Linux is an interesting operations system. It provides a lot of command-based or terminal-based applications. Lynx is one of them. Lynx is a terminal-based web browser. This means we can browse the web or surf the web in a server environment without a desktop manager. In this tutorial, we will look at how to install lynx and the features and commands provided lynx.

Install Lynx

Lynx is an old browser and provided by the most the Linux distributions.

Ubuntu, Debian, Mint:

$ sudo apt install lynx

Fedora, CentOS, RedHat:

$ sudo yum install lynx

Windows

Windows installer can be downloaded from following link.

http://invisible-island.net/lynx/#installers

Open Lynx with URL Parameter

We can directly provide the URL we want to navigate to the lynx command. In this example, we will navigate www.google.com .

$ lynx www.google.com

Quit Lynx

We can quit lynx with q command . But there will be a question like below. We will simply provide yes.

q 
y

Navigate On Page

There will be a lot of links while we are surfing the web. We can use arrows to navigate on links.

Up , Down , Right , Left

Get Help About Lynx

Help about lynx can be get with h command. This will list a lot of help information.

Here List Of Most Used Lynx Shortcuts

MOVEMENT:    Down arrow     – Highlight next topic
Up arrow       – Highlight previous topic
Right arrow,   – Jump to highlighted topic
Return, Enter  – Follow selected link
Left arrow     – Return to previous topic

SCROLLING:   +              – Scroll down to next page (Page-Down)
–              – Scroll up to previous page (Page-Up)
SPACE          – Scroll down to next page (Page-Down)
b              – Scroll up to previous page (Page-Up)
CTRL-A         – Go to the first page of the current document (Home)
CTRL-E         – Go to the last page of the current document (End)
CTRL-B         – Scroll up to previous page (Page-Up)
CTRL-F         – Scroll down to next page (Page-Down)
CTRL-N         – Go forward two lines in the current document
CTRL-P         – Go back two lines in the current document
)              – Go forward half a page in the current document
(              – Go back half a page in the current document
^              – Go to the first link on the current line
$              – Go to the last link on the current line
<              – Go to the previous link in the current column

DIRED:       c              – Create a new file
d              – Download selected file
e              – Edit selected file
f              – Show a full menu of options for current file
m              – Modify the name or location of selected file
r              – Remove selected file
t              – Tag highlighted file
u              – Upload a file into the current directory

OTHER:       ? (or h)       – Help (this screen)
a              – Add the current link to a bookmark file
c              – Send a comment to the document owner
d              – Download the current link
e              – Edit the current file
E              – Edit the current link’s URL (or ACTION) and
use that as a goto URL.
g              – Goto a user specified URL or file
G              – Edit the current document’s URL and use that
as a goto URL.
i              – Show an index of documents
j              – Execute a jump operation
k              – Show list of actual key mappings
l              – List references (links) in current document
m              – Return to main screen
o              – Set your options
p              – Print to a file, mail, printers, or other
q              – Quit (Capital ‘Q’ for quick quit)
/              – Search for a string within the current document
s              – Enter a search string for an external search
n              – Go to the next search string
N              – Go to the previous search string
v              – View a bookmark file
V              – Go to the Visited Links Page
x              – Force submission of form or link with no-cache
z              – Cancel transfer in progress
=              – Show info about current document, URL and link
\              – Toggle document source/rendered view
!              – Spawn your default shell
‘              – Toggle “historical” vs minimal or valid comment
parsing
_              – Clear all authorization info for this session
`              – Toggle minimal or valid comment parsing
*              – Toggle image_links mode on and off
@              – Toggle raw 8-bit translations or CJK mode
on or off
.              – Run external program on the current link.
,              – Run external program on the current document.
{              – Shift the screen left.
}              – Shift the screen right.
|              – Toggle line-wrap mode.  When line-wrap is
off, you may use { and } to shift the screen
left/right.  The screen width is set to 999.
~              – Toggle parsing of nested tables (experimental).
[              – Toggle pseudo_inlines mode on and off
]              – Send a HEAD request for the current doc or link
”              – Toggle valid or “soft” double-quote parsing
CTRL-R         – Reload current file and refresh the screen
CTRL-L         – Refresh the screen

CTRL-V         – Outside of a text input line or field,
switch to alternative parsing of HTML.
– In a form text input field,
CTRL-V prompts for a key command (allows
escaping from the field).

Note that on most UNIX hosts, CTRL-V is bound
via stty to the lnext (literal-next) code but
the exact behavior of that is implementation
specific.  On Solaris you must type CTRL-V
twice to use it, since it quotes the following
keystroke.

CTRL-U         – Inside text input line or field,
erase input line (more input line commands)
– Outside of text input or field,
undo returning to previous topic.

CTRL-G         – Cancel input or transfer

CTRL-T         – Toggle trace mode on and off
;              – View the Lynx Trace Log for the current session
CTRL-K         – Invoke the Cookie Jar Page
CTRL-X         – Invoke the Cache Jar Page
numbers        – Invoke the prompt
Follow link (or goto link or page) number:
or the
Select option (or page) number:
prompt