Command line web browser on Ubuntu

Another cool thing you can do on the command line is browsing the web, yes there is a text mode web browser on ubuntu, in this article i will show you how to install this text-mode web browser and how to use it.

The text-mode web browser that i'm talking about is called 'lynx', you probably heard of it, 'lynx' is a non graphical web browser available on ubuntu, 'lynx' has been around since 1992.

How to install lynx on ubuntu?

To install lynx on ubuntu simply open terminal (CTRL + ALT + T) and then run this:

sudo apt-get install lynx

Once installed you can open by typing 'lynx' on the command line, but first you need to learn all commands inside lynx.

How to use lynx on ubuntu?

There are several keyboard buttons that you need to know, in order to use lynx as web browser.

• opening url of website: to open url on lynx, simply press 'g' button on your keyboard and then enter the url that you want to visit.
• navigate the web page: use arrow up and down keys on your keyboard to navigate the web page up or down.
• clicking links: to follow a link (hyperlink) use the arrow right key on your keyboard, and to go back to previous page use the arrow left key on your keyboard.
• exit lynx: to exit/close lynx, simply press 'q' and then choose 'y' for yes.

It takes time to get used with lynx, but after a while you will be familiar using it.

There are some benefit of using lynx as web browser (in my opinion):

1. because we only see text, it is less consuming bandwidth, a lot less than graphical web browser
2. you can avoid malware websites
3. you can avoid viewing ads on websites
4. useful for analyze content of a website
5. useful for environment where browsing web page is not allowed (at work your boss won't know that you actually browse the web)