Updates from Lukas Murdock

Lynx

June 21, 2025

macOS setup

brew install lynx

Update ~./zshrc to alias lynx to a lynx with a personal config (pick/make a folder to place the lynx configuration into)

alias lynx='lynx -cfg=~/.dotfiles/.lynx/lynx.cfg'

Create Your Personal Lynx Config

cp /opt/homebrew/etc/lynx.cfg ~/.dotfiles/.lynx/lynx.cfg

Create your jump file

touch .lynx_jumps.html

<DT>?<DD><A HREF="file://ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_FILE/.lynx_jumps.html">This Shortcut List</A>
<DT>gs<DD><A HREF="https://www.google.com/search?q=%s">Google Search</A>
<DT>ghs<DD><A HREF="https://github.com/search?q=%s">GitHub Search</A>
<DT>wiki<DD><A HREF="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s">Wikipedia Search</A>
<DT>hn<DD><A HREF="https://news.ycombinator.com">Hacker News</A>
<DT>reddit<DD><A HREF="https://www.reddit.com">Reddit</A>

Find and update config.

[…]

STARTFILE:https://news.ycombinator.com/

[…]
JUMPFILE:/ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_FILE/.lynx_jumps.html

Arrow Keys: Up/Down to select links, Right/Return to follow links, Left to go back
q: Quit Lynx
g: Go to URL (type any web address)
/ : Search within current page
Space/Page Down: Next page
b/Page Up: Previous page

Essential Commands

h or ?: Help (your lifeline when stuck)
m: Return to main/home page
v: View bookmarks
a: Add current page to bookmarks
p: Print/save page (includes save to file option)
\: View HTML source
=: Show page info (URL, title, etc.)
Delete: Show History Page of links leading to your access of the current document

Quick Start

# Basic usage
lynx                    # Start with default page
lynx google.com         # Go directly to a site
lynx -dump google.com   # Get text output (great for scripts)

Forms & Interactive Elements

Tab/Down Arrow: Move between form fields
Return/Right Arrow: Activate buttons, enter text fields
Space: Toggle checkboxes and radio buttons
Return on dropdown: Opens selection menu

Essential Options (Press ‘o’)

Display character set: Set to UTF-8 for best compatibility
Show cursor: ON (helpful for screen readers and clarity)
Editor: Set your preferred text editor
User mode: Advanced (gives you more features)

Power User Shortcuts

Ctrl-R: Reload current page
Ctrl-G: Cancel current operation
Ctrl-L: Refresh screen
z: Interrupt downloads/connections
** **: Toggle line wrapping (useful for wide content)

Command Line Essentials

lynx -dump URL          # Get plain text of webpage
lynx -source URL        # Get HTML source
lynx -width=120 URL     # Set display width
lynx -anonymous         # Restricted mode (safer browsing)

Pro Tips

Bookmark everything useful - Lynx navigation is slower than graphical browsers
Use -dump for quick info - Perfect for scripts and quick text extraction
Learn the Options menu - ‘o’ key opens configuration that persists
Use ‘g’ liberally - Faster than navigating through links
Remember ‘h’ for help - The built-in help is comprehensive

When You Need More

Tables: Use ‘l’ (List) to see all links if table rendering is poor
Images: Use ‘*’ to toggle image links if you need to access images
Downloads: Use ‘d’ when on a file link to download
External editor: ‘e’ to edit local files (if configured)

Advanced Features

Text Processing & Output

# Advanced dumping with formatting
lynx -dump -width=120 -nolist URL           # Clean text, no link list
lynx -dump -with_backspaces URL | less      # Formatted like man pages
lynx -crawl -traversal startpage.html       # Spider entire site for indexing
lynx -source URL | grep "meta name"         # Extract specific HTML elements

Session Management

lynx -session=work.session                  # Save/restore browsing session
lynx -sessionin=saved.session              # Resume from saved session
lynx -cmd_log=commands.log URL              # Record all keystrokes
lynx -cmd_script=replay.txt                 # Replay recorded session

;: View trace log (debugging HTTP requests)
Ctrl-X: Cache jar - see all cached documents
Ctrl-K: Cookie jar - manage cookies
]: Send HEAD request (get headers only)
#: Jump to toolbar/banner if present
CTRL-T: Toggle trace mode (detailed logging)

Form Power Features

Ctrl-V then e: External editor for textareas (if configured)
Ctrl-V then g: Grow textarea (add more lines)
Ctrl-V then i: Insert file into textarea
d: Download form response instead of displaying it
x: Submit form with no-cache (force fresh response)

File Management (DIRED Mode)

When browsing local directories (file://localhost/path/):

c: Create new file
e: Edit file with external editor
f: Full menu of file operations
m: Modify (rename/move) file
r: Remove file/directory
t: Tag files for batch operations
u: Upload file to directory

Display Customization

** **: Toggle line wrapping (with width options)
{ and }: Scroll left/right for wide content
@: Toggle raw 8-bit/CJK character mode
[: Toggle pseudo-ALT text for images
*: Toggle image links on/off
Ctrl-L: Refresh display

Advanced Bookmarks

Set multi-bookmarks to ADVANCED in options
Create up to 26 bookmark files (A-Z)
Use bookmark subdirectories: ./bookmarks/work.html
Edit bookmark files directly with external editor

Jump Commands (Custom Shortcuts)

Create ~/.lynx_jump file with shortcuts:

google  http://www.google.com/search?q=%s
wiki    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s
news    https://news.ycombinator.com

Then use j followed by shortcut name.

Security & Privacy Features

lynx -anonymous                             # Restricted anonymous mode
lynx -restrictions=all                      # Maximum restrictions
lynx -validate                              # Only allow HTTP URLs
lynx -noredir                               # Don't follow redirects
lynx -noreferer                            # Don't send referrer headers

Network Debugging

lynx -trace -stderr URL 2> debug.log       # Full HTTP trace to file
lynx -head URL                              # Get headers only
lynx -mime_header -source URL               # Include MIME headers in source
lynx -connect_timeout=30 URL                # Set connection timeout

Batch Processing & Automation

# Web scraping pipeline
lynx -dump -listonly URL | grep "http" | \
  while read url; do lynx -dump "$url" >> data.txt; done

# Monitor webpage changes
lynx -dump URL > current.txt
diff previous.txt current.txt

# Extract all links from a page
lynx -dump -listonly URL | grep "^[[:space:]]*[0-9]"

Configuration Power Tips

Edit ~/.lynxrc or use command line:

lynx -assume_charset=UTF-8                  # Handle broken encoding
lynx -cookie_file=custom_cookies.txt        # Custom cookie storage
lynx -display_charset=UTF-8                 # Set display encoding
lynx -editor=vim                            # Set external editor
lynx -useragent="Custom Bot 1.0"           # Custom user agent

n: Repeat last search
CTRL-A: Jump to beginning of document
CTRL-E: Jump to end of document
( and ): Half-page up/down
CTRL-P/N: Two-line up/down movement
E: Edit current link URL and go to it
G: Edit current page URL and go to it

External Program Integration

Configure in lynx.cfg:

EXTERNAL:http:xdg-open %s:TRUE
PRINTER:Save to PDF:lpr -P PDF %s:TRUE
DOWNLOADER:wget:wget %s:TRUE

Table Handling

l: List all links when tables render poorly
Use -width=200 for better table formatting
Enable TRST (simple table rendering) in config
Convert complex tables with external scripts

Advanced Form Techniques

Use Tab to move forward through fields efficiently
Shift-Tab: Move backward through fields (if supported)
Ctrl-V prefix to escape from text fields temporarily
Submit forms with GET method allow bookmarking results

Memory & Performance

lynx -cache=50                              # Increase document cache
lynx -partial                               # Enable partial page display
lynx -partial_thres=200                     # Set partial display threshold
lynx -stack_dump                            # Debug memory issues

Pro Automation Examples

# Daily news digest
lynx -dump news_site.com | head -50 | mail -s "Daily News" user@domain

# Website monitoring script
#!/bin/bash
URL="$1"
lynx -dump "$URL" | md5sum > current.md5
if ! cmp -s current.md5 previous.md5; then
    echo "Website changed!" | mail -s "Change Alert" admin@domain
fi
mv current.md5 previous.md5

# Bulk link checking
lynx -traversal -crawl startpage.html
grep "ERROR" *.html

Terminal Integration

Set TERM variable for optimal display
Use with tmux/screen for persistent sessions
Configure terminal for proper color support
Set up keyboard shortcuts for common Lynx commands

Remember: These advanced features make Lynx incredibly powerful for automation, debugging, and specialized workflows. Start with the basics, then add these techniques as your needs grow.

Lynx

June 21, 2025

macOS setup

brew install lynx

Update ~./zshrc to alias lynx to a lynx with a personal config (pick/make a folder to place the lynx configuration into)

alias lynx='lynx -cfg=~/.dotfiles/.lynx/lynx.cfg'

Create Your Personal Lynx Config

cp /opt/homebrew/etc/lynx.cfg ~/.dotfiles/.lynx/lynx.cfg

Create your jump file

touch .lynx_jumps.html

<DT>?<DD><A HREF="file://ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_FILE/.lynx_jumps.html">This Shortcut List</A>
<DT>gs<DD><A HREF="https://www.google.com/search?q=%s">Google Search</A>
<DT>ghs<DD><A HREF="https://github.com/search?q=%s">GitHub Search</A>
<DT>wiki<DD><A HREF="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s">Wikipedia Search</A>
<DT>hn<DD><A HREF="https://news.ycombinator.com">Hacker News</A>
<DT>reddit<DD><A HREF="https://www.reddit.com">Reddit</A>

Find and update config.

[…]

STARTFILE:https://news.ycombinator.com/

[…]
JUMPFILE:/ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_FILE/.lynx_jumps.html

Arrow Keys: Up/Down to select links, Right/Return to follow links, Left to go back
q: Quit Lynx
g: Go to URL (type any web address)
/ : Search within current page
Space/Page Down: Next page
b/Page Up: Previous page

Essential Commands

h or ?: Help (your lifeline when stuck)
m: Return to main/home page
v: View bookmarks
a: Add current page to bookmarks
p: Print/save page (includes save to file option)
\: View HTML source
=: Show page info (URL, title, etc.)
Delete: Show History Page of links leading to your access of the current document

Quick Start

# Basic usage
lynx                    # Start with default page
lynx google.com         # Go directly to a site
lynx -dump google.com   # Get text output (great for scripts)

Forms & Interactive Elements

Tab/Down Arrow: Move between form fields
Return/Right Arrow: Activate buttons, enter text fields
Space: Toggle checkboxes and radio buttons
Return on dropdown: Opens selection menu

Essential Options (Press ‘o’)

Display character set: Set to UTF-8 for best compatibility
Show cursor: ON (helpful for screen readers and clarity)
Editor: Set your preferred text editor
User mode: Advanced (gives you more features)

Power User Shortcuts

Ctrl-R: Reload current page
Ctrl-G: Cancel current operation
Ctrl-L: Refresh screen
z: Interrupt downloads/connections
** **: Toggle line wrapping (useful for wide content)

Command Line Essentials

lynx -dump URL          # Get plain text of webpage
lynx -source URL        # Get HTML source
lynx -width=120 URL     # Set display width
lynx -anonymous         # Restricted mode (safer browsing)

Pro Tips

Bookmark everything useful - Lynx navigation is slower than graphical browsers
Use -dump for quick info - Perfect for scripts and quick text extraction
Learn the Options menu - ‘o’ key opens configuration that persists
Use ‘g’ liberally - Faster than navigating through links
Remember ‘h’ for help - The built-in help is comprehensive

When You Need More

Tables: Use ‘l’ (List) to see all links if table rendering is poor
Images: Use ‘*’ to toggle image links if you need to access images
Downloads: Use ‘d’ when on a file link to download
External editor: ‘e’ to edit local files (if configured)

Advanced Features

Text Processing & Output

# Advanced dumping with formatting
lynx -dump -width=120 -nolist URL           # Clean text, no link list
lynx -dump -with_backspaces URL | less      # Formatted like man pages
lynx -crawl -traversal startpage.html       # Spider entire site for indexing
lynx -source URL | grep "meta name"         # Extract specific HTML elements

Session Management

lynx -session=work.session                  # Save/restore browsing session
lynx -sessionin=saved.session              # Resume from saved session
lynx -cmd_log=commands.log URL              # Record all keystrokes
lynx -cmd_script=replay.txt                 # Replay recorded session

;: View trace log (debugging HTTP requests)
Ctrl-X: Cache jar - see all cached documents
Ctrl-K: Cookie jar - manage cookies
]: Send HEAD request (get headers only)
#: Jump to toolbar/banner if present
CTRL-T: Toggle trace mode (detailed logging)

Form Power Features

Ctrl-V then e: External editor for textareas (if configured)
Ctrl-V then g: Grow textarea (add more lines)
Ctrl-V then i: Insert file into textarea
d: Download form response instead of displaying it
x: Submit form with no-cache (force fresh response)

File Management (DIRED Mode)

When browsing local directories (file://localhost/path/):

c: Create new file
e: Edit file with external editor
f: Full menu of file operations
m: Modify (rename/move) file
r: Remove file/directory
t: Tag files for batch operations
u: Upload file to directory

Display Customization

** **: Toggle line wrapping (with width options)
{ and }: Scroll left/right for wide content
@: Toggle raw 8-bit/CJK character mode
[: Toggle pseudo-ALT text for images
*: Toggle image links on/off
Ctrl-L: Refresh display

Advanced Bookmarks

Set multi-bookmarks to ADVANCED in options
Create up to 26 bookmark files (A-Z)
Use bookmark subdirectories: ./bookmarks/work.html
Edit bookmark files directly with external editor

Jump Commands (Custom Shortcuts)

Create ~/.lynx_jump file with shortcuts:

google  http://www.google.com/search?q=%s
wiki    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s
news    https://news.ycombinator.com

Then use j followed by shortcut name.

Security & Privacy Features

lynx -anonymous                             # Restricted anonymous mode
lynx -restrictions=all                      # Maximum restrictions
lynx -validate                              # Only allow HTTP URLs
lynx -noredir                               # Don't follow redirects
lynx -noreferer                            # Don't send referrer headers

Network Debugging

lynx -trace -stderr URL 2> debug.log       # Full HTTP trace to file
lynx -head URL                              # Get headers only
lynx -mime_header -source URL               # Include MIME headers in source
lynx -connect_timeout=30 URL                # Set connection timeout

Batch Processing & Automation

# Web scraping pipeline
lynx -dump -listonly URL | grep "http" | \
  while read url; do lynx -dump "$url" >> data.txt; done

# Monitor webpage changes
lynx -dump URL > current.txt
diff previous.txt current.txt

# Extract all links from a page
lynx -dump -listonly URL | grep "^[[:space:]]*[0-9]"

Configuration Power Tips

Edit ~/.lynxrc or use command line:

lynx -assume_charset=UTF-8                  # Handle broken encoding
lynx -cookie_file=custom_cookies.txt        # Custom cookie storage
lynx -display_charset=UTF-8                 # Set display encoding
lynx -editor=vim                            # Set external editor
lynx -useragent="Custom Bot 1.0"           # Custom user agent

n: Repeat last search
CTRL-A: Jump to beginning of document
CTRL-E: Jump to end of document
( and ): Half-page up/down
CTRL-P/N: Two-line up/down movement
E: Edit current link URL and go to it
G: Edit current page URL and go to it

External Program Integration

Configure in lynx.cfg:

EXTERNAL:http:xdg-open %s:TRUE
PRINTER:Save to PDF:lpr -P PDF %s:TRUE
DOWNLOADER:wget:wget %s:TRUE

Table Handling

l: List all links when tables render poorly
Use -width=200 for better table formatting
Enable TRST (simple table rendering) in config
Convert complex tables with external scripts

Advanced Form Techniques

Use Tab to move forward through fields efficiently
Shift-Tab: Move backward through fields (if supported)
Ctrl-V prefix to escape from text fields temporarily
Submit forms with GET method allow bookmarking results

Memory & Performance

lynx -cache=50                              # Increase document cache
lynx -partial                               # Enable partial page display
lynx -partial_thres=200                     # Set partial display threshold
lynx -stack_dump                            # Debug memory issues

Pro Automation Examples

# Daily news digest
lynx -dump news_site.com | head -50 | mail -s "Daily News" user@domain

# Website monitoring script
#!/bin/bash
URL="$1"
lynx -dump "$URL" | md5sum > current.md5
if ! cmp -s current.md5 previous.md5; then
    echo "Website changed!" | mail -s "Change Alert" admin@domain
fi
mv current.md5 previous.md5

# Bulk link checking
lynx -traversal -crawl startpage.html
grep "ERROR" *.html

Terminal Integration

Set TERM variable for optimal display
Use with tmux/screen for persistent sessions
Configure terminal for proper color support
Set up keyboard shortcuts for common Lynx commands

Remember: These advanced features make Lynx incredibly powerful for automation, debugging, and specialized workflows. Start with the basics, then add these techniques as your needs grow.

Updates from Lukas Murdock

Lynx

macOS setup

Core Navigation

Essential Commands

Quick Start

Forms & Interactive Elements

Essential Options (Press ‘o’)

Power User Shortcuts

Command Line Essentials

Pro Tips

When You Need More

Advanced Features

Text Processing & Output

Session Management

Advanced Navigation

Form Power Features

File Management (DIRED Mode)

Display Customization

Advanced Bookmarks

Jump Commands (Custom Shortcuts)

Security & Privacy Features

Network Debugging

Batch Processing & Automation

Configuration Power Tips

Advanced Search & Navigation

External Program Integration

Table Handling

Advanced Form Techniques

Memory & Performance

Pro Automation Examples

Terminal Integration

Lynx

macOS setup

Core Navigation

Essential Commands

Quick Start

Forms & Interactive Elements

Essential Options (Press ‘o’)

Power User Shortcuts

Command Line Essentials

Pro Tips

When You Need More

Advanced Features

Text Processing & Output

Session Management

Advanced Navigation

Form Power Features

File Management (DIRED Mode)

Display Customization

Advanced Bookmarks

Jump Commands (Custom Shortcuts)

Security & Privacy Features

Network Debugging

Batch Processing & Automation

Configuration Power Tips

Advanced Search & Navigation

External Program Integration

Table Handling

Advanced Form Techniques

Memory & Performance

Pro Automation Examples

Terminal Integration