W3m

Command line web browser

w3m

w3m running in an xterm displaying the Wikipedia main page.

Developer(s)| Akinori Ito et al.
Initial release| 1995
Stable release|

0.5.3[1] / 15 January 2011

Preview release|

v0.5.3+git20230121[2] / 21 January 2023

Repository|

* github.com/tats/w3m

Written in| C
Operating system| OS/2,[3][4] Unix & Unix-like (Solaris, SunOS, HP-UX, Linux, FreeBSD and EWS-UX (EWS-4800),[5] Windows (with Cygwin), macOS (with Homebrew)
Available in| English and Japanese
Type| Web browser, Terminal pager
License| MIT license
Website| w3m.sourceforge.net

w3m is a free and open source text-based web browser licensed under the MIT license. It differs from other very early text-based browsers by supporting elements such as tables, frames, and images.[6][7]

## History

[edit]

The name "w3m" stands for "WWW wo miru (WWWを見る)", which is Japanese for "to see the WWW", and where "W3" is a numeronym of "WWW".[8] The original project is no longer active. A different developer, Tatsuya Kinoshita, was maintaining a fork until early 2024.[9] Unfortunately Tatsuya (aka tats) was determined to be MIA in July of 2024. [10] Thus a new fork, which is actively maintained, is at sourcehut.[11]

## Functions

[edit]

w3m runs in terminal emulator programs such as xterm and GNOME Terminal.[12] The browser has tabbed browsing, right click menus, and image support,[12] along with support for tables and frames. It also functions as a terminal pager.[6] It can be navigated solely using the keyboard or with the mouse. There are two different display modes, one with colors and one that is monochrome.[13]

w3m can be used within Emacs.[14]

Some distributions require the installation of a second package, w3m-img, to render images using w3m.[15]

## See also

[edit]

* Free and open-source software portal

* Eww (web browser)
* Emacs/W3
* Lynx (web browser)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "w3m Files".
2. ^ "v0.5.3+git20230121".
3. ^ TOKORO, Kyosuke. "w3m 0.2.1–3 for OS/2 WARP". Archived from the original on 4 May 2001. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
4. ^ Watson, Dave (September 2001). "Text-Mode Web Browsers for OS/2". The Southern California OS/2 User Group. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
5. ^ w3m manual page
6. ^ a b Rutland, David (2 November 2022). "The 3 Best Terminal-Based Web Browsers for Linux". MUO. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
7. ^ Negus, Christopher (28 January 2005). Linux Bible. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-7645-8974-4.
8. ^ "W3M FAQ". Retrieved 8 April 2022.
9. ^ Das, Ankush (20 October 2020). "Best Terminal-based Web Browsers for Linux Users". It's FOSS. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
10. ^ Kita, Rene (1 August 2024). "w3m Maintenance". GitHub. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
11. ^ "w3m: Fork of Debian's w3m". sourcehut. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
12. ^ a b Hoffman, Chris (23 January 2012). "How to Browse From the Linux Terminal With W3M". How-To Geek. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
13. ^ "How to use the W3M text-based web browser on Linux". AddictiveTips. 17 April 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
14. ^ "EmacsWiki: w3m". www.emacswiki.org. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
15. ^ Rankin, Kyle (2006). Linux Multimedia Hacks: Tips & Tools for Taming Images, Audio, and Video. "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". ISBN 978-0-596-10076-6.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* w3mmee official website
* w3m on GitHub currently (as of 2018–03) maintained version repository

* v
* t
* e

Gopher

A protocol for document search and retrieval on the Internet

Clients|

| Active|

* Dooble
* Lynx
* W3m
* WebPositive

|

Support ended|

* Epiphany
* Firefox
* Flock
* SeaMonkey

Discontinued|

* Agora
* Arachne
* Amaya
* Arena
* AT&T Pogo
* Beonex Communicator
* Camino
* Cello
* Classilla
* Conkeror
* Cyberjack
* ELinks
* Epiphany
* Galeon
* GopherVR
* IBrowse
* Internet Explorer
* Internet Explorer for Mac
* Kazehakase
* libwww
* Line Mode Browser
* Minimo
* Minuet
* Mosaic
* Mothra
* Mozilla Application Suite
* Netscape
* OmniWeb
* SlipKnot
* Songbird
* tkWWW
* UdiWWW
* xB Browser

Server software|

* Bucktooth
* NetPresenz
* PyGopherd
* Squid
* Synchronet

Search engines|

* Jughead
* Veronica
* Wide area information server (WAIS)

Content|

* AllMusic
* CCSO Nameserver
* Gophermap
* Phlog

Hosts|

* SDF Public Access Unix System
* The WELL

Developers|

* Mark P. McCahill

* v
* t
* e

Lightweight web browsers

Web browsers designed to consume fewer resources than mainstream browsers.

* Arora (discontinued)
* Dillo
* ELinks
* Falkon
* K-Meleon
* Links
* Lynx
* Midori
* NetSurf
* QtWeb (discontinued)
* surf
* Uzbl (discontinued)
* w3m
* WebPositive
* xombrero (discontinued)

Comparison of lightweight web browsers

* v
* t
* e

Web browsers

* Features
* standards
* protocols

| Features|

* Bookmarks
* Extensions
* Privacy mode

|

Web standards|

* HTML
* v5
* CSS
* DOM
* JavaScript
* WebAssembly
* Web storage
* IndexedDB
* WebGL
* WebGPU

Protocols|

* HTTP
* Encryption
* Cookies
* third-party
* OCSP
* WebRTC
* WebSocket

Active

| Blink-based|

| Proprietary|

* Google Chrome
* Arc
* Avast
* Cốc Cốc
* Comodo
* Ecosia
* Epic
* Huawei
* Maxthon
* Microsoft Edge
* Opera (Mobile)
* Puffin
* QQ
* Samsung
* Silk
* Sleipnir
* SRWare
* UC
* Vivaldi
* Whale
* Yandex

|

FOSS|

* Chromium
* Brave
* Dooble
* Falkon
* Otter
* Supermium
* ungoogled

Gecko-based|

* Firefox
* Floorp
* GNU IceCat
* LibreWolf
* Midori
* SlimBrowser
* Tor
* Zen
* Gecko forks
* Basilisk
* K-Meleon
* Pale Moon
* SeaMonkey
* Waterfox

WebKit-based|

* Safari
* GNOME Web
* iCab
* Orion

Multi-engine|

* 360
* DuckDuckGo
* Konqueror
* Lunascape
* NetFront
* qutebrowser

Other|

* Dillo
* eww
* Flow
* Ladybird
* Links
* Lynx
* NetSurf
* Opera Mini
* w3m

Discontinued

| Blink-based|

* Beaker
* Citrio
* Flock
* Redcore
* Rockmelt
* SalamWeb
* Sputnik
* Torch

|

Gecko-based|

* Beonex
* Camino
* Classilla
* Conkeror
* Firefox Lite
* Galeon
* Ghostzilla
* IceDragon
* Kazehakase
* Kylo
* Lotus
* MicroB
* Minimo
* Mozilla suite
* PirateBrowser
* Pogo
* Strata
* Swiftfox
* Swiftweasel
* TenFourFox
* Timberwolf
* xB

MSHTML-based|

* Internet Explorer
* AOL
* Deepnet
* GreenBrowser
* MediaBrowser
* MSN Explorer
* MSN Program Viewer
* NeoPlanet
* NetCaptor
* SpaceTime
* ZAC

WebKit-based|

* Arora
* BOLT
* Dolphin
* Fluid
* Google TV
* Iris
* Mercury
* Nokia Symbian
* OmniWeb
* Opera Coast
* Origyn
* QtWeb
* Shiira
* Steel
* surf
* Uzbl
* WebPositive
* xombrero

Other|

* abaco
* Amaya
* Arachne
* Arena
* Blazer
* Cake
* CM
* Deepfish
* Edge Legacy
* ELinks
* Gazelle
* HotJava
* IBM Home Page Reader
* IBM WebExplorer
* IBrowse
* Internet Explorer for Mac
* KidZui
* Line Mode
* Mosaic
* MSN TV
* NetPositive
* Netscape
* Skweezer
* Skyfire
* ThunderHawk
* Vision
* WinWAP
* WorldWideWeb

* List
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* Category

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