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DuckDuckGo is a popular web search engine known for its strict privacy policies and functionality. Lately, he has gained popularity among privacy enthusiasts who have advocated his privacy-friendly research experience to others.
If you, too, use DuckDuckGo for all of your web searches and prefer to use the command line for most operations on your computer, ddgr is a useful utility that lets you use the terminal to make DuckDuckGo requests.
Below is a guide explaining ddgr and the steps to find DuckDuckGo from the Linux command line.
What is the ddgr?
ddgr is a command line tool that allows you to search for DuckDuckGo from the terminal. It returns the results in HTML format and you can browse them using your keyboard.
While the default ddgr interface uses minimal space without sacrificing readability, it does give you the ability to customize some of its aspects like string text, number of results displayed per page, etc. according to your preferences.
Some of the notable features of ddgr include:
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Fast and instant processing of results
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Easy navigation
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Support for DuckDuckGo! Bang
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Filtering search results by time, region, etc.
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Browser integration
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Support for HTTPS proxy
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Do not follow
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Minimum dependencies
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REPL support for continuous searches
How to install ddgr on Linux
It is quite easy to install and run ddgr on your Linux machine. And just like installing other programs on Linux, you can also install ddgr in various ways.
So depending on the distribution you are using, follow the instructions in the sections below to install ddgr.
Install ddgr on Debian / Ubuntu
Installing ddgr on Debian and its derivatives is easy, thanks to the APT package manager. To do this, open the terminal and run the following command:
sudo apt-get install ddgrWhen prompted, tap Yes and hit Enter to continue the installation.
Another way to install ddgr on Debian-based Linux distributions, in addition to the APT package manager, is to use a DEB package file. To do this, first download the ddgr DEB package to your computer from the link below.
To download: ddgr (DEB package)
Once done, open the terminal and use the cd command to change the directory to Downloads (or the directory where you just downloaded the package).
Then run the following command to install the package:
sudo dpkg -i ddgr_x.x.x-x_ubuntuXX.XX.amd64.deb
Installing ddgr using Snap
Snap offers one of the easiest ways to install a package on Linux. If you are using a Linux distribution – other than Debian or its derivatives – that does not have a package for ddgr in its repositories, you can install ddgr on your system using Snap.
To do this, first make sure that Snap is installed on your computer.
snap --versionIf that returns a version number, Snap is present on your machine and you can proceed to the next step. If not, you will need to install Snap first.
Since you have successfully installed Snap on your device, you can install ddgr by running:
sudo snap install ddgrHow to use ddgr to find DuckDuckGo
Searching DuckDuckGo using ddgr is as easy as performing a few simple steps. First, open the terminal as this is where ddgr works. Then enter your search query in the syntax below to search for it on DuckDuckGo:
ddgr your_search_queryFor example:
ddgr makeuseofThis is what the output looks like:
Configuring the number of returned results
Once you have made a query, the output will show a list of search results related to your search query.
By default, ddgr lists only 10 results at a time. However, you can choose to show more / less results at a time by explicitly mentioning the number of results you want to see as follows:
ddgr -n x your_search_query
…or X is the number of results you want to display.
Opening a link from the returned results
Each ddgr result in the list is numbered. This number is called the index of a result, and you can use it to open the corresponding link.
For example, if you want to open the link number 5 from the results in a browser, simply enter 5 in the omnipresent – the prompt you see in the terminal after making a request in ddgr – and press Enter.
Integrate ddgr with text-based browsers
By default, ddgr opens links in the default web browser on your Linux machine. However, it also supports many text-based browsers, such as w3m, lynx, elinks, and www-browser, which you can use to open search results.
To set a default browser, all you need to do is set the corresponding environment variable. To do this, run the following command in a terminal window:
export BROWSER=w3mAlternatively, if you want to use a browser for a particular query, you can do so using:
BROWSER=w3m ddgr your_search_query
Search for “I feel hot”
Much like Google’s “I Feel Lucky” search, DuckDuckGo also has its own version of the same, called “I Feel Lucky”. In case you didn’t know, this option bypasses all results on the SERP and directly opens the first link in the list.
With ddgr, you can search for “I’m Feeling Ducky” using the following syntax:
ddgr -j lucky your_search_querySearch DuckDuckGo! Bang
As mentioned earlier in the guide, ddgr also supports DuckDuckGo! Bang, which are shortcuts (or short commands) that allow you to search for your query directly on a website without having to visit it.
Suppose you want to learn more about DuckDuckGo on Wikipedia, you can do it easily by running the following command:
ddgr !w duckduckgoIf you are using the Bash shell, you will need to escape the ! character. If you do this, your command will look like this:
ddgr !w duckduckgoPerform a website specific search
Similar to using DuckDuckGo! Bangs in ddgr, you can also perform a website specific search using the -w label. For example, if you want to search for mechanical keyboards on Amazon, you can do it more efficiently by using the command below:
ddgr -w amazon.com mechanical keyboardFind a specific file type
Sometimes you might just want to find a certain type of file on the Internet. In such cases, ddgr can help you filter your results by adding the file type in your search query.
For example, let’s say you want to search the DuckDuckGo search engine for image (PNG) files. With ddgr, you can do this as shown in the command below:
ddgr duckduckgo filetype:pngGetting help with ddgr
At any time, if you don’t know how to use a ddgr command or want to learn more, you can get command line help using:
ddgr --help
Search DuckDuckGo More Effectively
With ddgr installed and running on your Linux machine, you can now search DuckDuckGo more efficiently without ever having to open DuckDuckGo in a browser.
ddgr supports a bunch of other operations and customization options than what we’ve covered in this guide. To check them, go to ddgr’s GitHub.
Also, if you want to get the most out of your browsing experience, DuckDuckGo’s! Bang feature can be of help.
Read more
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