https://lynx.invisible-island.net>
lynx - a general purpose distributed information browser for the World
Wide Web
lynx [options] [optional paths or URLs]
lynx [options] [path or URL] -get_data
data
--
lynx [options] [path or URL] -post_data
data
--
Use "lynx -help" to display a complete list of current options.
Lynx is a fully-featured World Wide Web (WWW) client for users running
cursor-addressable, character-cell display devices (e.g., vt100
terminals, vt100 emulators running on Windows or any POSIX platform, or
any other "curses-oriented" display). It will display hypertext markup
language (HTML) documents containing links to files residing on the
local system, as well as files residing on remote systems running
Gopher, HTTP, FTP, WAIS, and NNTP servers.
Lynx has been ported to many systems, including all variants of Unix,
Windows (since Windows 95), DOS DJGPP and OS/2, as well as VMS and
OS/390.
Lynx can be used to access information on the World Wide Web, or to
build information systems intended primarily for local access. For
example, Lynx has been used to build several Campus Wide Information
Systems (CWIS). In addition, Lynx can be used to build systems
isolated within a single LAN.
At start up, Lynx will load any local file or remote URL specified at
the command line. For help with URLs, press "?" or "H" while running
Lynx. Then follow the link titled, "Help on URLs."
If more than one local file or remote URL is listed on the command
line, Lynx will open only the last interactively. All of the names
(local files and remote URLs) are added to the G)oto history.
Lynx uses only long option names. Option names can begin with double
dash "--" as well, underscores and dashes can be intermixed in option
names (in the reference below, options are shown with one dash "-"
before them, and with underscores "_").
Lynx provides many command-line options. Some options require a value
(string, number or keyword). These are noted in the reference below.
The other options set boolean values in the program. There are three
types of boolean options: set, unset and toggle. If no option value is
given, these have the obvious meaning: set (to true), unset (to false),
or toggle (between true/false). For any of these, an explicit value
can be given in different forms to allow for operating system
constraints, e.g.,
-center:off
-center=off
-center-
Lynx recognizes "1", "+", "on" and "true" for true values, and "0",
"-", "off" and "false" for false values. Other option-values are
ignored.
The default boolean, number and string option values that are compiled
into Lynx are displayed in the help-message provided by lynx -help.
Some of those may differ according to how Lynx was built; see the help
message itself for these values. The -help option is processed in the
third pass of options-processing, so any option which sets a value, as
well as runtime configuration values are reflected in the help-message.
- If the argument is only "-", then Lynx expects to receive the
arguments from the standard input. This is to allow for the
potentially very long command line that can be associated with
the -get_data or -post_data arguments (see below). It can also
be used to avoid having sensitive information in the invoking
command line (which would be visible to other processes on most
systems), especially when the -auth or -pauth options are used.
-accept_all_cookies
accept all cookies without prompting if Set-Cookie handling is
on. The default is "off".
-anonymous
apply restrictions for anonymous account, see also
-restrictions.
-assume_charset=MIMEname
charset for documents that do not specify it.
-assume_local_charset=MIMEname
charset assumed for local files, i.e., files which Lynx creates
such as internal pages for the options menu.
-assume_unrec_charset=MIMEname
use this instead of unrecognized charsets.
-auth=ID:PASSWD
set authorization ID and password for protected documents at
startup. Be sure to protect any script files which use this
switch.
-base prepend a request URL comment and BASE tag to text/html outputs
for -source dumps.
-bibhost=URL
specify a local bibp server (default http://bibhost/).
-blink forces high intensity background colors for color mode, if
available and supported by the terminal. This applies to the
slang library (for a few terminal emulators), or to OS/2 EMX
with ncurses.
-book use the bookmark page as the startfile. The default or command
line startfile is still set for the Main screen command, and
will be used if the bookmark page is unavailable or blank. The
default is "off".
-buried_news
toggles scanning of news articles for buried references, and
converts them to news links. Not recommended because email
addresses enclosed in angle brackets will be converted to false
news links, and uuencoded messages can be trashed. The default
is "on".
-cache=NUMBER
set the NUMBER of documents cached in memory. The default is
10.
-case enable case-sensitive string searching. The default is "off".
-center
toggles center alignment in HTML TABLE. Normally table cells
are centered on the table grid. Set this option "on" to disable
centering. The default is "off".
-cfg=FILENAME
specifies a Lynx configuration file other than the default
lynx.cfg.
-child exit on left-arrow in startfile, and disable save to disk and
associated print/mail options. The default is "off".
-child_relaxed
exit on left-arrow in startfile, but allow save to disk and
associated print/mail options. The default is "off".
-cmd_log=FILENAME
write keystroke commands and related information to the
specified file.
-cmd_script=FILENAME
read keystroke commands from the specified file. You can use
the data written using the -cmd_log option. Lynx will ignore
other information which the command-logging may have written to
the logfile. Each line of the command script contains either a
comment beginning with "#", or a keyword:
exit
causes the script to stop, and forces Lynx to exit
immediately.
key
the character value, in printable form. Cursor and other
special keys are given as names, e.g., "Down Arrow".
Printable 7-bit ASCII codes are given as-is, and hexadecimal
values represent other 8-bit codes.
set
followed by a "name=value" allows one to override values set
in the lynx.cfg or .lynxrc files. Lynx tries the cfg-file
setting first.
-collapse_br_tags
toggles collapsing of BR tags. The default is "off".
-color forces color mode on, if available. Default color control
sequences which work for many terminal types are assumed if the
terminal capability description does not specify how to handle
color. Lynx accepts this flag only when built with the slang
library. It is equivalent to setting the COLORTERM environment
variable.
If color support is provided by a color-capable curses library
such as ncurses, Lynx relies completely on the terminal
description to determine whether color mode is possible, and
this flag is not needed and thus unavailable.
A saved show_color=always setting found in a .lynxrc file at
startup has the same effect. A saved show_color=never found in
.lynxrc on startup is overridden by this flag.
-connect_timeout=N
Sets the connection timeout, where N is given in seconds. The
default is 300.
-convert_to=PARAM
convert input, setting output format in MIME type notation
(e.g., www/present, www/source), and optionally setting the
current character set (i.e., adding ";" followed by
charset=VALUE).
-cookie_file=FILENAME
specifies a file to use to read cookies. If none is specified,
the default value is ~/.lynx_cookies for most systems, but
~/cookies for MS-DOS.
-cookie_save_file=FILENAME
specifies a file to use to store cookies. If none is specified,
the value given by -cookie_file is used.
-cookies
toggles handling of Set-Cookie headers. The default is "on".
-core toggles forced core dumps on fatal errors. Turn this option off
to ask Lynx to force a core dump if a fatal error occurs. The
default is "off".
-crawl with -traversal, output each page to a file. with -dump, format
output as with -traversal, but to the standard output.
-curses_pads
toggles the use of curses "pad" feature which supports
left/right scrolling of the display. The default is "on".
The feature is normally available for curses configurations, but
inactive. To activate it, use the "|" character or the
LINEWRAP_TOGGLE command. Toggling this option makes the feature
altogether unavailable.
-debug_partial
separate incremental display stages with MessageSecs delay The
default is "off".
-default_colors
toggles the default-colors feature which is normally set in the
lynx.cfg file. The default is "on".
-delay add DebugSecs delay after each progress-message. The default is
0.
-display=DISPLAY
set the $DISPLAY variable for X exec-ed programs.
-display_charset=MIMEname
set the charset for the terminal output.
-dont_wrap_pre
inhibit wrapping of text when -dump'ing and -crawl'ing, mark
wrapped lines of <pre> in interactive session. The default is
"off".
-dump dumps the formatted output of the default document or those
specified on the command line to standard output. Unlike
interactive mode, all documents are processed. This can be used
in the following way:
lynx -dump https://lynx.invisible-island.net/
Files specified on the command line are formatted as HTML if
their names end with one of the standard web suffixes such as
".htm" or ".html". Use the -force_html option to format files
whose names do not follow this convention.
-editor=EDITOR
enable external editing, using the specified EDITOR. (vi, ed,
emacs, etc.)
-emacskeys
enable emacs-like key movement. The default is "off".
-enable_scrollback
toggles compatibility with communication programs' scrollback
keys (may be incompatible with some curses packages). The
default is "off".
-error_file=FILE
define a file where Lynx will report HTTP access codes.
-exec enable local program execution (normally not configured).
-fileversions
include all versions of files in local VMS directory listings.
-find_leaks
toggle memory leak-checking. Normally this is not compiled-into
your executable, but when it is, it can be disabled for a
session.
-fail_on_alert
exit with an error code if any alert message is written. The
default is "off".
-force_empty_hrefless_a
force HREF-less "A" elements to be empty (close them as soon as
they are seen). The default is "off".
-force_html
forces the first document to be interpreted as HTML. The
default is "off".
This option is most useful when processing files specified on
the command line which have an unrecognized suffix (or the
suffix is associated with a non-HTML type, such as ".txt" for
plain text files).
Lynx recognizes these file suffixes as HTML:
".ht3",
".htm",
".html3",
".html",
".htmlx",
".php3",
".php",
".phtml",
".sht", and
".shtml".
-force_secure
toggles forcing of the secure flag for SSL cookies. The default
is "off".
-forms_options
toggles whether the Options Menu is key-based or form-based.
The default is "on".
-from toggles transmissions of From headers. The default is "on".
-ftp disable ftp access. The default is "off".
-get_data
properly formatted data for a get form are read from the
standard input and passed to the form. Input is terminated by a
line that starts with "---".
Lynx issues an HTTP GET, sending the form to the path or URL
given on the command-line and prints the response of the server.
If no path or URL is given, Lynx sends the form to the start-
page.
-head send a HEAD request for the mime headers. The default is "off".
-help print the Lynx command syntax usage message, and exit.
-hiddenlinks=[option]
control the display of hidden links.
merge
hidden links show up as bracketed numbers and are numbered
together with other links in the sequence of their occurrence
in the document.
listonly
hidden links are shown only on L)ist screens and listings
generated by -dump or from the P)rint menu, but appear
separately at the end of those lists. This is the default
behavior.
ignore
hidden links do not appear even in listings.
-historical
toggles use of ">" or "-->" as a terminator for comments. The
default is "off".
-homepage=URL
set homepage separate from start page.
-html5_charset
toggles use of HTML5 charset replacements. HTML5 pretends that
CP1252 is the same as ISO-8859-1. The default is "off".
-image_links
toggles inclusion of links for all images. The default is
"off".
-index=URL
set the default index file to the specified URL.
-ismap toggles inclusion of ISMAP links when client-side MAPs are
present. The default is "off".
-justify
do justification of text. The default is "off".
-link=NUMBER
starting count for lnk#.dat files produced by -crawl. The
default is 0.
-list_decoded
for -dump, show URL-encoded links decoded. The default is "on".
Lynx accepts URL-encoded links on the command line, and decodes
them for internal use. When printing URLs, it shows them in
encoded form by default. Use this option to disable that
printed encoding.
-list_inline
for -dump, show the links inline with the text. The default is
"off".
-listonly
for -dump, show only the list of links. The default is "off".
-localhost
disable URLs that point to remote hosts. The default is "off".
-locexec
enable local program execution from local files only (if Lynx
was compiled with local execution enabled). The default is
"off".
-lss=FILENAME
specify filename containing color-style information. The
default is lynx.lss. If you give an empty filename, Lynx uses a
built-in monochrome scheme which imitates the non-color-style
configuration.
-mime_header
prints the MIME header of a fetched document along with its
source.
-minimal
toggles minimal versus valid comment parsing. The default is
"on".
-nested_tables
toggles nested-tables logic (for debugging). The default is
"on".
-newschunksize=NUMBER
number of articles in chunked news listings.
-newsmaxchunk=NUMBER
maximum news articles in listings before chunking.
-nobold
disable bold video-attribute.
-nobrowse
disable directory browsing.
-nocc disable Cc: prompts for self copies of mailings. Note that this
does not disable any CCs which are incorporated within a mailto
URL or form ACTION.
-nocolor
force color mode off, overriding terminal capabilities and any
-color flags, COLORTERM variable, and saved .lynxrc settings.
-noexec
disable local program execution. The default is "on".
-nofilereferer
disable transmissions of Referer headers for file URLs. The
default is "on".
-nolist
disable the link list feature in dumps. The default is "off".
-nolog disable mailing of error messages to document owners. The
default is "on".
-nomargins
disable left/right margins in the default style sheet. The
default is "off".
-nomore
disable -more- string in statusline messages.
-nonrestarting_sigwinch
This flag is not available on all systems, Lynx needs to be
compiled with HAVE_SIGACTION defined. If available, this flag
may cause Lynx to react more immediately to window changes when
run within an xterm. The default is "off".
-nonumbers
disable link- and field-numbering. This overrides
-number_fields and -number_links. The default is "off".
-nopause
disable forced pauses for statusline messages. The default is
"off".
-noprint
disable most print functions. The default is "off".
-noredir
prevents automatic redirection and prints a message with a link
to the new URL. The default is "off".
-noreferer
disable transmissions of Referer headers. The default is "off".
-noreverse
disable reverse video-attribute.
-nosocks
disable SOCKS proxy usage by a SOCKSified Lynx.
-nostatus
disable the retrieval status messages. The default is "off".
-notitle
disable title and blank line from top of page. The default is
"off".
-nounderline
disable underline video-attribute.
-nozap=DURATION
disables checks for "z" key initially if DURATION is "initially"
or completely otherwise.
-number_fields
force numbering of links as well as form input fields The
default is "off".
-number_links
force numbering of links. The default is "off".
-partial
toggles display partial pages while loading. The default is
"on".
-partial_thres=NUMBER
number of lines to render before repainting display with
partial-display logic
-passive_ftp
toggles passive ftp connections. The default is "on".
-pauth=ID:PASSWD
set authorization ID and password for a protected proxy server
at startup. Be sure to protect any script files which use this
switch.
-popup toggles handling of single-choice SELECT options via popup
windows or as lists of radio buttons. The default is "off".
-post_data
properly formatted data for a post form are read in from the
standard input and passed to the form. Input is terminated by a
line that starts with "---".
Lynx issues an HTTP POST, sending the form to the path or URL
given on the command-line and prints the response of the server.
If no path or URL is given, Lynx sends the form to the start-
page.
-preparsed
show HTML source preparsed and reformatted when used with
-source or in source view to visualize how lynx behaves with
invalid HTML. The default is "off".
-prettysrc
show HTML source view with lexical elements and tags in color.
The default is "off".
-print enable print functions. (default) This is the opposite of
-noprint. The default is "on".
-pseudo_inlines
toggles pseudo-ALTs for inline images with no ALT string. The
default is "on".
-raw toggles default setting of 8-bit character translations or CJK
mode for the startup character set. The default is "off".
-realm restricts access to URLs in the starting realm. The default is
"off".
-read_timeout=N
Sets the read-timeout, where N is given in seconds. The default
is 18000.
-reload
flushes the cache on a proxy server (only the first document
given on the command-line is affected). The default is "off".
-restrictions=[option][,option][,option]...
allows a list of services to be disabled selectively. Dashes
and underscores in option names can be intermixed. The
following list is printed if no options are specified.
all
restricts all options listed below.
bookmark
disallow changing the location of the bookmark file.
bookmark_exec
disallow execution links via the bookmark file.
change_exec_perms
disallow changing the eXecute permission on files (but still
allow it for directories) when local file management is
enabled.
default
same as command line option -anonymous. Disables default
services for anonymous users. Set to all restricted, except
for:
inside_telnet, outside_telnet, inside_ftp,
outside_ftp, inside_rlogin, outside_rlogin,
inside_news, outside_news, telnet_port, jump, mail,
print, exec, and goto.
The settings for these, as well as additional goto
restrictions for specific URL schemes that are also applied,
are derived from definitions within userdefs.h.
dired_support
disallow local file management.
disk_save
disallow saving to disk in the download and print menus.
dotfiles
disallow access to, or creation of, hidden (dot) files.
download
disallow some downloaders in the download menu (does not
imply disk_save restriction).
editor
disallow external editing.
exec
disable execution scripts.
exec_frozen
disallow the user from changing the local execution option.
externals
disallow some "EXTERNAL" configuration lines if support for
passing URLs to external applications (with the EXTERN
command) is compiled in.
file_url
disallow using G)oto, served links or bookmarks for file:
URLs.
goto
disable the "g" (goto) command.
inside_ftp
disallow ftps for people coming from inside your domain (utmp
required for selectivity).
inside_news
disallow USENET news posting for people coming from inside
your domain (utmp required for selectivity).
inside_rlogin
disallow rlogins for people coming from inside your domain
(utmp required for selectivity).
inside_telnet
disallow telnets for people coming from inside your domain
(utmp required for selectivity).
jump
disable the "j" (jump) command.
multibook
disallow multiple bookmarks.
mail
disallow mail.
news_post
disallow USENET News posting.
options_save
disallow saving options in .lynxrc.
outside_ftp
disallow ftps for people coming from outside your domain
(utmp required for selectivity).
outside_news
disallow USENET news reading and posting for people coming
from outside your domain (utmp required for selectivity).
This restriction applies to "news", "nntp", "newspost", and
"newsreply" URLs, but not to "snews", "snewspost", or
"snewsreply" in case they are supported.
outside_rlogin
disallow rlogins for people coming from outside your domain
(utmp required for selectivity).
outside_telnet
disallow telnets for people coming from outside your domain
(utmp required for selectivity).
print
disallow most print options.
shell
disallow shell escapes and lynxexec or lynxprog G)oto's.
suspend
disallow Unix Control-Z suspends with escape to shell.
telnet_port
disallow specifying a port in telnet G)oto's.
useragent
disallow modifications of the User-Agent header.
-resubmit_posts
toggles forced resubmissions (no-cache) of forms with method
POST when the documents they returned are sought with the
PREV_DOC command or from the History List. The default is
"off".
-rlogin
disable recognition of rlogin commands. The default is "off".
-scrollbar
toggles showing scrollbar. The default is "off".
-scrollbar_arrow
toggles showing arrows at ends of the scrollbar. The default is
"on".
-selective
require .www_browsable files to browse directories.
-session=FILENAME
resumes from specified file on startup and saves session to that
file on exit.
-sessionin=FILENAME
resumes session from specified file.
-sessionout=FILENAME
saves session to specified file.
-short_url
show very long URLs in the status line with "..." to represent
the portion which cannot be displayed. The beginning and end of
the URL are displayed, rather than suppressing the end. The
default is "off".
-show_cfg
Print the configuration settings, e.g., as read from "lynx.cfg",
and exit. The default is "off".
-show_cursor
If enabled the cursor will not be hidden in the right hand
corner but will instead be positioned at the start of the
currently selected link. Show cursor is the default for systems
without FANCY_CURSES capabilities. The default configuration
can be changed in userdefs.h or lynx.cfg. The command line
switch toggles the default. The default is "on".
-show_rate
If enabled the transfer rate is shown in bytes/second. If
disabled, no transfer rate is shown. Use lynx.cfg or the
options menu to select KB/second and/or ETA. The default is
"on".
-socks5_proxy=URL
Tells lynx which SOCKS5 proxy to use for connections. Any
network traffic, including all DNS resolutions except the one
for URL itself, will be redirected through the SOCKS5 proxy.
The URL may be given as
"proxy.example.com",
"proxy.example.com:1080",
"192.168.0.1", or
"192.168.0.1:1080"
(and IPv6 notation if so supported). A SOCKS5 proxy may also be
specified via the environment variable SOCKS5_PROXY. This
option controls the builtin SOCKS5 support, which is unrelated
to the option -nosocks.
-soft_dquotes
toggles emulation of the old Netscape and Mosaic bug which
treated ">" as a co-terminator for double-quotes and tags. The
default is "off".
-source
works the same as dump but outputs HTML source instead of
formatted text. For example
lynx -source . >foo.html
generates HTML source listing the files in the current
directory. Each file is marked by an HREF relative to the
parent directory. Add a trailing slash to make the HREF's
relative to the current directory:
lynx -source ./ >foo.html
-stack_dump
disable SIGINT cleanup handler The default is "off".
-startfile_ok
allow non-http startfile and homepage with -validate. The
default is "off".
-stderr
When dumping a document using -dump or -source, Lynx normally
does not display alert (error) messages that you see on the
screen in the status line. Use the -stderr option to tell Lynx
to write these messages to the standard error. The default is
"off".
-stdin read the startfile from standard input (UNIX only). The default
is "off".
-syslog=text
information for syslog call.
-syslog_urls
log requested URLs with syslog. The default is "off".
-tagsoup
initialize parser, using Tag Soup DTD rather than SortaSGML.
The default is "off".
-telnet
disable recognition of telnet commands. The default is "off".
-term=TERM
tell Lynx what terminal type to assume it is talking to. (This
may be useful for remote execution, when, for example, Lynx
connects to a remote TCP/IP port that starts a script that, in
turn, starts another Lynx process.)
-timeout=N
For win32, sets the network read-timeout, where N is given in
seconds.
-tlog toggles between using a Lynx Trace Log and stderr for trace
output from the session. The default is "on".
-tna turns on "Textfields Need Activation" mode. The default is
"off".
-trace turns on Lynx trace mode. Destination of trace output depends
on -tlog. The default is "off".
-trace_mask=value
turn on optional traces, which may result in very large trace
files. Logically OR the values to combine options:
1 SGML character parsing states
2 color-style
4 TRST (table layout)
8 configuration (lynx.cfg, .lynxrc, .lynx-keymaps, mime.types
and mailcap contents)
16 binary string copy/append, used in form data construction.
32 cookies
64 character sets
128
GridText parsing
256
timing
512
detailed URL parsing
The default is 0.
-traversal
traverse all http links derived from startfile. When used with
-crawl, each link that begins with the same string as startfile
is output to a file, intended for indexing.
See CRAWL.announce for more information.
-trim_blank_lines
toggles trimming of trailing blank lines as well as the related
trimming of blank lines while collapsing BR tags. The default
is "on".
-trim_input_fields
trim input text/textarea fields in forms. The default is "off".
-underline_links
toggles use of underline/bold attribute for links. The default
is "off".
-underscore
toggles use of _underline_ format in dumps. The default is
"off".
-unique_urls
check for duplicate link numbers in each page and corresponding
lists, and reuse the original link number. The default is
"off".
-update_term_title
enables updating the title in terminal emulators. Use only if
your terminal emulator supports that escape code. Has no effect
when used with -notitle. The default is "off".
-use_mouse
turn on mouse support, if available. The default is "off".
o Clicking the left mouse button on a link traverses it.
o Clicking the right mouse button pops back.
o Click on the top line to scroll up.
o Click on the bottom line to scroll down.
o The first few positions in the top and bottom line may
invoke additional functions.
Lynx must be compiled with ncurses or slang to support this
feature. If ncurses is used, clicking the middle mouse button
pops up a simple menu. Mouse clicks may only work reliably
while Lynx is idle waiting for input.
-useragent=Name
set alternate Lynx User-Agent header.
-validate
accept only http URLs (for validation). Complete security
restrictions also are implemented.
-verbose
toggle [LINK], [IMAGE] and [INLINE] comments with filenames of
these images. The default is "off".
-version
print version information, and exit.
-vikeys
enable vi-like key movement. The default is "off".
-wdebug
enable Waterloo tcp/ip packet debug (print to watt debugfile).
This applies only to DOS versions compiled with WATTCP or
WATT-32.
-width=NUMBER
number of columns for formatting of dumps, default is 80. This
is limited by the number of columns that Lynx could display,
typically 1024 (the MAX_LINE symbol).
-with_backspaces
emit backspaces in output if -dump'ing or -crawl'ing (like man
does). The default is "off".
-xhtml_parsing
tells Lynx that it can ignore certain tags which have no content
in an XHTML 1.0 document. For example "<p/>" will be discarded.
The default is "off".
More than one key can be mapped to a given command. Here are some of
the most useful:
o Use Up arrow and Down arrow to scroll through hypertext links.
o Right arrow or Return will follow a highlighted hypertext link.
o Left Arrow or "u" will retreat from a link.
o Type "H", "?", or F1 for online help and descriptions of key-stroke
commands.
o Type "k" or "K" for a list of the current key-stroke command
mappings.
If the same command is mapped to the same letter differing only by
upper/lowercase only the lowercase mapping is shown.
o Type Delete to view history list.
In addition to various "standard" environment variables such as
DISPLAY, HOME, PATH, SHELL, TMPDIR, USER, etc., Lynx utilizes several
Lynx-specific environment variables, if they exist.
Others may be created or modified by Lynx to pass data to an external
program, or for other reasons. These are listed separately below.
See also the sections on SIMULATED CGI SUPPORT and NATIVE LANGUAGE
SUPPORT, below.
Note: Not all environment variables apply to all types of platforms
supported by Lynx, though most do. Feedback on platform dependencies
is solicited.
Environment Variables Used By Lynx:
COLORTERM If set, color capability for the terminal is forced
on at startup time. The actual value assigned to
the variable is ignored. This variable is only
meaningful if Lynx was built using the slang
screen-handling library.
LYNX_CFG This variable, if set, will override the default
location and name of the global configuration file
(normally, lynx.cfg) that was defined by the
LYNX_CFG_FILE constant in the userdefs.h file,
during installation.
See the userdefs.h file for more information.
LYNX_CFG_PATH If set, this variable overrides the compiled-in
search-list of directories used to find the
configuration files, e.g., lynx.cfg and lynx.lss.
The list is delimited with ":" (or ";" for Windows)
like the PATH environment variable.
LYNX_HELPFILE If set, this variable overrides the compiled-in URL
and configuration file URL for the Lynx help file.
LYNX_LOCALEDIR If set, this variable overrides the compiled-in
location of the locale directory which contains
native language (NLS) message text.
LYNX_LSS This variable, if set, specifies the location of
the default Lynx character style sheet file.
[Currently only meaningful if Lynx was built using
curses color style support.]
LYNX_SAVE_SPACE This variable, if set, will override the default
path prefix for files saved to disk that is defined
in the lynx.cfg SAVE_SPACE: statement.
See the lynx.cfg file for more information.
LYNX_TEMP_SPACE This variable, if set, will override the default
path prefix for temporary files that was defined
during installation, as well as any value that may
be assigned to the TMPDIR variable.
MAIL This variable specifies the default inbox Lynx will
check for new mail, if such checking is enabled in
the lynx.cfg file.
NEWS_ORGANIZATION This variable, if set, provides the string used in
the Organization: header of USENET news postings.
It will override the setting of the ORGANIZATION
environment variable, if it is also set (and, on
UNIX, the contents of an /etc/organization file, if
present).
NNTPSERVER If set, this variable specifies the default NNTP
server that will be used for USENET news reading
and posting with Lynx, via news: URL's.
ORGANIZATION This variable, if set, provides the string used in
the Organization: header of USENET news postings.
On UNIX, it will override the contents of an
/etc/organization file, if present.
PROTOCOL_proxy Lynx supports the use of proxy servers that can act
as firewall gateways and caching servers. They are
preferable to the older gateway servers (see
WWW_access_GATEWAY, below).
Each protocol used by Lynx, (http, ftp, gopher,
etc), can be mapped separately by setting
environment variables of the form PROTOCOL_proxy.
Protocols are indicated in a URI by the name before
":", e.g., "http" in "http://some.server.dom:port/"
for HTML.
Depending on your system configuration and
supported protocols, the environment variables
recognized by lynx may include
cso_proxy
finger_proxy
ftp_proxy
gopher_proxy
http_proxy
https_proxy
news_proxy
newspost_proxy
newsreply_proxy
nntp_proxy
no_proxy
rlogin_proxy
snews_proxy
snewspost_proxy
snewsreply_proxy
telnet_proxy
tn3270_proxy
wais_proxy
See Lynx Users Guide for additional details and
examples.
RL_CLCOPY_CMD Pipe the contents of the current link using this
command as the target.
RL_PASTE_CMD Open a pipe to read from this command, pasting it
into the current editable-field or command-prompt.
SOCKS5_PROXY Is inspected if -socks5_proxy has not been used
(for the same content).
SSL_CERT_DIR Set to the directory containing trusted
certificates.
SSL_CERT_FILE Set to the full path and filename for your file of
trusted certificates.
WWW_access_GATEWAY Lynx still supports use of gateway servers, with
the servers specified via "WWW_access_GATEWAY"
variables (where "access" is lower case and can be
"http", "ftp", "gopher" or "wais"). However most
gateway servers have been discontinued. Note that
you do not include a terminal "/" for gateways, but
do for proxies specified by PROTOCOL_proxy
environment variables.
See Lynx Users Guide for details.
WWW_HOME This variable, if set, will override the default
startup URL specified in any of the Lynx
configuration files.
Environment Variables Set or Modified By Lynx:
LYNX_PRINT_DATE This variable is set by the Lynx p(rint) function,
to the Date: string seen in the document's
"Information about" page (= cmd), if any. It is
created for use by an external program, as defined
in a lynx.cfg PRINTER: definition statement. If
the field does not exist for the document, the
variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or "No
Date" under VMS.
LYNX_PRINT_LASTMOD This variable is set by the Lynx p(rint) function,
to the Last Mod: string seen in the document's
"Information about" page (= cmd), if any. It is
created for use by an external program, as defined
in a lynx.cfg PRINTER: definition statement. If
the field does not exist for the document, the
variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or "No
LastMod" under VMS.
LYNX_PRINT_TITLE This variable is set by the Lynx p(rint) function,
to the Linkname: string seen in the document's
"Information about" page (= cmd), if any. It is
created for use by an external program, as defined
in a lynx.cfg PRINTER: definition statement. If
the field does not exist for the document, the
variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or "No
Title" under VMS.
LYNX_PRINT_URL This variable is set by the Lynx p(rint) function,
to the URL: string seen in the document's
"Information about" page (= cmd), if any. It is
created for use by an external program, as defined
in a lynx.cfg PRINTER: definition statement. If
the field does not exist for the document, the
variable is set to a null string under UNIX, or "No
URL" under VMS.
LYNX_TRACE If set, causes Lynx to write a trace file as if the
-trace option were supplied.
LYNX_TRACE_FILE If set, overrides the compiled-in name of the trace
file, which is either Lynx.trace or LY-TRACE.LOG
(the latter on the DOS/Windows platforms). The
trace file is in either case relative to the home
directory.
LYNX_VERSION This variable is always set by Lynx, and may be
used by an external program to determine if it was
invoked by Lynx.
See also the comments in the distribution's sample
mailcap file, for notes on usage in such a file.
TERM Normally, this variable is used by Lynx to
determine the terminal type being used to invoke
Lynx. If, however, it is unset at startup time (or
has the value "unknown"), or if the -term command-
line option is used (see OPTIONS section above),
Lynx will set or modify its value to the user
specified terminal type (for the Lynx execution
environment). Note: If set/modified by Lynx, the
values of the LINES and/or COLUMNS environment
variables may also be changed.
If built with the cgi-links option enabled, Lynx allows access to a cgi
script directly without the need for an http daemon.
When executing such "lynxcgi scripts" (if enabled), the following
variables may be set for simulating a CGI environment:
CONTENT_LENGTH
CONTENT_TYPE
DOCUMENT_ROOT
HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE
HTTP_USER_AGENT
PATH_INFO
PATH_TRANSLATED
QUERY_STRING
REMOTE_ADDR
REMOTE_HOST
REQUEST_METHOD
SERVER_SOFTWARE
Other environment variables are not inherited by the script, unless
they are provided via a LYNXCGI_ENVIRONMENT statement in the
configuration file. See the lynx.cfg file, and the (draft) CGI 1.1
Specification <http://Web.Golux.Com/coar/cgi/draft-coar-cgi-v11-00.txt>
for the definition and usage of these variables.
The CGI Specification, and other associated documentation, should be
consulted for general information on CGI script programming.
If configured and installed with Native Language Support, Lynx will
display status and other messages in your local language. See the file
ABOUT_NLS in the source distribution, or at your local GNU site, for
more information about internationalization.
The following environment variables may be used to alter default
settings:
LANG This variable, if set, will override the default
message language. It is an ISO 639 two-letter code
identifying the language. Language codes are NOT
the same as the country codes given in ISO 3166.
LANGUAGE This variable, if set, will override the default
message language. This is a GNU extension that has
higher priority for setting the message catalog
than LANG or LC_ALL.
LC_ALL and
LC_MESSAGES These variables, if set, specify the notion of
native language formatting style. They are POSIXly
correct.
LINGUAS This variable, if set prior to configuration,
limits the installed languages to specific values.
It is a space-separated list of two-letter codes.
Currently, it is hard-coded to a wish list.
NLSPATH This variable, if set, is used as the path prefix
for message catalogs.
If you wish to contribute to the further development of Lynx, subscribe
to our mailing list. Send email to <lynx-dev-request@nongnu.org> with
"subscribe lynx-dev" as the only line in the body of your message.
Send bug reports, comments, suggestions to <lynx-dev@nongnu.org> after
subscribing.
Unsubscribe by sending email to <lynx-dev-request@nongnu.org> with
"unsubscribe lynx-dev" as the only line in the body of your message.
Do not send the unsubscribe message to the lynx-dev list, itself.
Lynx has incorporated code from a variety of sources along the way.
The earliest versions of Lynx included code from Earl Fogel of
Computing Services at the University of Saskatchewan, who implemented
HYPERREZ in the Unix environment. HYPERREZ was developed by Niel
Larson of Think.com and served as the model for the early versions of
Lynx. Those versions also incorporated libraries from the Unix Gopher
clients developed at the University of Minnesota, and the later
versions of Lynx rely on the WWW client library code developed by Tim
Berners-Lee and the WWW community. Also a special thanks to Foteos
Macrides who ported much of Lynx to VMS and did or organized most of
its development since the departures of Lou Montulli and Garrett Blythe
from the University of Kansas in the summer of 1994 through the release
of v2.7.2, and to everyone on the net who has contributed to Lynx's
development either directly (through patches, comments or bug reports)
or indirectly (through inspiration and development of other systems).
Lou Montulli, Garrett Blythe, Craig Lavender, Michael Grobe, Charles
Rezac
Academic Computing Services
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas 66047
Foteos Macrides
Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts 01545
Thomas E. Dickey
<dickey@invisible-island.net>
catgets(3), curses(3), environ(7), ftp(1), gettext(GNU), localeconv(3),
ncurses(3), setlocale(3), termcap(5), terminfo(5)
Lynx 2.9.3 2026-05-26 LYNX(1)