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Teso
Asked: 2021-05-14 07:29:06 +0800 CST

How to create a CLI alias for a web search with W3M?

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I would like to create an alias with the function to perform a DuckDuckGo search with W3M via the Command Line Interface (CLI).

I have already created the alias and the DuckDuckGo search engine is called. However, I would also like to enter a search keyword after the alias in the CLI and I do not know how to do that. Example:

alias duckit="w3m https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/"

When I enter the command duckit in the CLI, this alias calls the DuckDuckGo search engine and opens the web page. But I want the alias to also enter the search keyword in DuckDuckGo and show me the results.

So I tried adding ?q= at the end of the alias above:

alias duckit="w3m https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/?q="

However, running it as follows does not work:

duckit test

What do I need to do?

command-line

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You cannot use an alias if you need to pass parameters to it, you need to use a function instead. Add this to your ~/.bashrc file:

    duckit(){
    w3m https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/?q="$@"
}

    Now open a new terminal and try duckit test.

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  2. Installation guide

    1. Install the W3M Web-Browser:

      sudo apt-get install w3m

    2. Or with image support (shows images on web pages):

      sudo apt-get install w3m w3m-img

    3. Copy the following command into the CLI and press Enter:

      echo 'duckit(){ w3m https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/?q="$*"; }' >> ~/.bashrc

    4.Open a new CLI and run a search

    duckitl test my w3m on ddg

    W3M



    DuckIt - Update Version 0.4

    DuckDuckGo offers a pure HTML version of its search engine.
    Since the W3M does not support JavaScript anyway, it is better to use the DDG-HTML page. This has one advantage, the HTML page contains no scripts and therefore less code. Less code means smaller HTML-file and therefore less data transfer, which makes the page load faster.

    echo 'duckit(){ w3m https://lite.duckduckgo.com/html/?q="$*"; }' >> ~/.bashrc

    If you already have DuckIt-W3m installed, just change the string in the ~/.bashrc file with your favorite text editor (e.g. nano ~/.bashrc) from lite to html.

    https://lite.duckduckgo.com/html/



    DuckIt - Update Version 0.5

    Some people like the Lynx web browser better, so I have two new aliases for you.

    The alias has changed.
    The DDG-Lynx alias is: duckitl

    sudo apt-get install lynx

    echo 'duckitx(){ lynx https://lite.duckduckgo.com/html/?q="$*"; }' >> ~/.bashrc

    Open a new CLI and run a search:

    duckitx test my lynx on ddg

    Probably the fastest search on Planet.

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