w3m MANUAL

Akinori Ito
aito@fw.ipsj.or.jp

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.

-O charset

Specify display/output charset.

-I charset

Specify document charset.

-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.

-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

Use ASCII 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, 3M, ..., and 9M to invoke second, third, ..., and ninth browser)
ESC M	Browse link using external browser (use 2ESC M, 3ESC M, ..., and 9ESC M to invoke second, third, ..., and ninth 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 directory where w3m-related files are stored (typically /usr/local/lib/w3m). This directory can be referred as $LIB.
/cgi-bin/ directory. You can map /cgi-bin/ to any directory you like with option setting panel (``Directory corresponds to /cgi-bin'' field). You can specify multiple paths separated by `:', like /usr/local/cgi-bin:/home/aito/cgi-bin. To use /cgi-bin/ directory, you must use file:/cgi-bin URL as follows:
```
 w3m -o cgi_bin=/path/to/cgi-bin file:/cgi-bin/script.cgi
```
It is not recommended to include current directory to this path.

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.

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.