Surfraw - ArchWiki

# Surfraw

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Surfraw provides a fast UNIX command line interface to a variety of popular WWW search engines. Surfraw was originally created by Julian Assange.

## Installation

Install the surfraw package.

## Configuration

Surfraw uses the default browser to open the successful query. If none of the standard browsers are installed, Surfraw will call $BROWSER. If that variable is empty, you will get an error message as Surfraw has no way to open the query. You can configure your browser, and any other options, via `~/.config/surfraw/conf`:

    SURFRAW_graphical_browser=/usr/bin/chromium
    #SURFRAW_text_browser=/usr/bin/elinks
    SURFRAW_graphical=yes

There is a default config file installed at `/etc/xdg/surfraw/conf` that contains all of the configurable options.

## Usage

Surfraw consists of a collection of shell scripts, called elvi, each of which searches a specific web site.

To see the list of elvi type:

    $ surfraw -elvi

You can call surfraw in full, or the shortened form:

    $ sr duckduckgo topic_name

You can also add `/usr/lib/surfraw` to your `$PATH` to call the elvi directly.

There are over 100 elvi available for searching the web, e.g. from amazon:

    $ surfraw amazon -search=books -country=en -q Stanislaw Lem

To search the AUR:

    sr aur package_name

To search this wiki:

    sr archwiki article_name

For a full list of web site search scripts see: List of Elvi

Categories:

- Web
- Search
- Console applications