<h1 align="center">googler</h1>
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<a href="https://asciinema.org/a/85019"><img src="https://asciinema.org/a/85019.png" alt="Asciicast" width="734"/></a>
</p>
`googler` is a power tool to Google (Web & News) and Google Site Search from the command-line. It shows the title, URL and abstract for each result, which can be directly opened in a browser from the terminal. Results are fetched in pages (with page navigation). Supports sequential searches in a single `googler` instance.
`googler` was initially written to cater to headless servers without X. You can integrate it with a text-based browser. However, it has grown into a very handy and flexible utility that delivers much more. For example, fetch any number of results or start anywhere, limit search by any duration, define aliases to google search any number of websites, switch domains easily... all of this in a very clean interface without ads or stray URLs. The shell completion scripts make sure you don't need to remember any options.
`googler` isn't affiliated to Google in any way.
<br>
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## Table of contents
- [Features](#features)
- [Installation](#installation)
- [Installing from this repository](#installing-from-this-repository)
- [Installing to default or custom location](#installing-to-default-or-custom-location)
- [Running as a standalone utility](#running-as-a-standalone-utility)
- [Shell completion](#shell-completion)
- [Installing with a package manager](#installing-with-a-package-manager)
- [Tips for packagers](#tips-for-packagers)
- [Downloading a single file](#downloading-a-single-file)
- [Usage](#usage)
- [Cmdline options](#cmdline-options)
- [Configuration file](#configuration-file)
- [Colors](#colors)
- [Examples](#examples)
- [FAQ](#faq)
- [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
- [Notes](#notes)
- [Developers](#developers)
## Features
- Google Search, Google Site Search, Google News
- Fast and clean (no ads, stray URLs or clutter), custom color
- Open result URLs (or the actual search) in browser
- Navigate search result pages from omniprompt
- Fetch n results in a go, start at the n<sup>th</sup> result
- Disable automatic spelling correction and search exact keywords
- Limit search by duration, country/domain specific search (default: .com), language preference
- Supports Google search keywords like `filetype:mime`, `site:somesite.com` etc.
- Optionally open the first result directly in browser (as in *I'm Feeling Lucky*)
- Non-stop searches: fire new searches at omniprompt without exiting
- HTTPS proxy support
- Man page with examples, shell completion scripts for Bash, Zsh and Fish
- Minimal dependencies
## Installation
`googler` requires Python 3.3 or later. Only the latest patch release of each minor version is supported.
### Installing from this repository
To download this repository, you may either clone via git:
$ git clone https://github.com/jarun/googler/
or download a source code archive: [the latest stable release](https://github.com/jarun/googler/releases/latest) or [the development version](https://github.com/jarun/googler/archive/master.zip).
#### Installing to default or custom location
To install to the default location (`/usr/local`):
$ sudo make install
To remove `googler` and associated docs, run
$ sudo make uninstall
`PREFIX` is supported, in case you want to install to a different location.
#### Running as a standalone utility
`googler` is a standalone executable. From the containing directory:
$ ./googler
#### Shell completion
Shell completion scripts for Bash, Fish and Zsh can be found in respective subdirectories of [`auto-completion/`](auto-completion). Please refer to your shell's manual for installation instructions.
### Installing with a package manager
- [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/googler/)
- [Homebrew](http://braumeister.org/formula/googler)
- [Debian](https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=googler&searchon=names)
- [Ubuntu](http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=googler&searchon=names)
- [Ubuntu PPA](https://launchpad.net/~twodopeshaggy/+archive/ubuntu/jarun/)
#### Tips for packagers
`googler` v2.7 and later ships with an in-place self-upgrade mechanism which you may want to disable. To do this, run
$ make disable-self-upgrade
before installation.
### Downloading a single file
Googler is a single standalone script, so you could download just a single file if you'd like to.
To install the latest stable version, run
$ sudo curl -o /usr/local/bin/googler https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jarun/googler/v2.6/googler && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/googler
You could then let googler upgrade itself by running
$ sudo googler -u
Similarly, if you want to install from git master, run
$ sudo curl -o /usr/local/bin/googler https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jarun/googler/master/googler && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/googler
and upgrade by running
$ sudo googler -u --include-git
## Usage
### Cmdline options
usage: googler [-h] [-s N] [-n N] [-N] [-c TLD] [-l LANG] [-x] [-C]
[--colors COLORS] [-j] [-t dN] [-w SITE] [-p PROXY] [--noua]
[--json] [--enable-browser-output] [--np] [-u]
[--include-git] [-v] [-d]
[KEYWORD [KEYWORD ...]]
Google from the command-line.
positional arguments:
KEYWORD search keywords
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-s N, --start N start at the Nth result
-n N, --count N show N results (default 10)
-N, --news show results from news section
-c TLD, --tld TLD country-specific search with top-level domain .TLD,
e.g., 'in' for India. Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_domains
-l LANG, --lang LANG display in language LANG
-x, --exact disable automatic spelling correction
-C, --nocolor disable color output
--colors COLORS set output colors (see man page for details)
-j, --first, --lucky open the first result in web browser and exit
-t dN, --time dN time limit search [h5 (5 hrs), d5 (5 days), w5 (5
weeks), m5 (5 months), y5 (5 years)]
-w SITE, --site SITE search a site using Google
-p PROXY, --proxy PROXY
tunnel traffic through an HTTPS proxy (HOST:PORT)
--noua disable user agent
--notweak disable TCP optimizations and forced TLS 1.2
--json output in JSON format; implies --exact and --noprompt
--enable-browser-output
do not suppress browser output (stdout and stderr)
--np, --noprompt search and exit, do not prompt
-u, --upgrade perform in-place self-upgrade
--include-git when used with --upgrade, upgrade to latest git master
-v, --version show program's version number and exit
-d, --debug enable debugging
omniprompt keys:
n, p fetch the next or previous set of search results
index open the result corresponding to index in browser
f jump to the first page
o open the current search in browser
g keywords new Google search for 'keywords' with original options
q, ^D, double Enter exit googler
? show omniprompt help
* any other string initiates a new search with original options
### Configuration file
`googler` doesn't have any! This is to retain the speed of the utility and avoid OS-specific differences. Users can enjoy the advantages of config files using aliases (with the exception of the color scheme, which can be additionally customized through an environment variable; see [Colors](#colors)). There's no need to memorize options.
For example, the following alias for bash/zsh/ksh/etc.
alias g='googler -n 7 -c ru -l ru'
fetches 7 results from the Google Russia server, with preference towards results in Russian.
The alias serves both the purposes of using config files:
- Persistent settings: when the user invokes `g`, it expands to the preferred settings.
- Override settings: thanks to the way Python `argparse` works, `googler` is written so that the settings in alias are completely overridden by any options passed from cli. So when the same user runs `g -l de -c de -n 12 hello world`, 12 results are returned from the Google Germany server, with preference towards results in German.
### Colors
`googler` allows you to customize the color scheme via a six-letter string, reminiscent of BSD `LSCOLORS`. The six letters represent the colors of
- indices
- titles
- URLs
- metadata/publishing info (Google News only)
- abstracts
- prompts
respectively. The six-letter string is passed in either as the argument to the `--colors` option, or as the value of the environment variable `GOOGLER_COLORS`.
We offer the following colors/styles:
Letter | Color/Style
------ | -----------
a | black
b | red
c | green
d | yellow
e | blue
f | magenta
g | cyan
h | white
i | bright black
j | bright red
k | bright green
l | bright yellow
m | bright blue
n | bright magenta
o | bright cyan
p | bright white
A-H | bold version of the lowercase-letter color
I-P | bold version of the lowercase-letter bright color
x | normal
X | bold
y | reverse video
Y | bold reverse video
The default colors string is `GKlgxy`, which stands for
- bold bright cyan indices
- bold bright green titles
- bright yellow URLs
- cyan metadata/publishing info
- normal abstracts
- reverse video prompts
Note that
- Bright colors (implemented as `\x1b[90m`–`\x1b[97m`) may not be available in all color-capable terminal emulators;
- Some terminal emulators draw bold text in bright colors instead;
- Some terminal emulators only distinguish between bold and bright colors via a default-off switch.
Please consult the manual of your terminal emulator as well as the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code) on ANSI escape sequences.
## Examples
1. Google **hello world**:
$ googler hello world
2. Fetch **15 results** updated within last **14 months**, starting from the **3<sup>rd</sup> result** for the string **cmdline utility** in **site** tuxdiary.com:
$ googler -n 15 -s 3 -t m14 -w tuxdiary.com cmdline utility
3. Read recent **news** on gadgets:
$ googler -N gadgets
4. Fetch results on IPL cricket from **Google India** server in **English**:
$ googler -c in -l en IPL cricket
5. Search **quoted text**:
$ googler it\'s a \"beautiful world\" in spring
6. Search for a **specific file type**:
$ googler instrumental filetype:mp3
7. Disable **automatic spelling correction**, e.g. fetch results for `googler` instead of `google`:
$ googler -x googler
8. **I'm feeling lucky** search:
$ googler -j leather jackets
9. **Website specific** search:
$ googler -w tuxdiary.com hello world
Site specific search continues at omniprompt. Use the `g` key to run a regular Google search.
10. Alias to find **definitions of words**:
alias define='googler -n 2 define'
11. Look up `n`, `p`, `o`, `q`, `g keywords` or a result index at the **omniprompt**: As the omniprompt recognizes `n`, `p`, `o`, `q`, `g` or index strings as commands, you need to prefix them with `g`, e.g.,
g n
g g keywords
g 1
12. Input and output **redirection**:
$ googler -C hello world < input > output
Note that `-C` is required to avoid printing control characters (for colored output).
13. **Pipe** output:
$ googler -C hello world | tee output
14. Use a **custom color scheme**, e.g., a warm color scheme designed for Solarized Dark ([screenshot](https://i.imgur.com/6L8VlfS.png)):
$ googler --colors bjdxxy google
$ GOOGLER_COLORS=bjdxxy googler google
15. Tunnel traffic through an **HTTPS proxy**, e.g., a local Privoxy instance listening on port 8118:
$ googler --proxy localhost:8118 google
By default the environment variable `https_proxy` is used, if defined.
16. More **help**:
$ googler -h
$ man googler
## FAQ
1. **How do I integrate `googler` with a text-based browser, e.g., `w3m`?**
Set the `BROWSER` environment variable, for instance,
$ export BROWSER=w3m
or for one-time use,
$ BROWSER=w3m googler query
Note that due to certain graphical browsers spewing messages to the console, `googler` suppresses browser output by default unless `BROWSER` is set to one of the known text-based browsers: currently `elinks`, `links`, `lynx` or `w3m`. If you use a different text-based browser, you will need to explicitly enable browser output with the `--enable-browser-output` option. In that case, please submit an issue or pull request if you believe your browser is popular enough, and we will consider whitelisting it. See the man page for more details about `--enable-browser-output`.
## Troubleshooting
1. In some instances `googler` may show fewer number of results than you expect, e.g., if you fetch a single result (`-n 1`) it may not show any results. The reason is Google shows some Google service (e.g. Youtube) results, map locations etc. depending on your geographical data, which `googler` tries to omit. In some cases Google (the web-service) doesn't show exactly 10 results (default) on a search. We chose to omit these results as far as possible. While this can be fixed, it would need more processing (and more time). You can just navigate forward to fetch the next set of results.
2. By default `googler` applies some TCP optimizations and forces TLS 1.2 (on Python 3.4 and above). If you are facing connection issues, try disabling both using the `--notweak` switch.
## Notes
1. Initially I raised a pull request but I could see that the last change was made 7 years earlier. In addition, there is no GitHub activity from the original author [Henri Hakkinen](https://github.com/henux) in past year. I have created this independent repo for the project with the name `googler`. I retained the original copyright information.
2. Google provides a search API which returns the results in JSON format. However, as per my understanding from the [official docs](https://developers.google.com/custom-search/json-api/v1/overview), the API issues the queries against an existing instance of a custom search engine and is limited by 100 search queries per day for free. In addition, I have reservations in paying if they ever change their plan or restrict the API in other ways. So I refrained from coupling with Google plans & policies or exposing my trackable personal custom search API key and identifier for the public. I retained the browser-way of doing it by fetching html, which is a open and free specification.
3. You can find a rofi script for `googler` [here](http://hastebin.com/fonowacija.bash). Written by an anonymous user, untested and we don't maintain it.
## Developers
1. Copyright (C) 2008 Henri Hakkinen
2. Copyright (C) 2015-2016 [Arun Prakash Jana](mailto:engineerarun@gmail.com)
3. [Zhiming Wang](https://github.com/zmwangx)
Special thanks to [jeremija](https://github.com/jeremija), [shaggytwodope](https://github.com/shaggytwodope) and [Narrat](https://github.com/Narrat) for their contributions and efforts in spreading `googler`.