Command Line Web Browsing

As one who spends most of his time on a computer at the command line, opening a GUI web browser just to follow a link takes time and is considered by minimalists like myself to be bloat. I have used console based web browsers like lynx, links and elinks for many years now, I thought it time to work on getting up to speed on W3M which seems to use a set of keybindings I am unfalmiliar with. I hope to make sufficient notes in this post to enable myself to be able to use W3M on a daily basis.

Launching:

$ w3m http://duckduckgo.com

Hotkeys:

  • H Display configured hotkeys
  • h, j, k, l to move around page
  • Tab jump to next link
  • Shift+Tab move to previous link
  • B go back/get out

Fields:

  • Enter in field to begin input. Text: will appear at bottom of the screen. Press Enter again when input is complete.

Search on page:

  • / Type in search team and press enter.
  • n Jump to next find
  • N jump to previous find

Follow URLS:

  • Enter on a link/URL to follow
  • Esc+m will pop up menu of links tht you can jump to on same page
  • Esc+l pops up menu of links that will be followed upon selection

Window Tab Support:

  • Shift+t
  • {, } to switch tabs

Goto URL:

  • Shift+u Enter a new URL to follow
  • s popup list of links visited

Bookmarks:

  • Esc+a Add to Bookmarks
  • Esc+b show bookmarks

Configuration Options

  • o Dispaly w3m configuration options