LINKS(1)

📦
version 2.30 · 3 versions
, in alpine 3.22, alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0

okay so bestie, welcome to links(1) — that's the General Commands Manual section, and yes this is the manual page. sit down, get comfy, we're doing this together 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

links — a lynx-like alternative character mode WWW browser 💅

no cap. that's the whole vibe.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

links [options] URL

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

links is a text mode WWW browser with an ncurses interface. she supports colors, correct table rendering, background downloading, a whole menu driven configuration interface, and — iconic behaviour — slim code. 💖

Frames? supported. you can have different file formats associated with external viewers. mailto: and telnet: are handled via external clients.

and like, links can handle local (file://) or remote (http:// or ftp://) URLs. she contains multitudes. ✨

👑 OPTIONS 👑

Most options can be set in the user interface or the config file, so usually you do not need to care about them. (fr fr, but we're listing them all anyway because that's the assignment 💅)

  • -help — Print a help screen
  • -version — Prints the links version number and exit.
  • -lookup <hostname> — Does name lookup, like command host.
  • -g — Run Links in graphics mode. If not given, Links will run in text mode. Running in graphics mode means that Links will probe all compiled-in graphics devices and run on the first found. If none found, links will not run in graphics mode. This option works only if --enable-graphics was given to ./configure.
  • -no-g — Run in text mode (overrides previous -g).
  • -driver <driver name> — Graphics driver to use. Drivers are: x, svgalib, fb, directfb, pmshell, atheos. List of drivers will be shown if you give it an unknown driver. Available drivers depend on your operating system and available libraries.
  • -mode <parameter> — Pass a parameter to the graphics driver. On SVGAlib, this is widthxheightxdepth, (where depth is 16, 256, 32K, 64K, 16M or 16M32) and defines the graphics mode, on X the format is WIDTHxHEIGHT and defines the window size.
  • -display <x-display> — Set Xwindow display.
  • -force-html — Treat files with unknown type as html rather than text. (can be toggled with '\' key)
  • -source <url> — Write unformatted data stream to stdout.
  • -dump <url> — Write formatted document to stdout.
  • -width <number> — For dump, document will be formatted to this screen width (but it can still exceed it if lines can't be broken).
  • -codepage <codepage> — For dump, convert output to specified character set — for example iso-8859-2, windows-1250.
  • -anonymous — Restrict links so that it can run on an anonymous account. No local file browsing. No downloads. Executing of viewers is allowed, but user can't add or modify entries in association table.
  • -no-connect — Runs links as a separate instance — instead of connecting to existing instance.
  • -download-dir <path> — Default download directory. (default: actual dir)
  • -language <language> — Set user interface language.
  • -max-connections <max> — Maximum number of concurrent connections. (default: 10)
  • -max-connections-to-host <max> — Maximum number of concurrent connection to a given host. (default: 2)
  • -retries <retry> — Number of retries. (default: 3)
  • -receive-timeout <sec> — Timeout on receive. (default: 120)
  • -unrestartable-receive-timeout <sec> — Timeout on non restartable connections. (default: 600)
  • -timeout-when-trying-multiple-addresses <sec> — Timeout for connection when trying multiple addresses or when resuming a keepalive connection. (default: 3)
  • -bind-address <ip address or interface name> — Use a specific local IP address.
  • -bind-address-ipv6 <ipv6 address or interface name> — Use a specific local IPv6 address.
  • -no-libevent — Don't use libevent library.
  • -no-openmp — Don't use OpenMP.
  • -download-utime <0>/<1> — Set time of downloaded files to last modification time reported by server.
  • -format-cache-size <num> — Number of formatted document pages cached. (default: 5)
  • -memory-cache-size <bytes> — Cache memory in bytes. (default: 1048576)
  • -image-cache-size <bytes> — Cache memory in bytes. (default: 1048576)
  • -font-cache-size <bytes> — Cache memory in bytes. (default: 2097152)
  • -aggressive-cache <0>/<1> — Always cache everything regardless of server's caching recomendations. Many servers deny caching even if their content is not changing just to get more hits and more money from ads.
  • -address-preference <0>/<1>/<2>/<3>/<4> — (default 0) 0 - use system default. 1 - prefer IPv4. 2 - prefer IPv6. 3 - use only IPv4. 4 - use only IPv6.
  • -http-proxy <host:port> — Host and port number of the HTTP proxy, or blank. (default: blank)
  • -ftp-proxy <host:port> — Host and port number of the FTP proxy, or blank. (default: blank)
  • -https-proxy <host:port> — Host and port number of the HTTPS proxy, or blank. (default: blank)
  • -socks-proxy <user@host:port> — Userid, host and port of Socks4a, or blank. (default: blank)
  • -append-text-to-dns-lookups <text> — Append text to dns lookups. It is useful for specifying fixed tor exit node. (default: blank)
  • -no-proxy-domains <domain,domain...> — No proxy for specified domains. (default: blank)
  • -only-proxies <0>/<1> — "1" causes that Links won't initiate any non-proxy connection. It is useful for anonymization with tor or similar networks.
  • -ssl.certificates <0>/<1>/<2> — (default 1) 0 - ignore invalid certificate. 1 - warn on invalid certificate. 2 - reject invalid certificate.
  • -ssl.builtin-certificates <0>/<1> — (default 0; on DOS and OpenVMS default 1) Use built-in certificates instead of system certificates.
  • -ssl.client-cert-key <filename> — Name of the PEM encoded file with the user private key for client certificate authentication.
  • -ssl.client-cert-crt <filename> — Name of the PEM encoded file with the user certificate for client certificate authentication.
  • -ssl.client-cert-password <text> — Password for the user private key.
  • -async-dns <0>/<1> — Asynchronous DNS resolver on(1)/off(0).
  • -dns-over-https <url> — DNS over HTTPS url.
  • -http-bugs.http10 <0>/<1> — (default 0) "1" forces using only HTTP/1.0 protocol. (useful for buggy servers that claim to be HTTP/1.1 compliant but are not) "0" enables using both HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1.
  • -http-bugs.allow-blacklist <0>/<1> — (default 1) "1" defaults to using list of servers that have broken HTTP/1.1 support. When links finds such server, it will retry the request with HTTP/1.0.
  • -http-bugs.bug-no-accept-charset <0>/<1> — (default 0) Do not send Accept-Charset field of HTTP header. Because it is too long some servers will deny the request. Other servers will convert content to plain ascii when Accept-Charset is missing.
  • -http-bugs.no-compression <0>/<1> — (default 0) "1" causes that links won't advertise HTTP compression support (but it will still accept compressed data). Use it when you communicate with server that has broken compression support.
  • -http-bugs.retry-internal-errors <0>/<1> — (default 0) Retry on internal server errors (50x).
  • -http.fake-firefox <0>/<1> — (default 0) Fake that the browser is Firefox in the HTTP header.
  • -http.do-not-track <0>/<1> — (default 0) Send "do not track" request in the HTTP header.
  • -http.referer <0>/<1>/<2>/<3>/<4> — (default 0) 0 - do not send referer. 1 - send the requested URL as referer. 2 - send fake referer. 3 - send real referer. 4 - send real referer only to the same server.
  • -http.fake-referer <string> — Fake referer value.
  • -http.fake-user-agent <string> — Fake user agent value.
  • -http.extra-header <string> — Extra string added to HTTP header.
  • -ftp.anonymous-password <string> — Password for anonymous ftp access.
  • -ftp.use-passive <0>/<1> — Use ftp PASV command to bypass firewalls.
  • -ftp.use-erpt-epsv <0>/<1> — Use EPRT and EPSV commands instead of PORT and PASV.
  • -ftp.set-iptos <0>/<1> — Set IP Type-of-service to high throughput on ftp connections.
  • -smb.allow-hyperlinks-to-smb <0>/<1> — Allow hyperlinks to SMB protocol. Disabling this improves security, because internet sites cannot exploit possible bugs in the SMB client.
  • -menu-font-size <size> — Size of font in menu.
  • -menu-background-color 0xRRGGBB — Set menu background color in graphics mode. RRGGBB are hex.
  • -menu-foreground-color 0xRRGGBB — Set menu foreground color in graphics mode. RRGGBB are hex.
  • -scroll-bar-area-color 0xRRGGBB — Set color of scroll bar area. RRGGBB are hex.
  • -scroll-bar-bar-color 0xRRGGBB — Set color of scroll bar. RRGGBB are hex.
  • -scroll-bar-frame-color 0xRRGGBB — Set color of scroll bar frame. RRGGBB are hex.
  • -bookmarks-file <file> — File to store bookmarks.
  • -bookmarks-codepage <codepage> — Character set of bookmarks file.
  • -save-url-history <0>/<1> — Save URL history on exit.
  • -enable-cookies <0>/<1> — Enable cookies.
  • -save-cookies <0>/<1> — Save cookies on exit.
  • -max-cookie-age <fp-value> — Maximum cookie age in days. 0 - unlimited
  • -display-red-gamma <fp-value> — Red gamma of display. (default 2.2)
  • -display-green-gamma <fp-value> — Green gamma of display. (default 2.2)
  • -display-blue-gamma <fp-value> — Blue gamma of display. (default 2.2)
  • -user-gamma <fp-value> — Additional gamma. (default 1)
  • -bfu-aspect <fp-value> — Display aspect ratio.
  • -dither-letters <0>/<1> — Do letter dithering.
  • -dither-images <0>/<1> — Do image dithering.
  • -display-optimize <0>/<1>/<2> — Optimize for CRT (0), LCD RGB (1), LCD BGR (2).
  • -gamma-correction <0>/<1>/<2> — Type of gamma correction: (default 2) 0 - 8-bit (fast). 1 - 16-bit (slow). 2 - automatically detect according to speed of FPU.
  • -overwrite-instead-of-scroll <0>/<1> — Overwrite the screen instead of scrolling it (valid for svgalib and framebuffer). Overwriting may or may not be faster, depending on hardware.
  • -font <file> — Font file for normal text.
  • -font-bold <file> — Font file for bold text.
  • -font-monospaced <file> — Font file for monospaced text.
  • -font-monospaced-bold <file> — the font file for monospaced bold text ✨
  • -font-italic <file> — font file for italic text 🎀
  • -font-italic-bold <file> — font file for italic bold text 💅
  • -font-monospaced-italic <file> — font file for monospaced italic text 🌸
  • -font-monospaced-italic-bold <file> — font file for monospaced italic bold text 🦋
  • -html-assume-codepage <codepage> — bestie if a webpage is being mysterious and won't say what codepage it's using, we just assume this one. (default: ISO 8859-1) 🙈
  • -html-hard-assume <0>/<1> — always use the character set from -html-assume-codepage, literally no matter what the server said. no cap. 💀
  • -html-tables <0>/<1> — render tables. setting it to (0) makes tables render like they do in lynx. 👑
  • -html-frames <0>/<1> — render frames. (0) means frames get rendered like in lynx. 🖼️
  • -html-break-long-lines <0>/<1> — break those long lines inside <pre> sections. ✂️
  • -html-images <0>/<1> — show links to unnamed images as [IMG] 🏞️
  • -html-image-names <0>/<1> — show the filename of an image instead of [IMG]. 🔍
  • -html-display-images <0>/<1> — display images in graphics mode. 🎨
  • -html-image-scale <percent> — scale images in graphics mode. 📐
  • -html-bare-image-autoscale <0>/<1> — autoscale images that are displayed in full screen. 🖥️
  • -html-numbered-links <0>/<1> — number the links in text mode, so you can quick-select a link by typing its number and hitting enter. so efficient, we love her 💖
  • -html-table-order <0>/<1> — in text mode, walk through a table by rows (0) or by columns (1). 🧭
  • -html-auto-refresh <0>/<1> — process the refresh to the other page (1), or display a link to that page (0). 🔄
  • -html-target-in-new-window <0>/<1> — allow html to open new windows. 🪟
  • -html-margin <number of spaces> — the margin, in text mode. 📏
  • -html-user-font-size <size> — the size of the font on pages in graphics mode. 🔠
  • -html-text-color <0>-<15> — text color in text mode. 🌈
  • -html-link-color <0>-<15> — link color in text mode. 🔗
  • -html-background-color <0>-<7> — background color in text mode. 🎨
  • -html-ignore-document-color <0>/<1> — ignore the colors the html document itself specified, in text mode. 🚫
  • -html-g-text-color 0xRRGGBB — text color in graphics mode. ✨
  • -html-g-link-color 0xRRGGBB — link color in graphics mode. 💫
  • -html-g-background-color 0xRRGGBB — background color in graphics mode. 🌌
  • -html-g-ignore-document-color <0>/<1> — ignore the colors specified in the html document, in graphics mode. 🚫

More options can be seen with links -h 👀

okay so these are the keys you can use while you're navigating, bestie — memorise them and you're genuinely unstoppable:

  • ESC — menu/escape
  • F9 — menu
  • F10 — file menu
  • TAB — next frame
  • PGDN — page down
  • Space — page down
  • PGUP — page up
  • b — page up
  • CursorDOWN — next link/down
  • CursorUP — prev link/up
  • INS — scroll up
  • ^P — scroll up
  • DEL — scroll down
  • ^N — scroll down
  • [ — scroll left
  • ] — scroll right
  • HOME — home
  • END — end of page
  • CursorRIGHT — enter link/press button
  • ENTER — enter link/press button
  • CursorLEFT — go back
  • d — download link
  • / — search in the page
  • ? — search back in the page
  • n — find next match
  • N — find next match backwards
  • f — zoom actual frame
  • ^R — reload page
  • g — go to URL
  • G — edit the current URL and goto the result
  • ^G — edit the current link and goto the result
  • s — bookmark manager
  • q — quit, close window if more windows are open
  • Q — quit without asking
  • = — document information
  • \ — toggle HTML source/rendered view

✏️ EDITING KEYS ✏️

these ones are for when you're editing a line or jumping to a URL — the glow-up keys fr fr:

  • CursorRIGHT — move right
  • CursorLEFT — move left
  • HOME — jump at the beginning
  • ^A — jump at the beginning
  • END — jump at the end
  • ^E — jump at the end
  • ^X — cut to clipboard
  • ^B — copy to clipboard
  • ^V — paste from clipboard
  • ENTER — enter line
  • BACKSPACE — delete back character
  • ^H — delete back character
  • DEL — delete character
  • ^D — delete character
  • ^U — delete from beginning of the line
  • ^K — delete to the end of the line or delete line (in textarea)
  • ^W — auto complete line

📁 FILES 📁

  • ~/.links/links.cfg — the per-user configfile, automatically created by links. she makes herself, queen behavior 👑

🖥️ PLATFORMS 🖥️

links is known to work on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, IRIX, HPUX, Digital Unix, AIX, OS/2, BeOS and Win32. versatile icon 💅

🐛 BUGS 🐛

you can't upload large files; it takes lots of memory. like, lots. 😭

please report any other bugs you find to Mikulas Patocka <mikulas@artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz> 🫶

📜 LICENSE 📜

links is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. 💖

👑 AUTHOR 👑

links was written by Mikulas Patocka, Karel 'Clock' Kulhavy, Petr 'Brain' Kulhavy, and Martin 'PerM' Pergel. see file AUTHORS for a list of people contributing to this project. legends, all of them 🌟

the homepage of links can be found at http://links.twibright.com/ 🌐

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). updated by Karel Kulhavy. 🎀

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

lynx(1), w3m(1) — go give them a lil visit too, they're cute 🦋

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one is from the LINKS(1) manual, dated Aug, 2006 — yeah she's vintage but she ate and left no crumbs. now go browse something cute 💖✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from