path: root/lynx.hlp

1 LYNX
2 Name
       lynx  - a general purpose distributed information browser for the World
       Wide Web

2 Synopsis
       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.

2 Description
       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 95/NT/XP/7/8 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.   Current
       versions  of Lynx run on Unix, VMS, Windows 95/NT/XP/7/8, DOS DJGPP and
       OS/2.

       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.

2 Options
       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 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.

       -anonymous
              apply    restrictions    for   anonymous   account,   see   also
              -restrictions.

       -assume_charset=MIMEname
              charset for documents that don't 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.

       -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.

       -cache=NUMBER
              set the NUMBER of documents cached in memory.   The  default  is
              10.

       -case  enable case-sensitive string searching.

       -center
              Toggle center alignment in HTML TABLE.

       -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.

       -child_relaxed
              exit  on  left-arrow  in  startfile,  but allow save to disk and
              associated print/mail options.

       -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.

       -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 needs to be compiled with  the  slang  library  for
              this flag, it is equivalent to setting the COLORTERM environment
              variable.  (If color support is instead  provided  by  a  color-
              capable  curses  library like 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.

       -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.

       -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.

       -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  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

       -default-colors
              toggles  the default-colors feature which is normally set in the
              lynx.cfg file.

       -delay add DebugSecs delay after each progress-message

       -display=DISPLAY
              set the display variable for X rexec-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.

       -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 http://www.subir.com/lynx.html

              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.

       -enable_scrollback
              toggles compatibility with  communication  programs'  scrollback
              keys (may be incompatible with some curses packages).

       -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.

       -force_empty_hrefless_a
              force  HREF-less `A' elements to be empty (close them as soon as
              they are seen).

       -force_html
              forces the first document to be interpreted as HTML.

              This 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.

       -forms_options
              toggles whether the Options Menu is key-based or form-based.

       -from  toggles transmissions of From headers.

       -ftp   disable ftp access.

       -get_data
              properly formatted data for a get 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 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.

       -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.

       -homepage=URL
              set homepage separate from start page.

       -image_links
              toggles inclusion of links for all images.

       -index=URL
              set the default index file to the specified URL.

       -ismap toggles inclusion of  ISMAP  links  when  client-side  MAPs  are
              present.

       -justify
              do justification of text.

       -link=NUMBER
              starting count for lnk#.dat files produced by -crawl.

       -list_inline
              for -dump, show the links inline with the text.

       -listonly
              for -dump, show only the list of links.

       -localhost
              disable URLs that point to remote hosts.

       -locexec
              enable  local  program  execution from local files only (if Lynx
              was compiled with local execution enabled).

       -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.

       -nested_tables
              toggles nested-tables logic (for debugging).

       -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.  (DEFAULT)

       -nofilereferer
              disable transmissions of Referer headers for file URLs.

       -nolist
              disable the link list feature in dumps.

       -nolog disable mailing of error messages to document owners.

       -nomargins
              disable left/right margins in the default style sheet.

       -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.

       -nonumbers
              disable   link-    and    field-numbering.     This    overrides
              -number_fields and -number_links.

       -nopause
              disable forced pauses for statusline messages.

       -noprint
              disable most print functions.

       -noredir
              prevents  automatic redirection and prints a message with a link
              to the new URL.

       -noreferer
              disable transmissions of Referer headers.

       -noreverse
              disable reverse video-attribute.

       -nosocks
              disable SOCKS proxy usage by a SOCKSified Lynx.

       -nostatus
              disable the retrieval status messages.

       -notitle
              disable title and blank line from top of page.

       -nounderline
              disable underline video-attribute.

       -number_fields
              force numbering of links as well as form input fields

       -number_links
              force numbering of links.

       -partial
              toggles display partial pages while loading.

       -partial_thres=NUMBER
              number  of  lines  to  render  before  repainting  display  with
              partial-display logic

       -passive-ftp
              toggles passive ftp connections.

       -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.

       -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.

       -prettysrc
              show HTML source view with lexical elements and tags in color.

       -print enable print functions.  (default)

       -pseudo_inlines
              toggles pseudo-ALTs for inline images with no ALT string.

       -raw   toggles default setting of 8-bit character translations  or  CJK
              mode for the startup character set.

       -realm restricts access to URLs in the starting realm.

       -read_timeout=N
              Sets the read-timeout, where N is given in seconds.

       -reload
              flushes  the  cache  on  a proxy server (only the first document
              given on the command-line is affected).

       -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.

       -rlogin
              disable recognition of rlogin commands.

       -scrollbar
              toggles showing scrollbar.

       -scrollbar_arrow
              toggles showing arrows at ends of the scrollbar.

       -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.

       -show_cfg
              Print the configuration settings, e.g., as read from "lynx.cfg",
              and exit.

       -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.

       -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.

       -soft_dquotes
              toggles  emulation  of  the  old  Netscape  and Mosaic bug which
              treated `>' as a co-terminator for double-quotes and tags.

       -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

       -startfile_ok
              allow non-http startfile and homepage with -validate.

       -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.

       -stdin read the startfile from standard input (UNIX only).

       -syslog=text
              information for syslog call.

       -syslog-urls
              log requested URLs with syslog.

       -tagsoup
              initialize parser, using Tag Soup DTD rather than SortaSGML.

       -telnet
              disable recognition of telnet commands.

       -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.

       -tna   turns on "Textfields Need Activation" mode.

       -trace turns on Lynx trace mode.  Destination of trace  output  depends
              on -tlog.

       -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

       -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_input_fields
              trim input text/textarea fields in forms.

       -underline_links
              toggles use of underline/bold attribute for links.

       -underscore
              toggles use of _underline_ format in dumps.

       -unique_urls
              check for duplicate link numbers in each page and  corresponding
              lists, and reuse the original link number.

       -use_mouse
              turn  on  mouse  support, if available.  Clicking the left mouse
              button on a link traverses it.  Clicking the right mouse  button
              pops  back.   Click  on the top line to scroll up.  Click on the
              bottom line to scroll down.  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.

       -version
              print version information, and exit.

       -vikeys
              enable vi-like key movement.

       -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)

       -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.

2 Commands
       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.

2 Environment
       In  addition  to various "standard" environment variables such as HOME,
       PATH, USER, DISPLAY, TMPDIR, 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    (literally:    http_proxy,
                           ftp_proxy,       gopher_proxy,       etc),       to
                           "http://some.server.dom:port/".   See  Lynx   Users
                           Guide for additional details and examples.

       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.

2 Simulated Cgi Support
       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.

2 Native Language Support
       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.

2 Notes
       This is the Lynx v2.8.8 Release; development is in progress for 2.8.9.

       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.

2 See Also
       catgets(3),  curses(3),  environ(7),  execve(2),  ftp(1), gettext(GNU),
       localeconv(3),   ncurses(3),   setlocale(3),   slang(?),    termcap(5),
       terminfo(5), wget(GNU)

       Note that man page availability and section numbering is somewhat platform
       dependent, and may vary from the above references.

       A section shown as (GNU), is intended to denote that the topic  may  be
       available via an info page, instead of a man page (i.e., try "info subject",
       rather than "man subject").

       A section shown as (?) denotes that documentation on the topic  exists,
       but  is  not part of an established documentation retrieval system (see
       the distribution files associated with the topic, or contact your  System
       Administrator for further information).

2 Acknowledgments
       Lynx  has  incorporated  code  from a variety of sources along the way.
       The earliest versions of Lynx included code from Earl Fogel of  Comput-
       ing  Services at the University of Saskatchewan, who implemented HYPER-
       REZ 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 Uni-
       versity 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 indirect-
       ly (through inspiration and development of other systems).

2 Authors
       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>