w3m

w3m MANUAL

Akinori Ito
[email protected]

Index

  • Introduction
  • Options
  • Document color
  • Key binding
  • Lynx-like key binding
  • Mouse operation
  • Key customization
  • Local CGI

    • Introduction

    w3m is a pager/text-based WWW browser. You can browse local documents and/or documents on the WWW using a terminal emulator.

    Options

    Command line usage is

     

        w3m [options] [file|URL]

    If you specify filenames/URLs on command line, these documents are displayed. If you specify nothing, w3m reads a document from standard input and display it. If no filename and/or URLs are specified and standard input is tty, w3m terminates without displaying anything.

    Options are as follows:

    +<line number>
    Move to the specified line.
    -t width
    Specify tab width. Default is 8.
    -r
    When displaying text/plain document, prohibit emphasis using backspace. If you don't specify this option, ``A^H_'' is interpreted as underlined character and ``A^HA'' as a bold character.
    -l number
    Specify line number preserved internally when reading text/plain document fron standard input. Default is 10000.
    -s
    Display documents with Shift_JIS code.
    -e
    Display documents with EUC_JP code.
    -j
    Display documents with ISO-2022-JP code.
    -T type
    Specify document type. Without this option, document type is determined from extension of a file. If the determination fails, the document is regarded as text/plain.

    Example:
    Read HTML document from standard input and display it 

       cat hoge.html | w3m -T text/html

    Display HTML source 

       w3m -T text/plain hoge.html
    -m
    Display document with Internet message mode. With this option, w3m determines document type from header information. It is useful when reading E-mail or NetNews messages.
    -v
    visual startup mode.
    -B
    Show the bookmark.
    -bookmark file
    Specify bookmark file.
    -M
    Monochrome display mode.
    -F
    Automatically render frame.
    -S
    Squeeze blank lines.
    -X
    Upon exit, do not display preserved screen.
    -W
    Toggle wrap search mode.
    -o option=value
    Specify option. The option names and values are same as that appears in ~/.w3m/config.
    -cookie
    Process cookies.
    -no-cookie
    Don't process cookies.
    -pauth username:password
    Set username and password for (basic) proxy authentication.
    -num
    Show linenumber.
    -dump
    Read document specified by URL and dump formatted text into standard output. The width of the document become 80. This width can be overridden with -cols option.
    -cols width
    Specify document width. Used with -dump option.
    -ppc count
    Specify the number of pixels per character (default 8.0). Larger values will make tables narrower.
    -dump_source
    Read document specified by URL and dump the source.
    -dump_head
    Read document specified by URL and dump headers.
    -dump_both
    Read document specified by URL and dump headers and the source.
    -dump_extra
    Read document specified by URL and dump extra informations, headers and the source.
    -post file
    use POST method with file content.
    -header string
    insert string as a header.
    -no-proxy
    Don't use proxy server.
    -no-graph
    Don't use graphic character to draw frames.
    -no-mouse
    Don't activate mouse.
    -config file
    specify config file.

    Document color

    Links and images are displayed as follows.
      Color mode Monochrome mode
    links blue underline
    inline images green reverse
    form input red reverse
    These colors can be customized using option setting command "o".

    Key binding

    After invocation, you can operate w3m by one-character commands from the keyboard.

    Here's the original key-binding table. If you are using Lynx-like key bindings, see the Lynx-like key binding.

    Page/Cursor motion

    SPC,C-v Forward page
    b,ESC v Backward page
    l,C-f Cursor right
    h,C-b Cursor left
    j,C-n Cursor down
    k,C-p Cursor up
    J Roll up one line
    K Roll down one line
    ^,C-a Go to the beginning of line
    $,C-e Go to the end of line
    w Go to next word
    W Go to previous word
    > Shift screen right
    < Shift screen left
    . Shift screen one column right
    , Shift screen one column left
    g,M-< Go to the first line
    G,M-> Go to the last line
    ESC g Go to specified line
    Z Move to the center line
    z Move to the center column
    TAB Move to next hyperlink
    C-u,ESC TAB Move to previous hyperlink
    [ Move to the first hyperlink
    ] Move to the last hyperlink

    Hyperlink operation

    RET Follow hyperlink
    a, ESC RET Save link to file
    u Peek link URL
    i Peek image URL
    I View inline image
    ESC I Save inline image to file
    : Mark URL-like strings as anchors
    ESC : Mark Message-ID-like strings as news anchors
    c Peek current URL
    = Display information about current document
    C-g Show current line number
    C-h View history of URL
    F Render frame
    M Browse current document using external browser (use 2M and 3M to invoke second and third browser)
    ESC M Browse link using external browser (use 2ESC M and 3ESC M to invoke second and third browser)

    File/Stream operation

    U Open URL
    V View new file
    @ Execute shell command and load
    # Execute shell command and browse

    Buffer operation

    B Back to the previous buffer
    v View HTML source
    s Select buffer
    E Edit buffer source
    C-l Redraw screen
    R Reload buffer
    S Save buffer
    ESC s Save source
    ESC e Edit buffer image

    Buffer selection mode

    k, C-p Select previous buffer
    j, C-n Select next buffer
    D Delect current buffer
    RET Go to the selected buffer

    Bookmark operation

    ESC b Load bookmark
    ESC a Add current to bookmark

    Search

    /,C-s Search forward
    ?,C-r Search backward
    n Search next
    N Search previous
    C-w Toggle wrap search mode

    Mark operation

    C-SPC Set/unset mark
    ESC p Go to previous mark
    ESC n Go to next mark
    " Mark by regular expression

    Miscellany

    ! Execute shell command
    H Help (load this file)
    o Set option
    C-k Show cookie jar
    C-c Stop
    C-z Suspend
    q Quit (with confirmation, if you like)
    Q Quit without confirmation

    Line-edit mode

    C-f Move cursor forward
    C-b Move cursor backward
    C-h Delete previous character
    C-d Delete current character
    C-k Kill everything after cursor
    C-u Kill everything before cursor
    C-a Move to the top of line
    C-e Move to the bottom of line
    C-p Fetch the previous string from the history list
    C-n Fetch the next string from the history list
    TAB,SPC Complete filename
    RETURN Accept

    Lynx-like key binding

    If you have chosen `Lynx-like key binding' at the compile time, you can use the following key binding.

    Page/Cursor motion

    SPC,C-v,+ Forward page
    b,ESC v,- Previous page
    l Cursor right
    h Cursor left
    j Cursor down
    k Cursor up
    J Roll up one line
    K Roll down one line
    ^ Go to the beginning of line
    $ Go to the end of line
    > Shift screen right
    < Shift screen left
    C-a Go to the first line
    C-e Go to the last line
    G Go to the specified line
    Z Move to the center line
    z Move to the center column
    TAB,C-n,Down arrow Move to next hyperlink
    ESC TAB,C-p,Up arrow Move to previous link
    C-g Show current page position

    Hyperlink operation

    RET, C-f, Right arrow Follow hyperlink
    d, ESC RET Save link to file
    u Peek link URL
    i Peek image URL
    I View inline image
    ESC I Save inline image to file
    : Mark URL-like strings as anchors
    ESC : Mark Message-ID-like strings as news anchors
    c Peek current URL
    = Display information about current document
    C-h View history of URL
    F Render frame
    M Browse current document using external browser (use 2M and 3M to invoke second and third browser)
    ESC M Browse link using external browser (use 2ESC M and 3ESC M to invoke second and third browser)

    File/Stream operation

    g,U Open URL
    V View new file
    @ Execute shell command and load
    # Execute shell command and browse

    Buffer operation

    B, C-b, Left arrow Back to the previous buffer
    \ View HTML source
    s, C-h Select buffer
    E Edit buffer source
    C-l, C-w Redraw screen
    R, C-r Reload buffer
    S, p Save buffer
    ESC s Save source
    ESC e Edit buffer image

    Buffer selection mode

    k, C-p Select previous buffer
    j, C-n Select next buffer
    D Delect current buffer
    RET Go to the selected buffer

    Bookmark operation

    v, ESC b Load bookmark
    a, ESC a Add current to bookmark

    Search

    /, C-s Search forward
    n Search next
    w Toggle wrap search mode

    Mark operation

    C-SPC Set/unset mark
    P Go to previous mark
    N Go to next mark
    " Mark by regular expression

    Miscellany

    ! Execute shell command
    H, ? Help (load this file)
    o Set option
    C-k Show cookie jar
    C-c Stop
    C-z Suspend
    q Quit (with confirmation, if you like)
    Q Quit without confirmation

    Line-edit mode

    C-f Move cursor forward
    C-b Move cursor backward
    C-h Delete previous character
    C-d Delete current character
    C-k Kill everything after cursor
    C-u Kill everything before cursor
    C-a Move to the top of line
    C-e Move to the bottom of line
    C-p Fetch the previous string from the history list
    C-n Fetch the next string from the history list
    TAB,SPC Complete filename
    RETURN Accept

    Mouse operation

    If w3m is compiled with mouse option and you are using xterm/kterm/rxvt (in this case, you have to set the TERM environment variable to `xterm' or `kterm'.) or GPM environment, you can use mouse for the navigation.

     

    left click Move the cursor to the place pointed by the mouse cursor. If you click the cursor and it is on an anchor, follow the anchor.
    middle click Back to the previous buffer.
    right click Open pop-up menu. You can choose an item by clicking it.
    left drag Scroll document. The default behavior is to grab the document and drag it. You can reverse the behavior (grab the window and drag it) with the option setting panel.

     

    Key customization

    You can customize the key binding (except line-editing keymap) by describing ~/.w3m/keymap. For example, 
       keymap C-o NEXT_PAGE
    binds `NEXT_PAGE' function (normally bound to SPC and C-v) to control-o. See README.func for list of available functions. Original and Lynx-like keymap definitions are provided (keymap.default and keymap.lynx) as examples.

    Local CGI

    You can run CGI scripts using w3m, without any HTTP server. It means that w3m behaves like an HTTP server and activates CGI script, then w3m reads the output of the script and display it. The bookmark registration and helper-app editor are realized as local CGI scripts. Using local CGI, w3m can be used as a general purpose form interface.

    For security reason, CGI scripts invoked by w3m must be in one of these directories.

    The CGI script can use special header `w3m-control:' to control w3m. This field can take any function (see README.func), and the specified function is invoked after the document is displayed. For example, The CGI output 

    Content-Type: text/plain
W3m-control: BACK
    will display blank page and delete that buffer immediately. This is useful when you don't want to display any page after the script is invoked. The next example 
    Content-Type: text/plain
W3m-control: DELETE_PREVBUF

contents.....
    will override the current buffer.

    One w3m-control: header have to contain only one function, but you can include more than one w3m-control: lines in the HTTP header. In addition, you can specify an argument to GOTO function: 

    Content-Type: text/plain
W3m-control: GOTO http://www.yahoo.com/
    This example works exactly the same way to the Location header: 
    Content-Type: text/plain
Location: http://www.yahoo.com/
    Note that this header has no effect when the CGI script is invoked through HTTP server.