surfraw

Surfraw is a command line tool that allows users to search the web directly from the terminal. Its name stands for "Shell Users' Revolutionary Front Rage Against the Web" and it was created by Julian Assange in 2000 before he founded WikiLeaks. Surfraw utilizes "elvi" which are short for search engine interfaces, providing users with the ability to query search engines, online dictionaries, social media platforms, news websites, and more. It supports popular search engines like Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Wikipedia, as well as lesser-known engines and specialty sites. Surfraw is written in Perl and is open-source, meaning its source code is freely available for modification and distribution. It is designed to be highly configurable, allowing users to customize their search results and choose preferred options such as language, number of results, and the elvi to use. Surfraw's interface is text-based and lightweight, making it ideal for users who prefer command line interfaces or have limited system resources. It provides quick and efficient web searches without the need for opening a browser, making it a convenient tool for power users and those working in a terminal-only environment. Surfraw is available for various Linux distributions and BSD systems. Overall, Surfraw is a versatile and efficient command line tool that brings web search capabilities directly to the terminal, offering flexibility and convenience to command line enthusiasts.