LINKS(1) General Commands Manual LINKS(1)
NAME
links - lynx-like alternative character mode WWW browser
SYNOPSIS
links [options] URL
DESCRIPTION
links is a text mode WWW browser with ncurses interface, supporting colors, correct table rendering,
background downloading, menu driven configuration interface and slim code.
Frames are supported. You can have different file formats associated with external viewers. mailto: and
telnet: are supported via external clients.
links can handle local (file://) or remote (http:// or ftp://) URLs.
OPTIONS
Most options can be set in the user interface or config file, so usually you do not need to care about
them.
-help Print a help screen
-version
Prints the links version number and exit.
-lookup <hostname>
Does name lookup, like command "host".
-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 down‐
loads. Executing of viewers is allowed, but user can't add or modify entries in association ta‐
ble.
-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>
Use a specific local IP address.
-bind-address-ipv6 <ipv6 address>
Use a specific local IPv6 address.
-no-libevent
Don't use libevent library.
-no-openmp
Don't use OpenMP.
-async-dns <0>/<1>
Asynchronous DNS resolver on(1)/off(0).
-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 in‐
valid certificate.
-ssl.builtin-certificates <0>/<1>
(default 0; on DOS and OpenVMS default 1) Use built-in certificates instead of system certifi‐
cates.
-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.
-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 ref‐
erer. 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 can‐
not 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 ration.
-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>
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 italc bold text.
-html-assume-codepage <codepage>
Use the given codepage when the webpage did not specify its codepage. (default: ISO 8859-1)
-html-hard-assume <0>/<1>
Use always character set from "-html-assume-codepage" no matter what server sent.
-html-tables <0>/<1>
Render tables. (0) causes tables being rendered like in lynx.
-html-frames <0>/<1>
Render frames. (0) causes frames rendered like in lynx.
-html-break-long-lines <0>/<1>
Break long lines in <pre> sections.
-html-images <0>/<1>
Display links to unnamed images as [IMG]
-html-image-names <0>/<1>
Display 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 displayed in full screen.
-html-numbered-links <0>/<1>
Number links in text mode. Allow quick link selection by typing link number and enter.
-html-table-order <0>/<1>
In text mode, walk through table by rows (0) or columns (1).
-html-auto-refresh <0>/<1>
Process refresh to other page (1), or display link to that page (0).
-html-target-in-new-window <0>/<1>
Allow opening new windows from html.
-html-margin <number of spaces>
Margin in text mode.
-html-user-font-size <size>
Size of 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 colors specified in html document 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 colors specified in html document in graphics mode.
More options can be seen with links -h
NAVIGATION KEYS
The keys you may use while navigating are
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
The following keys can be used while editing a line/jumping to a URL:
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 (text mode only)
^B copy to clipboard
^INS copy to clipboard
^V paste from clipboard (text mode only)
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
^W auto complete line
FILES
~/.links2/links.cfg
Per‐user configfile, automatically created by links.
PLATFORMS
links is known to work on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, IRIX, HPUX, Digital Unix, AIX, OS/2, BeOS and Win32.
BUGS
Can't connect to some FTP servers (Novell, NT). Connection stays in "Request sent" state.
Frames don't work if there's more frames with same name. Turn them off in such case.
You can't upload large files; it takes _lots_ of memory.
You shouldn't press '^Z' when you are in a viewer
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.
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)
Aug, 2006 LINKS(1)