How to browse the Internet using the Debian terminal
Today we will talk about text-based web browsers. But you might be wondering why you need a text browser in today’s graphics era. There may be several reasons for this. One of the reasons may be that some people are more terminal savvy and want to do everything from the command line. Another reason could be a slow internet connection and annoying GUI browser ads. Thus, text browsers are the best tool that can help them run faster in the browser without distractions.
In this article, we will discuss some of the ways to install and use text browsers in Terminal.
We have followed the commands and procedures mentioned in this article on a Debian based OS.
1. Web Browser Links
Links is an open source text-based web browser for Linux OS that you can use in your Terminal. To install it, run the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo apt-get install links
Click at when the system asks for confirmation and then wait for a while until the Links installation is complete.
After installing Links, use the following command syntax to view any web page:
$ links [URL]
For example, to view the Google website, enter the following command in Terminal:
$ links www.google.com
Some useful keyboard shortcuts for the Links browser:
To open a new tab: Shift + T
For navigation: Up and down arrow keys
To open a link: Right arrow key
To go back one page: Left arrow key
To exit the program: Q
2. W3m web browser
W3m is another open source text based web browser for Linux. To install it, run the following command in Terminal. The w3m in the command below is for the main package and w3m-img The package is designed to support inline images.
$ sudo apt-get install w3m w3m-img
Click at when the system asks for confirmation, and then wait for a while until the W3m installation is complete.
After installing W3m, use the following command syntax to view any web page:
$ w3m [URL]
For example, to view the Google website, enter the following command in Terminal:
$ w3m www.google.com
To enter anything, highlight the text entry area with the cursor and press Enter before entering text.
Some useful keyboard shortcuts for W3m web browser:
To open a new tab: Shift + T
For navigation: Arrow keys
To open a link: To come in
To load a new URL: Shift + U
To go back one page: Shift + B
To exit the program: Shift + Q
3. Lynx Web Browser
Lynx Browser is also a terminal-based web browser that is used to access websites in the Linux terminal. Like other web browsers, Lynx Web Browser has several useful options and supports protocols such as HTTP, FTP, HTTPS, etc. It is one of the oldest browsers still in use today.
To install the Lynx browser, run the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo apt-get install lynx
Click at when the system asks for confirmation, and then wait a while until the Lynx installation is complete.
After installing Lynx, use the following command syntax to view any web page:
$ lynx [URL]
For example, to view the Google website, enter the following command in Terminal:
$ lynx www.google.com
Some useful keyboard shortcuts for the Lynx browser:
For navigation: Up and down arrow keys
To download the link: Right arrow key
To go back one page: Left arrow key
To exit the program: Q
4. ELinks web browser
Elinks is a fully featured, advanced and customizable terminal based web browser. To install Elinks, run the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo apt-get install elinks
Click at when the system asks for confirmation and then wait for a while until the ELinks installation is complete.
After installing ELinks, use the following command syntax to view any web page:
$ elinks [URL]
For example, to view the Google website, enter the following command in Terminal:
$ elinks www.google.com
Some useful keyboard shortcuts for ELinks browser:
To open a new tab: T
For navigation: Up and down arrow keys
To select links: To come in
To load a new URL: r
To go back one page: left arrow
To exit the program: Q
Thus, you can use several ways to access the Internet from Debian Terminal without a GUI. Now you can work with text-based browsers and ad-free at blazing speed.
How to browse the Internet using the Debian terminal