ELINKS(1)

📦
version 0.20.0 · 14 versions
, in epel 10, epel 9, fedora 43, fedora 44

💅 NAME 💅

elinks — a lynx-like alternative character mode WWW browser. that's the official one-liner and honestly? iconic. no notes. ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

elinks [OPTION]... [URL]...

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

okay so bestie, ELinks is a text mode WWW browser, and before you go "ew, no pictures?", hear me out — this thing supports colors, table rendering, background downloading, a whole menu driven configuration interface, tabbed browsing, and it does it all with slim code. like, main character energy but with zero bloat. we love a low-maintenance queen. 💅

Frames are supported — yes, actual frames. You can have different file formats associated with external viewers. mailto: and telnet: are supported via external clients. it's giving "I have a guy for that" and the guy is a config file. 💀

ELinks can handle both local files and remote URLs. The main supported remote URL protocols are HTTP, HTTPS (with SSL support compiled in) and FTP. Additional protocol support exists for BitTorrent, finger, Gopher, SMB and NNTP. not her covering basically every protocol ever like it's nothing. periodt. 👑

The homepage of ELinks can be found at <http://elinks.cz/>, where the ELinks manual is also hosted. go say hi. 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

Most options can be set in the user interface or config file, so usually you do not need to care about them. big "don't worry your pretty little head about it" energy. Note that this list is roughly equivalent to the output of running ELinks with the option --long-help.

  • -anonymous [0|1] (default: 0) — Restricts ELinks so it can run on an anonymous account. Local file browsing, downloads, and modification of options will be disabled. Execution of viewers is allowed, but entries in the association table can't be added or modified. it's a locked-down era, no cap. 🔒
  • -auto-submit [0|1] (default: 0) — Automatically submit the first form in the given URLs. she just goes. no hesitation. 😤
  • -base-session <num> (default: 0) — Used internally when opening ELinks instances in new windows. The ID maps to information that will be used when creating the new instance. You don't want to use it. literally don't. this is not for you bestie, it's infrastructure. 🙈
  • -config-dir <str> (default: "") — Path of the directory ELinks will read and write its config and runtime state files to instead of ~/.config/elinks. If the path does not begin with a / it is assumed to be relative to your HOME directory. relocating your whole personality, slay. 📁
  • -config-dump — Print a configuration file with options set to the built-in defaults to stdout. factory settings reveal. ✨
  • -config-file <str> (default: "elinks.conf") — Name of the configuration file that all configuration options will be read from and written to. It should be relative to config-dir. one file to rule them all. 🎀
  • -config-help — Print help for configuration options and exit. the config option lore drop. 📖
  • -default-mime-type (alias for mime.default_type) — The default MIME type used for documents of unknown type. mystery document? mystery label. 💅
  • -default-keys [0|1] (default: 0) — When set, all keybindings from configuration files will be ignored. It forces use of default keybindings and will reset user-defined ones on save. your custom keys? gone. but hey, consistency. 😌
  • -dump [0|1] (default: 0) — Print formatted plain-text versions of given URLs to stdout. text goes brrr. 🧚
  • -dump-charset (alias for document.dump.codepage) — Codepage used when formatting dump output. iykyk. 🔤
  • -dump-color-mode (alias for document.dump.color_mode) — Color mode used with -dump. colors but make it dump. 🌈
  • -dump-width (alias for document.dump.width) — Width of the dump output. wide queen or narrow queen, your call. 📏
  • -eval — Specify configuration file directives on the command-line which will be evaluated after all configuration files has been read. Example usage: -eval 'set protocol.file.allow_special_files = 1'. living in the command line fr fr. 🔥
  • -force-html — Makes ELinks assume documents of unknown types are HTML. Useful when using ELinks as an external viewer from MUAs. This is equivalent to -default-mime-type text/html. everything is HTML if you believe hard enough. 💖
  • -?, -h, -help — Print usage help and exit. when in doubt, ask for help. 💅
  • -localhost [0|1] (default: 0) — Restricts ELinks to work offline and only connect to servers with local addresses (ie. 127.0.0.1). No connections to remote servers will be permitted. introvert mode: activated. 🫧
  • -long-help — Print detailed usage help and exit. the director's cut of help. 👑
  • -lookup — Look up specified host and print all DNS resolved IP addresses. detective era. 🔍
  • -no-connect [0|1] (default: 0) — Run ELinks as a separate instance instead of connecting to an existing instance. Note that normally no runtime state files (bookmarks, history, etc.) are written to the disk when this option is used. See also -touch-files. she's independent, she doesn't need the group chat. 😭
  • -no-home [0|1] (default: 0) — Disables creation and use of files in the user specific home configuration directory (~/.config/elinks). It forces default configuration values to be used and disables saving of runtime state files. no home, no history, no baggage. 💀
  • -no-numbering (alias for document.dump.numbering) — Prevents printing of link number in dump output. Note that this really affects only -dump, nothing else. ONLY -dump. do not come for anything else. 🙅
  • -no-references (alias for document.dump.references) — Prevents printing of references (URIs) of document links in dump output. Note that this really affects only -dump, nothing else. again: only -dump. put it in your notes. 📝
  • -remote — Control a remote ELinks instance by passing commands to it. The option takes an additional argument containing the method which should be invoked and any parameters that should be passed to it. For ease of use, the additional method argument can be omitted in which case any URL arguments will be opened in new tabs in the remote instance. remote controlling your own browser, absolutely unhinged, obsessed. 🕹️

Following is a list of the supported methods:

  • ping(): look for a remote instance
  • openURL(): prompt URL in current tab
  • openURL(URL): open URL in current tab
  • openURL(URL, new-tab): open URL in new tab
  • openURL(URL, new-window): open URL in new window
  • addBookmark(URL): bookmark URL
  • infoBox(text): show text in a message box
  • reload(): reload the document in the current tab
  • search(string): search in the current tab
  • xfeDoCommand(openBrowser): open new window
  • -session-ring <num> (default: 0) — ID of session ring this ELinks session should connect to. ELinks works in so-called session rings, whereby all instances of ELinks are interconnected and share state (cache, bookmarks, cookies, and so on). By default, all ELinks instances connect to session ring 0. You can change that behaviour with this switch and form as many session rings as you want. Obviously, if the session-ring with this number doesn't exist yet, it's created and this ELinks instance will become the master instance (that usually doesn't matter for you as a user much).

Note that you usually don't want to use this unless you're a developer and you want to do some testing — if you want the ELinks instances each running standalone, rather use the -no-connect command-line option. Also note that normally no runtime state files are written to the disk when this option is used. See also -touch-files. it's giving "I'm in a friend group and we share everything" energy. 🫶

  • -source [0|1] (default: 0) — Print given URLs in source form to stdout. raw, unfiltered, no makeup. 💜
  • -touch-files [0|1] (default: 0) — When enabled, runtime state files (bookmarks, history, etc.) are written to disk, even when -no-connect or -session-ring is used. The option has no effect if not used in conjunction with any of these options. she'll save your stuff, but only if you team her up with the right partner. 🤝
  • -verbose <num> (default: 1) — The verbose level controls what messages are shown at start up and while running:
    • 0 means only show serious errors
    • 1 means show serious errors and warnings
    • 2 means show all messages
  • -version — Print ELinks version information and exit. know your queen's birthday and build number. 🎂

Generated using output from ELinks version 0.13.GIT.

🌸 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌸

the environment is literally the vibe check for your shell, and these are the levers:

  • COMSPEC, SHELL — The shell used for File -> OS Shell on DOS/Windows and UNIX, respectively. one per platform, no fighting. 🐚
  • EDITOR — The program to use for external editor (when editing textareas). type your hot takes elsewhere. ✍️
  • ELINKS_TWTERM, LINKS_TWTERM — The command to run when selecting File -> New window and if TWDISPLAY is defined (default twterm -e). 🪟
  • ELINKS_XTERM, LINKS_XTERM — The command to run when selecting File -> New window and if DISPLAY is defined (default xterm -e). another window, another slay. 🖥️
  • FTP_PROXY, HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY — The host to proxy the various protocol traffic through. send it through the middleman. 🔀
  • NO_PROXY — A comma separated list of URLs which should not be proxied. the do-not-proxy list, the VIP list. ✋
  • HOME — The path to the users home directory. Used when expanding ~/. home sweet home. 🏡
  • ELINKS_CONFDIR — If set the location of the directory containing configuration files. If not set see below. 📂
  • XDG_CONFIG_HOME — If set the location of the directory containing configuration files is $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/elinks/ instead of ~/.config/elinks/. 💅
  • WWW_HOME — Homepage location (as in lynx(1)). where you land when you land. 🏠

🦋 FILES 🦋

Configuration files controlled by ELinks are located in the user configuration directory, defaulting to ~/.config/elinks/. In addition to the files listed below, a user defined CSS stylesheet can be defined using the document.css.stylesheet option. yes bestie, you can make it pretty too. 💖

  • /etc/elinks.conf — Site-wide configuration file. the group project. 🏫
  • ~/.config/elinks/elinks.conf — Per-user config file, loaded after site-wide configuration. your personal era. ⭐
  • ~/.config/elinks/bookmarks — Bookmarks file. the saved-for-later pile. 🔖
  • ~/.config/elinks/cookies — Cookies file. crumbs everywhere. 🍪
  • ~/.config/elinks/exmodehist — Exmode history file. 🕰️
  • ~/.config/elinks/formhist — Form history file. everything you've ever typed into a box. 🙈
  • ~/.config/elinks/globhist — History file containing most recently visited URLs. the recents tab of your soul. 🌈
  • ~/.config/elinks/gotohist — GoTo URL dialog history file. 🚪
  • ~/.config/elinks/hooks.{js,lua,pl,py,rb,scm} — Browser scripting hooks. pick your language, she speaks all of them. 🧚
  • ~/.config/elinks/searchhist — Search history file. 🔎
  • ~/.config/elinks/socket — Internal ELinks socket for communication between its instances. the group chat infrastructure, lowkey. 🔌
  • ~/.mailcap, /etc/mailcap — Mappings of MIME types to external handlers. 🎭
  • ~/.mime.types, /etc/mime.types — Mappings of file extensions to MIME types. 📎

💀 BUGS 💀

Please report any other bugs you find to the either the ELinks mailing list at <elinks-users@linuxfromscratch.org> or if you prefer enter them into the bug tracking system <http://bugzilla.elinks.cz/>. More information about how to get in contact with developers and getting help can be found on the community page <http://elinks.cz/community.html>. found a bug? tell the devs, they're nice, do NOT just suffer in silence bestie. 😭

👑 LICENSE 👑

ELinks is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html> as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License. free as in freedom, and also free as in "go wild but read the license." 💜

✨ AUTHORS ✨

Okay so let's give credit where credit is due, bestie, because this browser has layers of history 💅

  • The Links browser — the whole icon this was based on — was written by Mikulas Patocka <mikulas@artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz>. Like, the OG. Respect the ancestry 🫶
  • ELinks itself was written by Petr Baudis <pasky@ucw.cz>. Our main character fr 🔥
If you want the full squad list, peek at the AUTHORS file in the source tree — it's giving credits-roll energy and lists everyone who contributed to this project 🌈

Now the manual page lore, because it also has a whole glow-up timeline:

  • This manual page was written by Peter Gervai <grin@tolna.net>, using excerpts from a (yet?) unknown Links fan for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others, no gatekeeping 💖).
  • Contributions from Francis A. Holop. Slay.
  • Extended, clarified, and made more up-to-date by Petr Baudis <pasky@ucw.cz> — glow-up era ✨
  • Updated by Zas <zas@norz.org>.
  • The conversion to Asciidoc and trimming was done by Jonas Fonseca <fonseca@diku.dk>. Basically the person who gave this page its final fit 🎀

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

Go read these next, bestie — the whole extended universe:

That's the whole page, periodt 💅 You made it to the end — icon behavior only 👑

Little sign-off so you know exactly which version of this masterpiece you're holding: this is the fine work of ELinks 0.17.GIT, dated 07/11/2009, and yup — it's filed under ELINKS(1) 🦋 Go forth and browse, bestie 💖

📦 where this page comes from