for general
       information on CGI script programming.

   Native Language Support
       If configured and installed with Native Language Support, Lynx will display status and  other
       messages  in  your  local language.  See the file ABOUT_NLS in the source distribution, or at
       your local GNU site, for more information about internationalization.

       The following environment variables may be used to alter default settings:

       LANG                This variable, if set, will override the default message language.  It is
                           an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language.  Language codes  are
                           NOT the same as the country codes given in ISO 3166.

       LANGUAGE            This  variable, if set, will override the default message language.  This
                           is a GNU extension that has  higher  priority  for  setting  the  message
                           catalog than LANG or LC_ALL.

       LC_ALL              and

       LC_MESSAGES         These variables, if set, specify the notion of native language formatting
                           style.  They are POSIXly correct.

       LINGUAS             This  variable,  if  set  prior  to  configuration,  limits the installed
                           languages to specific values.  It is a space-separated list of two-letter
                           codes.  Currently, it is hard-coded to a wish list.

       NLSPATH             This variable, if set, is used as the path prefix for message catalogs.

NOTES
   Mailing Lists
       If you wish to contribute to the further development of Lynx, subscribe to our mailing  list.
       Send email to <lynx-dev-request AT nongnu.org> with “subscribe lynx-dev” as the only line in the
       body of your message.

       Send bug reports, comments, suggestions to <lynx-dev AT nongnu.org> after subscribing.

       Unsubscribe  by sending email to <lynx-dev-request AT nongnu.org> with “unsubscribe lynx-dev” as
       the only line in the body of your message.  Do  not  send  the  unsubscribe  message  to  the
       lynx-dev list, itself.

   Acknowledgments
       Lynx has incorporated code from a variety of sources along the way.  The earliest versions of
       Lynx  included  code from Earl Fogel of Computing Services at the University of Saskatchewan,
       who implemented HYPERREZ in the Unix environment.  HYPERREZ was developed by Niel  Larson  of
       Think.com  and  served  as  the  model  for  the early versions of Lynx.  Those versions also
       incorporated libraries from the Unix Gopher clients developed at the University of Minnesota,
       and the later versions of Lynx rely on the WWW client library code developed by Tim  Berners-
       Lee  and the WWW community.  Also a special thanks to Foteos Macrides who ported much of Lynx
       to VMS and did or organized most of its development since the departures of Lou Montulli  and
       Garrett  Blythe  from  the  University of Kansas in the summer of 1994 through the release of
       v2.7.2, and to everyone on the net who has contributed to Lynx's development either  directly
       (through patches, comments or bug reports) or indirectly (through inspiration and development
       of other systems).

AUTHORS
       Lou Montulli, Garrett Blythe, Craig Lavender, Michael Grobe, Charles Rezac
       Academic Computing Services
       University of Kansas
       Lawrence, Kansas 66047

       Foteos Macrides
       Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
       Shrewsbury, Massachusetts 01545

       Thomas E. Dickey
       <dickey AT invisible-island.net>

SEE ALSO
       catgets(3),   curses(3),   environ(7),   ftp(1),   gettext(GNU),  localeconv(3),  ncurses(3),
       setlocale(3), termcap(5), terminfo(5)

Lynx 2.9.0                                   2024-01-14                                      LYNX(1)
lynx(1) □✕
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION OPTIONS
-accept_all_cookies -anonymous -assume_charset=MIMEname -assume_local_charset=MIMEname -assume_unrec_charset=MIMEname -auth=ID:PASSWD -base prepend a request URL comment and BASE tag to text/html outputs for -source dumps. -bibhost=URL -blink forces high intensity background colors for color mode, if available and supported by -book use the bookmark page as the startfile. The default or command line startfile is -buried_news -cache=NUMBER -case enable case-sensitive string searching. -center -cfg=FILENAME -child exit on left-arrow in startfile, and disable save to disk and associated print/mail -child_relaxed -cmd_log=FILENAME -cmd_script=FILENAME -collapse_br_tags -color forces color mode on, if available. Default color control sequences which work for -connect_timeout=N -cookie_file=FILENAME -cookie_save_file=FILENAME -cookies -core toggles forced core dumps on fatal errors. Turn this option off to ask Lynx to force -crawl with -traversal, output each page to a file. with -dump, format output as with -curses_pads -debug_partial -default_colors -delay add DebugSecs delay after each progress-message -display=DISPLAY -display_charset=MIMEname -dont_wrap_pre -dump dumps the formatted output of the default document or those specified on the command -editor=EDITOR -emacskeys -enable_scrollback -error_file=FILE -exec enable local program execution (normally not configured). -fileversions -find_leaks -force_empty_hrefless_a -force_html -force_secure -forms_options -from toggles transmissions of From headers. -ftp disable ftp access. -get_data -head send a HEAD request for the mime headers. -help print the Lynx command syntax usage message, and exit. -hiddenlinks=[option] -historical -homepage=URL -image_links -index=URL -ismap toggles inclusion of ISMAP links when client-side MAPs are present. -justify -link=NUMBER -list_decoded -list_inline -listonly -localhost -locexec -lss=FILENAME -mime_header -minimal -nested_tables -newschunksize=NUMBER -newsmaxchunk=NUMBER -nobold -nobrowse -nocc disable Cc: prompts for self copies of mailings. Note that this does not disable any -nocolor -noexec -nofilereferer -nolist -nolog disable mailing of error messages to document owners. -nomargins -nomore -nonrestarting_sigwinch -nonumbers -nopause -noprint -noredir -noreferer -noreverse -nosocks -nostatus -notitle -nounderline -number_fields -number_links -partial -partial_thres=NUMBER -passive_ftp -pauth=ID:PASSWD -popup toggles handling of single-choice SELECT options via popup windows or as lists of -post_data -preparsed -prettysrc -print enable print functions. (default) -pseudo_inlines -raw toggles default setting of 8-bit character translations or CJK mode for the startup -realm restricts access to URLs in the starting realm. -read_timeout=N -reload -restrictions=[option][,option][,option]... -resubmit_posts -rlogin -scrollbar -scrollbar_arrow -selective -session=FILENAME -sessionin=FILENAME -sessionout=FILENAME -short_url -show_cfg -show_cursor -show_rate -socks5_proxy=URL -soft_dquotes -source -stack_dump -startfile_ok -stderr -stdin read the startfile from standard input (UNIX only). -syslog=text -syslog_urls -tagsoup -telnet -term=TERM -timeout=N -tlog toggles between using a Lynx Trace Log and stderr for trace output from the session. -tna turns on “Textfields Need Activation” mode. -trace turns on Lynx trace mode. Destination of trace output depends on -tlog. -trace_mask=value -traversal -trim_blank_lines -trim_input_fields -underline_links -underscore -unique_urls -update_term_title -use_mouse -useragent=Name -validate -verbose -version -vikeys -wdebug -width=NUMBER -with_backspaces -xhtml_parsing
COMMANDS ENVIRONMENT
Simulated CGI Support Native Language Support
NOTES
Mailing Lists Acknowledgments
AUTHORS SEE ALSO

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