1LYNX(1)                     General Commands Manual                    LYNX(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       lynx  - a general purpose distributed information browser for the World
7       Wide Web
8

SYNOPSIS

10       lynx [options] [optional paths or URLs]
11
12       lynx [options] [path or URL] -get_data
13       data
14       --
15
16       lynx [options] [path or URL] -post_data
17       data
18       --
19
20       Use “lynx -help” to display a complete list of current options.
21

DESCRIPTION

23       Lynx is a fully-featured World Wide Web (WWW) client for users  running
24       cursor-addressable,   character-cell   display   devices  (e.g.,  vt100
25       terminals, vt100 emulators running on Windows 95/NT/XP/7/8 or any POSIX
26       platform,  or  any  other  “curses-oriented” display).  It will display
27       hypertext markup language (HTML) documents containing  links  to  files
28       residing  on  the  local  system,  as  well as files residing on remote
29       systems running Gopher, HTTP, FTP, WAIS,  and  NNTP  servers.   Current
30       versions  of Lynx run on Unix, VMS, Windows 95/NT/XP/7/8, DOS DJGPP and
31       OS/2.
32
33       Lynx can be used to access information on the World  Wide  Web,  or  to
34       build  information  systems  intended  primarily for local access.  For
35       example, Lynx has been used to build several  Campus  Wide  Information
36       Systems  (CWIS).   In  addition,  Lynx  can  be  used  to build systems
37       isolated within a single LAN.
38

OPTIONS

40       At start up, Lynx will load any local file or remote URL  specified  at
41       the  command line.  For help with URLs, press “?”  or “H” while running
42       Lynx.  Then follow the link titled, “Help on URLs.”
43
44       If more than one local file or remote URL  is  listed  on  the  command
45       line,  Lynx  will  open  only the last interactively.  All of the names
46       (local files and remote URLs) are added to the G)oto history.
47
48       Lynx uses only long option names.  Option names can begin  with  double
49       dash  “--”  as well, underscores and dashes can be intermixed in option
50       names (in the reference below, options are  shown  with  one  dash  “-”
51       before them, and with underscores “_”).
52
53       Lynx  provides many command-line options.  Some options require a value
54       (string, number or keyword).  These are noted in the  reference  below.
55       The  other  options set boolean values in the program.  There are three
56       types of boolean options: set, unset and toggle.  If no option value is
57       given, these have the obvious meaning: set (to true), unset (to false),
58       or toggle (between true/false).  For any of these,  an  explicit  value
59       can  be  given  in  different  forms  to  allow  for  operating  system
60       constraints, e.g.,
61
62           -center:off
63           -center=off
64           -center-
65
66       Lynx recognizes “1”, “+”, “on” and “true” for  true  values,  and  “0”,
67       “-”,  “off”  and  “false”  for  false  values.  Other option-values are
68       ignored.
69
70       The default boolean, number and string option values that are  compiled
71       into  Lynx  are  displayed  in the help-message provided by lynx -help.
72       Some of those may differ according to how Lynx was built; see the  help
73       message  itself for these values.  The -help option is processed in the
74       third pass of options-processing, so any option which sets a value,  as
75       well as runtime configuration values are reflected in the help-message.
76
77       -      If  the  argument  is only “-”, then Lynx expects to receive the
78              arguments from the standard input.  This is  to  allow  for  the
79              potentially  very  long command line that can be associated with
80              the -get_data or -post_data arguments (see below).  It can  also
81              be  used  to  avoid having sensitive information in the invoking
82              command line (which would be visible to other processes on  most
83              systems), especially when the -auth or -pauth options are used.
84
85       -accept_all_cookies
86              accept all cookies.
87
88       -anonymous
89              apply    restrictions    for   anonymous   account,   see   also
90              -restrictions.
91
92       -assume_charset=MIMEname
93              charset for documents that do not specify it.
94
95       -assume_local_charset=MIMEname
96              charset assumed for local files, i.e., files which Lynx  creates
97              such as internal pages for the options menu.
98
99       -assume_unrec_charset=MIMEname
100              use this instead of unrecognized charsets.
101
102       -auth=ID:PASSWD
103              set  authorization  ID  and  password for protected documents at
104              startup.  Be sure to protect any script  files  which  use  this
105              switch.
106
107       -base  prepend  a request URL comment and BASE tag to text/html outputs
108              for -source dumps.
109
110       -bibhost=URL
111              specify a local bibp server (default http://bibhost/).
112
113       -blink forces high intensity  background  colors  for  color  mode,  if
114              available  and  supported  by the terminal.  This applies to the
115              slang library (for a few terminal emulators),  or  to  OS/2  EMX
116              with ncurses.
117
118       -book  use  the bookmark page as the startfile.  The default or command
119              line startfile is still set for the  Main  screen  command,  and
120              will be used if the bookmark page is unavailable or blank.
121
122       -buried_news
123              toggles  scanning  of  news  articles for buried references, and
124              converts them to news  links.   Not  recommended  because  email
125              addresses  enclosed in angle brackets will be converted to false
126              news links, and uuencoded messages can be trashed.
127
128       -cache=NUMBER
129              set the NUMBER of documents cached in memory.   The  default  is
130              10.
131
132       -case  enable case-sensitive string searching.
133
134       -center
135              Toggle center alignment in HTML TABLE.
136
137       -cfg=FILENAME
138              specifies  a  Lynx  configuration  file  other  than the default
139              lynx.cfg.
140
141       -child exit on left-arrow in startfile, and disable save  to  disk  and
142              associated print/mail options.
143
144       -child_relaxed
145              exit  on  left-arrow  in  startfile,  but allow save to disk and
146              associated print/mail options.
147
148       -cmd_log=FILENAME
149              write  keystroke  commands  and  related  information   to   the
150              specified file.
151
152       -cmd_script=FILENAME
153              read  keystroke  commands  from the specified file.  You can use
154              the data written using the -cmd_log option.   Lynx  will  ignore
155              other  information which the command-logging may have written to
156              the logfile.  Each line of the command script contains either  a
157              comment beginning with “#”, or a keyword:
158
159              exit
160                 causes   the   script  to  stop,  and  forces  Lynx  to  exit
161                 immediately.
162
163              key
164                 the character value, in printable  form.   Cursor  and  other
165                 special   keys  are  given  as  names,  e.g.,  “Down  Arrow”.
166                 Printable 7-bit ASCII codes are given as-is, and  hexadecimal
167                 values represent other 8-bit codes.
168
169              set
170                 followed  by a “name=value” allows one to override values set
171                 in the lynx.cfg or .lynxrc files.  Lynx  tries  the  cfg-file
172                 setting first.
173
174       -collapse_br_tags
175              toggles collapsing of BR tags.
176
177       -color forces  color  mode  on,  if  available.   Default color control
178              sequences which work for many terminal types are assumed if  the
179              terminal  capability  description does not specify how to handle
180              color.  Lynx needs to be compiled with  the  slang  library  for
181              this flag, it is equivalent to setting the COLORTERM environment
182              variable.  (If color support is instead  provided  by  a  color-
183              capable  curses  library like ncurses, Lynx relies completely on
184              the terminal description to  determine  whether  color  mode  is
185              possible,  and this flag is not needed and thus unavailable.)  A
186              saved show_color=always setting  found  in  a  .lynxrc  file  at
187              startup  has the same effect.  A saved show_color=never found in
188              .lynxrc on startup is overridden by this flag.
189
190       -connect_timeout=N
191              Sets the connection timeout, where N is given in seconds.
192
193       -cookie_file=FILENAME
194              specifies a file to use to read cookies.  If none is  specified,
195              the  default  value  is  ~/.lynx_cookies  for  most systems, but
196              ~/cookies for MS-DOS.
197
198       -cookie_save_file=FILENAME
199              specifies a file to use to store cookies.  If none is specified,
200              the value given by -cookie_file is used.
201
202       -cookies
203              toggles handling of Set-Cookie headers.
204
205       -core  toggles forced core dumps on fatal errors.  Turn this option off
206              to ask Lynx to force a core dump if a fatal error occurs.
207
208       -crawl with -traversal, output each page to a file.  with -dump, format
209              output as with -traversal, but to the standard output.
210
211       -curses_pads
212              toggles   the   use  of  curses  “pad”  feature  which  supports
213              left/right scrolling of the display.  The  feature  is  normally
214              available  for curses configurations, but inactive.  To activate
215              it, use  the  “|”  character  or  the  LINEWRAP_TOGGLE  command.
216              Toggling this option makes the feature altogether unavailable.
217
218       -debug_partial
219              separate incremental display stages with MessageSecs delay
220
221       -default_colors
222              toggles  the default-colors feature which is normally set in the
223              lynx.cfg file.
224
225       -delay add DebugSecs delay after each progress-message
226
227       -display=DISPLAY
228              set the display variable for X rexec-ed programs.
229
230       -display_charset=MIMEname
231              set the charset for the terminal output.
232
233       -dont_wrap_pre
234              inhibit wrapping of text when  -dump'ing  and  -crawl'ing,  mark
235              wrapped lines of <pre> in interactive session.
236
237       -dump  dumps  the  formatted  output  of  the default document or those
238              specified on  the  command  line  to  standard  output.   Unlike
239              interactive mode, all documents are processed.  This can be used
240              in the following way:
241
242                  lynx -dump http://www.subir.com/lynx.html
243
244              Files specified on the command line are  formatted  as  HTML  if
245              their  names  end  with one of the standard web suffixes such as
246              “.htm” or “.html”.  Use the -force_html option to  format  files
247              whose names do not follow this convention.
248
249       -editor=EDITOR
250              enable  external  editing, using the specified EDITOR.  (vi, ed,
251              emacs, etc.)
252
253       -emacskeys
254              enable emacs-like key movement.
255
256       -enable_scrollback
257              toggles compatibility with  communication  programs'  scrollback
258              keys (may be incompatible with some curses packages).
259
260       -error_file=FILE
261              define a file where Lynx will report HTTP access codes.
262
263       -exec  enable local program execution (normally not configured).
264
265       -fileversions
266              include all versions of files in local VMS directory listings.
267
268       -find_leaks
269              toggle memory leak-checking.  Normally this is not compiled-into
270              your executable, but when it  is,  it  can  be  disabled  for  a
271              session.
272
273       -force_empty_hrefless_a
274              force  HREF-less “A” elements to be empty (close them as soon as
275              they are seen).
276
277       -force_html
278              forces the first document to be interpreted as HTML.
279
280              This is most useful  when  processing  files  specified  on  the
281              command line which have an unrecognized suffix (or the suffix is
282              associated with a non-HTML type, such as “.txt” for  plain  text
283              files).
284
285              Lynx recognizes these file suffixes as HTML:
286
287                  “.ht3”,
288                  “.htm”,
289                  “.html3”,
290                  “.html”,
291                  “.htmlx”,
292                  “.php3”,
293                  “.php”,
294                  “.phtml”,
295                  “.sht”, and
296                  “.shtml”.
297
298       -force_secure
299              toggles forcing of the secure flag for SSL cookies.
300
301       -forms_options
302              toggles whether the Options Menu is key-based or form-based.
303
304       -from  toggles transmissions of From headers.
305
306       -ftp   disable ftp access.
307
308       -get_data
309              properly  formatted  data  for  a  get form are read in from the
310              standard input and passed to the form.  Input is terminated by a
311              line that starts with “---”.
312
313              Lynx  issues  an  HTTP  GET, sending the form to the path or URL
314              given on the command-line and prints the response of the server.
315              If  no  path  or URL is given, Lynx sends the form to the start-
316              page.
317
318       -head  send a HEAD request for the mime headers.
319
320       -help  print the Lynx command syntax usage message, and exit.
321
322       -hiddenlinks=[option]
323              control the display of hidden links.
324
325              merge
326                 hidden links show up as bracketed numbers  and  are  numbered
327                 together with other links in the sequence of their occurrence
328                 in the document.
329
330              listonly
331                 hidden links are shown only on  L)ist  screens  and  listings
332                 generated  by  -dump  or  from  the  P)rint  menu, but appear
333                 separately at the end of those lists.  This  is  the  default
334                 behavior.
335
336              ignore
337                 hidden links do not appear even in listings.
338
339       -historical
340              toggles use of “>” or “-->” as a terminator for comments.
341
342       -homepage=URL
343              set homepage separate from start page.
344
345       -image_links
346              toggles inclusion of links for all images.
347
348       -index=URL
349              set the default index file to the specified URL.
350
351       -ismap toggles  inclusion  of  ISMAP  links  when  client-side MAPs are
352              present.
353
354       -justify
355              do justification of text.
356
357       -link=NUMBER
358              starting count for lnk#.dat files produced by -crawl.
359
360       -list_inline
361              for -dump, show the links inline with the text.
362
363       -listonly
364              for -dump, show only the list of links.
365
366       -localhost
367              disable URLs that point to remote hosts.
368
369       -locexec
370              enable local program execution from local files  only  (if  Lynx
371              was compiled with local execution enabled).
372
373       -lss=FILENAME
374              specify   filename   containing  color-style  information.   The
375              default is lynx.lss.  If you give an empty filename, Lynx uses a
376              built-in  monochrome  scheme  which imitates the non-color-style
377              configuration.
378
379       -mime_header
380              prints the MIME header of a  fetched  document  along  with  its
381              source.
382
383       -minimal
384              toggles minimal versus valid comment parsing.
385
386       -nested_tables
387              toggles nested-tables logic (for debugging).
388
389       -newschunksize=NUMBER
390              number of articles in chunked news listings.
391
392       -newsmaxchunk=NUMBER
393              maximum news articles in listings before chunking.
394
395       -nobold
396              disable bold video-attribute.
397
398       -nobrowse
399              disable directory browsing.
400
401       -nocc  disable Cc: prompts for self copies of mailings.  Note that this
402              does not disable any CCs which are incorporated within a  mailto
403              URL or form ACTION.
404
405       -nocolor
406              force  color  mode off, overriding terminal capabilities and any
407              -color flags, COLORTERM variable, and saved .lynxrc settings.
408
409       -noexec
410              disable local program execution.  (DEFAULT)
411
412       -nofilereferer
413              disable transmissions of Referer headers for file URLs.
414
415       -nolist
416              disable the link list feature in dumps.
417
418       -nolog disable mailing of error messages to document owners.
419
420       -nomargins
421              disable left/right margins in the default style sheet.
422
423       -nomore
424              disable -more- string in statusline messages.
425
426       -nonrestarting_sigwinch
427              This flag is not available on all  systems,  Lynx  needs  to  be
428              compiled  with  HAVE_SIGACTION defined.  If available, this flag
429              may cause Lynx to react more immediately to window changes  when
430              run within an xterm.
431
432       -nonumbers
433              disable    link-    and    field-numbering.     This   overrides
434              -number_fields and -number_links.
435
436       -nopause
437              disable forced pauses for statusline messages.
438
439       -noprint
440              disable most print functions.
441
442       -noredir
443              prevents automatic redirection and prints a message with a  link
444              to the new URL.
445
446       -noreferer
447              disable transmissions of Referer headers.
448
449       -noreverse
450              disable reverse video-attribute.
451
452       -nosocks
453              disable SOCKS proxy usage by a SOCKSified Lynx.
454
455       -nostatus
456              disable the retrieval status messages.
457
458       -notitle
459              disable title and blank line from top of page.
460
461       -nounderline
462              disable underline video-attribute.
463
464       -number_fields
465              force numbering of links as well as form input fields
466
467       -number_links
468              force numbering of links.
469
470       -partial
471              toggles display partial pages while loading.
472
473       -partial_thres=NUMBER
474              number  of  lines  to  render  before  repainting  display  with
475              partial-display logic
476
477       -passive_ftp
478              toggles passive ftp connections.
479
480       -pauth=ID:PASSWD
481              set authorization ID and password for a protected  proxy  server
482              at  startup.  Be sure to protect any script files which use this
483              switch.
484
485       -popup toggles handling  of  single-choice  SELECT  options  via  popup
486              windows or as lists of radio buttons.
487
488       -post_data
489              properly  formatted  data  for  a post form are read in from the
490              standard input and passed to the form.  Input is terminated by a
491              line that starts with “---”.
492
493              Lynx  issues  an  HTTP POST, sending the form to the path or URL
494              given on the command-line and prints the response of the server.
495              If  no  path  or URL is given, Lynx sends the form to the start-
496              page.
497
498       -preparsed
499              show HTML  source  preparsed  and  reformatted  when  used  with
500              -source or in source view.
501
502       -prettysrc
503              show HTML source view with lexical elements and tags in color.
504
505       -print enable print functions.  (default)
506
507       -pseudo_inlines
508              toggles pseudo-ALTs for inline images with no ALT string.
509
510       -raw   toggles  default  setting of 8-bit character translations or CJK
511              mode for the startup character set.
512
513       -realm restricts access to URLs in the starting realm.
514
515       -read_timeout=N
516              Sets the read-timeout, where N is given in seconds.
517
518       -reload
519              flushes the cache on a proxy server  (only  the  first  document
520              given on the command-line is affected).
521
522       -restrictions=[option][,option][,option]...
523              allows  a  list  of services to be disabled selectively.  Dashes
524              and  underscores  in  option  names  can  be  intermixed.    The
525              following list is printed if no options are specified.
526
527              all
528                 restricts all options listed below.
529
530              bookmark
531                 disallow changing the location of the bookmark file.
532
533              bookmark_exec
534                 disallow execution links via the bookmark file.
535
536              change_exec_perms
537                 disallow  changing the eXecute permission on files (but still
538                 allow it for  directories)  when  local  file  management  is
539                 enabled.
540
541              default
542                 same  as  command  line  option -anonymous.  Disables default
543                 services for anonymous users.  Set to all restricted,  except
544                 for:  inside_telnet, outside_telnet, inside_ftp, outside_ftp,
545                 inside_rlogin,  outside_rlogin,  inside_news,   outside_news,
546                 telnet_port, jump, mail, print, exec, and goto.  The settings
547                 for these,  as  well  as  additional  goto  restrictions  for
548                 specific  URL schemes that are also applied, are derived from
549                 definitions within userdefs.h.
550
551              dired_support
552                 disallow local file management.
553
554              disk_save
555                 disallow saving to disk in the download and print menus.
556
557              dotfiles
558                 disallow access to, or creation of, hidden (dot) files.
559
560              download
561                 disallow some downloaders in  the  download  menu  (does  not
562                 imply disk_save restriction).
563
564              editor
565                 disallow external editing.
566
567              exec
568                 disable execution scripts.
569
570              exec_frozen
571                 disallow the user from changing the local execution option.
572
573              externals
574                 disallow  some  “EXTERNAL” configuration lines if support for
575                 passing  URLs  to  external  applications  (with  the  EXTERN
576                 command) is compiled in.
577
578              file_url
579                 disallow  using  G)oto,  served  links or bookmarks for file:
580                 URLs.
581
582              goto
583                 disable the “g” (goto) command.
584
585              inside_ftp
586                 disallow ftps for people coming from inside your domain (utmp
587                 required for selectivity).
588
589              inside_news
590                 disallow  USENET  news  posting for people coming from inside
591                 your domain (utmp required for selectivity).
592
593              inside_rlogin
594                 disallow rlogins for people coming from  inside  your  domain
595                 (utmp required for selectivity).
596
597              inside_telnet
598                 disallow  telnets  for  people coming from inside your domain
599                 (utmp required for selectivity).
600
601              jump
602                 disable the “j” (jump) command.
603
604              multibook
605                 disallow multiple bookmarks.
606
607              mail
608                 disallow mail.
609
610              news_post
611                 disallow USENET News posting.
612
613              options_save
614                 disallow saving options in .lynxrc.
615
616              outside_ftp
617                 disallow ftps for people  coming  from  outside  your  domain
618                 (utmp required for selectivity).
619
620              outside_news
621                 disallow  USENET  news  reading and posting for people coming
622                 from outside your domain  (utmp  required  for  selectivity).
623                 This  restriction  applies to “news”, “nntp”, “newspost”, and
624                 “newsreply”  URLs,  but  not  to  “snews”,  “snewspost”,   or
625                 “snewsreply” in case they are supported.
626
627              outside_rlogin
628                 disallow  rlogins  for people coming from outside your domain
629                 (utmp required for selectivity).
630
631              outside_telnet
632                 disallow telnets for people coming from outside  your  domain
633                 (utmp required for selectivity).
634
635              print
636                 disallow most print options.
637
638              shell
639                 disallow shell escapes and lynxexec or lynxprog G)oto's.
640
641              suspend
642                 disallow Unix Control-Z suspends with escape to shell.
643
644              telnet_port
645                 disallow specifying a port in telnet G)oto's.
646
647              useragent
648                 disallow modifications of the User-Agent header.
649
650       -resubmit_posts
651              toggles  forced  resubmissions  (no-cache)  of forms with method
652              POST when the  documents  they  returned  are  sought  with  the
653              PREV_DOC command or from the History List.
654
655       -rlogin
656              disable recognition of rlogin commands.
657
658       -scrollbar
659              toggles showing scrollbar.
660
661       -scrollbar_arrow
662              toggles showing arrows at ends of the scrollbar.
663
664       -selective
665              require .www_browsable files to browse directories.
666
667       -session=FILENAME
668              resumes from specified file on startup and saves session to that
669              file on exit.
670
671       -sessionin=FILENAME
672              resumes session from specified file.
673
674       -sessionout=FILENAME
675              saves session to specified file.
676
677       -short_url
678              show very long URLs in the status line with “...”  to  represent
679              the portion which cannot be displayed.  The beginning and end of
680              the URL are displayed, rather than suppressing the end.
681
682       -show_cfg
683              Print the configuration settings, e.g., as read from “lynx.cfg”,
684              and exit.
685
686       -show_cursor
687              If  enabled  the  cursor  will  not  be hidden in the right hand
688              corner but will instead  be  positioned  at  the  start  of  the
689              currently selected link.  Show cursor is the default for systems
690              without FANCY_CURSES capabilities.   The  default  configuration
691              can  be  changed  in  userdefs.h  or lynx.cfg.  The command line
692              switch toggles the default.
693
694       -show_rate
695              If enabled the transfer  rate  is  shown  in  bytes/second.   If
696              disabled,  no  transfer  rate  is  shown.   Use  lynx.cfg or the
697              options menu to select KB/second and/or ETA.
698
699       -soft_dquotes
700              toggles emulation of the  old  Netscape  and  Mosaic  bug  which
701              treated “>” as a co-terminator for double-quotes and tags.
702
703       -source
704              works  the  same  as  dump  but  outputs  HTML source instead of
705              formatted text.  For example
706
707                  lynx -source . >foo.html
708
709              generates  HTML  source  listing  the  files  in   the   current
710              directory.   Each  file  is  marked  by  an HREF relative to the
711              parent directory.  Add a  trailing  slash  to  make  the  HREF's
712              relative to the current directory:
713
714                  lynx -source ./ >foo.html
715
716       -stack_dump
717              disable SIGINT cleanup handler
718
719       -startfile_ok
720              allow non-http startfile and homepage with -validate.
721
722       -stderr
723              When  dumping  a  document using -dump or -source, Lynx normally
724              does not display alert (error) messages  that  you  see  on  the
725              screen  in the status line.  Use the -stderr option to tell Lynx
726              to write these messages to the standard error.
727
728       -stdin read the startfile from standard input (UNIX only).
729
730       -syslog=text
731              information for syslog call.
732
733       -syslog_urls
734              log requested URLs with syslog.
735
736       -tagsoup
737              initialize parser, using Tag Soup DTD rather than SortaSGML.
738
739       -telnet
740              disable recognition of telnet commands.
741
742       -term=TERM
743              tell Lynx what terminal type to assume it is talking to.   (This
744              may  be  useful  for  remote  execution, when, for example, Lynx
745              connects to a remote TCP/IP port that starts a script  that,  in
746              turn, starts another Lynx process.)
747
748       -timeout=N
749              For  win32,  sets  the network read-timeout, where N is given in
750              seconds.
751
752       -tlog  toggles between using a Lynx Trace  Log  and  stderr  for  trace
753              output from the session.
754
755       -tna   turns on “Textfields Need Activation” mode.
756
757       -trace turns  on  Lynx trace mode.  Destination of trace output depends
758              on -tlog.
759
760       -trace_mask=value
761              turn on optional traces, which may result in  very  large  trace
762              files.  Logically OR the values to combine options:
763
764              1  SGML character parsing states
765
766              2  color-style
767
768              4  TRST (table layout)
769
770              8  configuration  (lynx.cfg,  .lynxrc, .lynx-keymaps, mime.types
771                 and mailcap contents)
772
773              16 binary string copy/append, used in form data construction.
774
775              32 cookies
776
777              64 character sets
778
779              128
780                 GridText parsing
781
782              256
783                 timing
784
785       -traversal
786              traverse all http links derived from startfile.  When used  with
787              -crawl,  each link that begins with the same string as startfile
788              is output to a file, intended for indexing.
789
790              See CRAWL.announce for more information.
791
792       -trim_blank_lines
793              toggles trimming of trailing blank lines as well as the  related
794              trimming of blank lines while collapsing BR tags.
795
796       -trim_input_fields
797              trim input text/textarea fields in forms.
798
799       -underline_links
800              toggles use of underline/bold attribute for links.
801
802       -underscore
803              toggles use of _underline_ format in dumps.
804
805       -unique_urls
806              check  for duplicate link numbers in each page and corresponding
807              lists, and reuse the original link number.
808
809       -use_mouse
810              turn on mouse support, if available.  Clicking  the  left  mouse
811              button  on a link traverses it.  Clicking the right mouse button
812              pops back.  Click on the top line to scroll up.   Click  on  the
813              bottom  line to scroll down.  The first few positions in the top
814              and bottom line may invoke additional functions.  Lynx  must  be
815              compiled  with  ncurses  or  slang  to support this feature.  If
816              ncurses is used, clicking the middle  mouse  button  pops  up  a
817              simple  menu.  Mouse clicks may only work reliably while Lynx is
818              idle waiting for input.
819
820       -useragent=Name
821              set alternate Lynx User-Agent header.
822
823       -validate
824              accept only  http  URLs  (for  validation).   Complete  security
825              restrictions also are implemented.
826
827       -verbose
828              toggle  [LINK],  [IMAGE] and [INLINE] comments with filenames of
829              these images.
830
831       -version
832              print version information, and exit.
833
834       -vikeys
835              enable vi-like key movement.
836
837       -wdebug
838              enable Waterloo tcp/ip packet debug (print to  watt  debugfile).
839              This  applies  only  to  DOS  versions  compiled  with WATTCP or
840              WATT-32.
841
842       -width=NUMBER
843              number of columns for formatting of dumps, default is 80.   This
844              is  limited  by  the  number of columns that Lynx could display,
845              typically 1024 (the MAX_LINE symbol).
846
847       -with_backspaces
848              emit backspaces in output if -dump'ing or -crawl'ing  (like  man
849              does)
850
851       -xhtml_parsing
852              tells Lynx that it can ignore certain tags which have no content
853              in an XHTML 1.0 document.  For example “<p/>” will be discarded.
854

COMMANDS

856       More than one key can be mapped to a given command.  Here are  some  of
857       the most useful:
858
859       ·   Use Up arrow and Down arrow to scroll through hypertext links.
860
861       ·   Right arrow or Return will follow a highlighted hypertext link.
862
863       ·   Left Arrow or “u” will retreat from a link.
864
865       ·   Type “H”, “?”, or F1 for online help and descriptions of key-stroke
866           commands.
867
868       ·   Type “k” or “K” for  a  list  of  the  current  key-stroke  command
869           mappings.
870
871           If  the same command is mapped to the same letter differing only by
872           upper/lowercase only the lowercase mapping is shown.
873
874       ·   Type Delete to view history list.
875

ENVIRONMENT

877       In addition to various “standard” environment variables such  as  HOME,
878       PATH,  USER,  DISPLAY, TMPDIR, etc, Lynx utilizes several Lynx-specific
879       environment variables, if they exist.
880
881       Others may be created or modified by Lynx to pass data to  an  external
882       program, or for other reasons.  These are listed separately below.
883
884       See  also  the  sections  on  SIMULATED CGI SUPPORT and NATIVE LANGUAGE
885       SUPPORT, below.
886
887       Note:  Not all environment variables apply to all  types  of  platforms
888       supported  by  Lynx, though most do.  Feedback on platform dependencies
889       is solicited.
890
891       Environment Variables Used By Lynx:
892
893       COLORTERM           If set, color capability for the terminal is forced
894                           on  at  startup time.  The actual value assigned to
895                           the variable is ignored.   This  variable  is  only
896                           meaningful  if  Lynx  was  built  using  the  slang
897                           screen-handling library.
898
899       LYNX_CFG            This variable, if set, will  override  the  default
900                           location  and name of the global configuration file
901                           (normally,  lynx.cfg)  that  was  defined  by   the
902                           LYNX_CFG_FILE  constant  in  the  userdefs.h  file,
903                           during installation.
904
905                           See the userdefs.h file for more information.
906
907       LYNX_CFG_PATH       If set, this  variable  overrides  the  compiled-in
908                           search-list   of   directories  used  to  find  the
909                           configuration files, e.g., lynx.cfg  and  lynx.lss.
910                           The list is delimited with ":" (or ";" for Windows)
911                           like the PATH environment variable.
912
913       LYNX_HELPFILE       If set, this variable overrides the compiled-in URL
914                           and configuration file URL for the Lynx help file.
915
916       LYNX_LOCALEDIR      If  set,  this  variable  overrides the compiled-in
917                           location of the  locale  directory  which  contains
918                           native language (NLS) message text.
919
920       LYNX_LSS            This  variable,  if  set, specifies the location of
921                           the  default  Lynx  character  style  sheet   file.
922                           [Currently  only meaningful if Lynx was built using
923                           curses color style support.]
924
925       LYNX_SAVE_SPACE     This variable, if set, will  override  the  default
926                           path prefix for files saved to disk that is defined
927                           in the lynx.cfg SAVE_SPACE: statement.
928
929                           See the lynx.cfg file for more information.
930
931       LYNX_TEMP_SPACE     This variable, if set, will  override  the  default
932                           path  prefix  for  temporary files that was defined
933                           during installation, as well as any value that  may
934                           be assigned to the TMPDIR variable.
935
936       MAIL                This variable specifies the default inbox Lynx will
937                           check for new mail, if such checking is enabled  in
938                           the lynx.cfg file.
939
940       NEWS_ORGANIZATION   This  variable, if set, provides the string used in
941                           the Organization: header of USENET  news  postings.
942                           It  will  override  the setting of the ORGANIZATION
943                           environment variable, if it is also  set  (and,  on
944                           UNIX, the contents of an /etc/organization file, if
945                           present).
946
947       NNTPSERVER          If set, this variable specifies  the  default  NNTP
948                           server  that  will  be used for USENET news reading
949                           and posting with Lynx, via news: URL's.
950
951       ORGANIZATION        This variable, if set, provides the string used  in
952                           the  Organization:  header of USENET news postings.
953                           On UNIX,  it  will  override  the  contents  of  an
954                           /etc/organization file, if present.
955
956       PROTOCOL_proxy      Lynx supports the use of proxy servers that can act
957                           as firewall gateways and caching servers.  They are
958                           preferable   to  the  older  gateway  servers  (see
959                           WWW_access_GATEWAY, below).
960
961                           Each protocol used by  Lynx,  (http,  ftp,  gopher,
962                           etc),   can   be   mapped   separately  by  setting
963                           environment variables of the  form  PROTOCOL_proxy.
964                           Protocols are indicated in a URI by the name before
965                           “:”, e.g., “http” in “http://some.server.dom:port/”
966                           for HTML.
967
968                           Depending   on   your   system   configuration  and
969                           supported  protocols,  the  environment   variables
970                           recognized by lynx may include
971
972                               cso_proxy
973                               finger_proxy
974                               ftp_proxy
975                               gopher_proxy
976                               https_proxy
977                               http_proxy
978                               newspost_proxy
979                               newsreply_proxy
980                               news_proxy
981                               nntp_proxy
982                               no_proxy
983                               snewspost_proxy
984                               snewsreply_proxy
985                               snews_proxy
986                               wais_proxy
987
988                           See  Lynx  Users  Guide  for additional details and
989                           examples.
990
991       SSL_CERT_DIR        Set   to   the   directory    containing    trusted
992                           certificates.
993
994       SSL_CERT_FILE       Set  to the full path and filename for your file of
995                           trusted certificates.
996
997       WWW_access_GATEWAY  Lynx still supports use of  gateway  servers,  with
998                           the   servers  specified  via  “WWW_access_GATEWAY”
999                           variables (where “access” is lower case and can  be
1000                           “http”,  “ftp”,  “gopher” or “wais”).  However most
1001                           gateway servers have been discontinued.  Note  that
1002                           you do not include a terminal “/” for gateways, but
1003                           do  for   proxies   specified   by   PROTOCOL_proxy
1004                           environment variables.
1005
1006                           See Lynx Users Guide for details.
1007
1008       WWW_HOME            This  variable,  if  set, will override the default
1009                           startup  URL  specified  in   any   of   the   Lynx
1010                           configuration files.
1011
1012       Environment Variables Set or Modified By Lynx:
1013
1014       LYNX_PRINT_DATE     This  variable is set by the Lynx p(rint) function,
1015                           to  the  Date:  string  seen  in   the   document's
1016Information  about”  page  (= cmd), if any.  It is
1017                           created for use by an external program, as  defined
1018                           in  a  lynx.cfg  PRINTER: definition statement.  If
1019                           the field does not  exist  for  the  document,  the
1020                           variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or “No
1021                           Date” under VMS.
1022
1023       LYNX_PRINT_LASTMOD  This variable is set by the Lynx p(rint)  function,
1024                           to  the  Last  Mod:  string  seen in the document's
1025Information about” page (= cmd), if  any.   It  is
1026                           created  for use by an external program, as defined
1027                           in a lynx.cfg PRINTER:  definition  statement.   If
1028                           the  field  does  not  exist  for the document, the
1029                           variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or “No
1030                           LastMod” under VMS.
1031
1032       LYNX_PRINT_TITLE    This  variable is set by the Lynx p(rint) function,
1033                           to the Linkname:  string  seen  in  the  document's
1034Information  about”  page  (= cmd), if any.  It is
1035                           created for use by an external program, as  defined
1036                           in  a  lynx.cfg  PRINTER: definition statement.  If
1037                           the field does not  exist  for  the  document,  the
1038                           variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or “No
1039                           Title” under VMS.
1040
1041       LYNX_PRINT_URL      This variable is set by the Lynx p(rint)  function,
1042                           to   the   URL:   string  seen  in  the  document's
1043Information about” page (= cmd), if  any.   It  is
1044                           created  for use by an external program, as defined
1045                           in a lynx.cfg PRINTER:  definition  statement.   If
1046                           the  field  does  not  exist  for the document, the
1047                           variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or “No
1048                           URL” under VMS.
1049
1050       LYNX_TRACE          If set, causes Lynx to write a trace file as if the
1051                           -trace option were supplied.
1052
1053       LYNX_TRACE_FILE     If set, overrides the compiled-in name of the trace
1054                           file,  which  is  either Lynx.trace or LY-TRACE.LOG
1055                           (the latter on  the  DOS/Windows  platforms).   The
1056                           trace  file  is in either case relative to the home
1057                           directory.
1058
1059       LYNX_VERSION        This variable is always set by  Lynx,  and  may  be
1060                           used  by an external program to determine if it was
1061                           invoked by Lynx.
1062
1063                           See also the comments in the distribution's  sample
1064                           mailcap file, for notes on usage in such a file.
1065
1066       TERM                Normally,   this   variable  is  used  by  Lynx  to
1067                           determine the terminal type being  used  to  invoke
1068                           Lynx.  If, however, it is unset at startup time (or
1069                           has the value “unknown”), or if the -term  command-
1070                           line  option  is  used (see OPTIONS section above),
1071                           Lynx will set or  modify  its  value  to  the  user
1072                           specified  terminal  type  (for  the Lynx execution
1073                           environment).  Note: If set/modified by  Lynx,  the
1074                           values  of  the  LINES  and/or  COLUMNS environment
1075                           variables may also be changed.
1076

SIMULATED CGI SUPPORT

1078       If built with the cgi-links option enabled, Lynx allows access to a cgi
1079       script directly without the need for an http daemon.
1080
1081       When  executing  such  “lynxcgi  scripts”  (if  enabled), the following
1082       variables may be set for simulating a CGI environment:
1083
1084       CONTENT_LENGTH
1085
1086       CONTENT_TYPE
1087
1088       DOCUMENT_ROOT
1089
1090       HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET
1091
1092       HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE
1093
1094       HTTP_USER_AGENT
1095
1096       PATH_INFO
1097
1098       PATH_TRANSLATED
1099
1100       QUERY_STRING
1101
1102       REMOTE_ADDR
1103
1104       REMOTE_HOST
1105
1106       REQUEST_METHOD
1107
1108       SERVER_SOFTWARE
1109
1110       Other environment variables are not inherited  by  the  script,  unless
1111       they   are   provided   via  a  LYNXCGI_ENVIRONMENT  statement  in  the
1112       configuration file.  See the lynx.cfg file, and  the  (draft)  CGI  1.1
1113       Specification <http://Web.Golux.Com/coar/cgi/draft-coar-cgi-v11-00.txt>
1114       for the definition and usage of these variables.
1115
1116       The CGI Specification, and other associated  documentation,  should  be
1117       consulted for general information on CGI script programming.
1118

NATIVE LANGUAGE SUPPORT

1120       If  configured  and  installed  with Native Language Support, Lynx will
1121       display status and other messages in your local language.  See the file
1122       ABOUT_NLS  in  the  source distribution, or at your local GNU site, for
1123       more information about internationalization.
1124
1125       The following environment  variables  may  be  used  to  alter  default
1126       settings:
1127
1128       LANG                This  variable,  if  set, will override the default
1129                           message language.  It is an ISO 639 two-letter code
1130                           identifying  the  language.  Language codes are NOT
1131                           the same as the country codes given in ISO 3166.
1132
1133       LANGUAGE            This variable, if set, will  override  the  default
1134                           message language.  This is a GNU extension that has
1135                           higher priority for  setting  the  message  catalog
1136                           than LANG or LC_ALL.
1137
1138       LC_ALL              and
1139
1140       LC_MESSAGES         These  variables,  if  set,  specify  the notion of
1141                           native language formatting style.  They are POSIXly
1142                           correct.
1143
1144       LINGUAS             This  variable,  if  set  prior  to  configuration,
1145                           limits the installed languages to specific  values.
1146                           It  is  a space-separated list of two-letter codes.
1147                           Currently, it is hard-coded to a wish list.
1148
1149       NLSPATH             This variable, if set, is used as the  path  prefix
1150                           for message catalogs.
1151

NOTES

1153       This is the Lynx v2.8.9 Release; development is in progress for 2.9.0.
1154
1155       If you wish to contribute to the further development of Lynx, subscribe
1156       to our mailing list.  Send email to <lynx-dev-request@nongnu.org>  with
1157       “subscribe lynx-dev” as the only line in the body of your message.
1158
1159       Send  bug reports, comments, suggestions to <lynx-dev@nongnu.org> after
1160       subscribing.
1161
1162       Unsubscribe by  sending  email  to  <lynx-dev-request@nongnu.org>  with
1163       “unsubscribe  lynx-dev”  as  the only line in the body of your message.
1164       Do not send the unsubscribe message to the lynx-dev list, itself.
1165

SEE ALSO

1167       catgets(3), curses(3),  environ(7),  execve(2),  ftp(1),  gettext(GNU),
1168       localeconv(3),    ncurses(3),   setlocale(3),   slang(?),   termcap(5),
1169       terminfo(5), wget(GNU)
1170
1171       Note that man page availability and section numbering is somewhat plat‐
1172       form dependent, and may vary from the above references.
1173
1174       A  section  shown as (GNU), is intended to denote that the topic may be
1175       available via an info page, instead of a man page (i.e., try “info sub‐
1176       ject”, rather than “man subject”).
1177
1178       A  section shown as (?) denotes that documentation on the topic exists,
1179       but is not part of an established documentation retrieval  system  (see
1180       the  distribution files associated with the topic, or contact your Sys‐
1181       tem Administrator for further information).
1182

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1184       Lynx has incorporated code from a variety of  sources  along  the  way.
1185       The  earliest versions of Lynx included code from Earl Fogel of Comput‐
1186       ing Services at the University of Saskatchewan, who implemented  HYPER‐
1187       REZ  in the Unix environment.  HYPERREZ was developed by Niel Larson of
1188       Think.com and served as the model  for  the  early  versions  of  Lynx.
1189       Those versions also incorporated libraries from the Unix Gopher clients
1190       developed at the University of Minnesota, and  the  later  versions  of
1191       Lynx  rely  on the WWW client library code developed by Tim Berners-Lee
1192       and the WWW community.  Also a special thanks to  Foteos  Macrides  who
1193       ported much of Lynx to VMS and did or organized most of its development
1194       since the departures of Lou Montulli and Garrett Blythe from  the  Uni‐
1195       versity  of Kansas in the summer of 1994 through the release of v2.7.2,
1196       and to everyone on the net who has contributed  to  Lynx's  development
1197       either directly (through patches, comments or bug reports) or indirect‐
1198       ly (through inspiration and development of other systems).
1199

AUTHORS

1201       Lou Montulli, Garrett Blythe, Craig Lavender,  Michael  Grobe,  Charles
1202       Rezac
1203       Academic Computing Services
1204       University of Kansas
1205       Lawrence, Kansas 66047
1206
1207       Foteos Macrides
1208       Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
1209       Shrewsbury, Massachusetts 01545
1210
1211       Thomas E. Dickey
1212       <dickey@invisible-island.net>
1213
1214
1215
1216                                                                       LYNX(1)
Impressum