ddgr

ddgr is a cmdline utility to search DuckDuckGo (html version) from the terminal. While googler is extremely popular among cmdline users, in many forums the need of a similar utility for privacy-aware DuckDuckGo came up. DuckDuckGo Bangs are super-cool too! So here's ddgr for you!

Unlike the web interface, you can specify the number of search results you would like to see per page. It's more convenient than skimming through 30-odd search results per page. The default interface is carefully designed to use minimum space without sacrificing readability.

A big advantage of ddgr over googler is DuckDuckGo works over the Tor network.

ddgr isn't affiliated to DuckDuckGo in any way.

Table of contents

• Features
• Installation
  • Dependencies
  • From a package manager
  • From source
  • Running standalone
  • Shell completion
• Usage
  • Cmdline options
  • Configuration file
  • Text-based browser integration
  • Colors
• Examples
• Troubleshooting
• Notes
• Collaborators
• In the Press

Features

• Fast and clean; custom color
• Designed for maximum readability at minimum space
• Instant answers (supported by DDG html version)
• Custom number of results per page
• Navigation, browser integration
• Search and option completion scripts (Bash, Fish, Zsh)
• DuckDuckGo Bangs (along with completion)
• Open the first result in browser (I'm Feeling Ducky)
• REPL for continuous searches
• Keywords (e.g. filetype:mime, site:somesite.com)
• Limit search by time, specify region, disable safe search
• HTTPS proxy support, optionally disable User Agent
• Do Not Track set by default
• Supports custom url handler script or cmdline utility
• Privacy-aware (no unconfirmed user data collection)
• Thoroughly documented, man page with examples
• Minimal dependencies

Installation

Dependencies

ddgr requires Python 3.8 or later. Only the latest patch release of each minor version is supported.

To copy url to clipboard at the omniprompt, ddgr looks for wl-copy (only under Wayland) or xsel or xclip or termux-clipboard-set (in the same order) on Linux, pbcopy (default installed) on OS X, clip (default installed) on Windows and clipboard (default installed) on Haiku. It also supports GNU Screen and tmux copy-paste buffers in the absence of X11.

Note: v1.1 and below require the Python3 requests library to make HTTPS requests. This dependency is removed in the later releases.

From a package manager

Install ddgr from your package manager. If the version available is dated try an alternative installation method.

Packaging status (expand)

Unlisted packagers:

● Awesome (awesome -install jarun/ddgr)
● PyPI (pip3 install ddgr)
● Snap Store (snap install ddgr)
● Source Mage (cast ddgr)
● Termux (pip3 install ddgr)

From source

If you have git installed, clone this repository. Otherwise download the latest stable release or development version.

To install to the default location (/usr/local):

$ sudo make install

To remove ddgr and associated docs, run

$ sudo make uninstall

PREFIX is supported, in case you want to install to a different location.

Running standalone

ddgr is a standalone executable (and can run even on environments like Termux). From the containing directory:

$ ./ddgr

Shell completion

Search keyword and option completion scripts for Bash, Fish and Zsh can be found in respective subdirectories of auto-completion/. Please refer to your shell's manual for installation instructions.

Usage

Cmdline options

usage: ddgr [-h] [-n N] [-r REG] [--colorize [{auto,always,never}]] [-C]
            [--colors COLORS] [-j] [-t SPAN] [-w SITE] [-x] [-p URI]
            [--unsafe] [--noua] [--json] [--gb] [--np] [--url-handler UTIL]
            [--show-browser-logs] [-v] [-d]
            [KEYWORD [KEYWORD ...]]

DuckDuckGo from the terminal.

positional arguments:
  KEYWORD               search keywords

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -n N, --num N         show N (0<=N<=25) results per page (default 10); N=0
                        shows actual number of results fetched per page
  -r REG, --reg REG     region-specific search e.g. 'us-en' for US (default);
                        visit https://duckduckgo.com/params
  --colorize [{auto,always,never}]
                        whether to colorize output; defaults to 'auto', which
                        enables color when stdout is a tty device; using
                        --colorize without an argument is equivalent to
                        --colorize=always
  -C, --nocolor         equivalent to --colorize=never
  --colors COLORS       set output colors (see man page for details)
  -j, --ducky           open the first result in a web browser; implies --np
  -t SPAN, --time SPAN  time limit search [d (1 day), w (1 wk), m (1 month), y (1 year)]
  -w SITE, --site SITE  search sites using DuckDuckGo
  -x, --expand          Show complete url in search results
  -p URI, --proxy URI   tunnel traffic through an HTTPS proxy; URI format:
                        [http[s]://][user:pwd@]host[:port]
  --unsafe              disable safe search
  --noua                disable user agent
  --json                output in JSON format; implies --np
  --gb, --gui-browser   open a bang directly in gui browser
  --np, --noprompt      perform search and exit, do not prompt
  --rev, --reverse      list entries in reversed order
  --url-handler UTIL    custom script or cli utility to open results
  --show-browser-logs   do not suppress browser output (stdout and stderr)
  -v, --version         show program's version number and exit
  -d, --debug           enable debugging

omniprompt keys:
  n, p, f               fetch the next, prev or first set of search results
  index                 open the result corresponding to index in browser
  o [index|range|a ...] open space-separated result indices, ranges or all
  O [index|range|a ...] like key 'o', but try to open in a GUI browser
  d keywords            new DDG search for 'keywords' with original options
                        should be used to search omniprompt keys and indices
  x                     toggle url expansion
  c index               copy url to clipboard
  q, ^D, double Enter   exit ddgr
  ?                     show omniprompt help
  *                     other inputs are considered as new search keywords

Configuration file

ddgr doesn't have any! Use aliases, environment variables and auto-completion scripts.

Text-based browser integration

ddgr works out of the box with several text-based browsers if the BROWSER environment variable is set. For instance,

$ export BROWSER=w3m

or for one-time use,

$ BROWSER=w3m ddgr query

Due to certain graphical browsers spewing messages to the console, ddgr suppresses browser output by default unless BROWSER is set to one of the known text-based browsers: currently elinks, links, lynx, w3m or www-browser. If you use a different text-based browser, you will need to explicitly enable browser output with the --show-browser-logs option. If you believe your browser is popular enough, please submit an issue or pull request and we will consider whitelisting it. See the man page for more details on --show-browser-logs.

If you need to use a GUI browser with BROWSER set, use the omniprompt key O. ddgr will try to ignore text-based browsers and invoke a GUI browser. Browser logs are always suppressed with O.

Colors

The color configuration is similar to that of googler colors. The default color string is oCdgxy. ddgr recognizes the environment variable DDGR_COLORS. Details are available in the ddgr man page.

Examples

1. DuckDuckGo hello world:

   $ ddgr hello world
   

2. I'm Feeling Ducky search:

   $ ddgr -j lucky ducks
   

3. DuckDuckGo Bang search hello world in Wikipedia:

   $ ddgr !w hello world
   $ ddgr \!w hello world // in (some) shells (e.g. bash, zsh, tcsh) '!' character need to be escaped
   

   Bangs work at the omniprompt too. To look up bangs, visit https://duckduckgo.com/bang?#bangs-list.

4. Bang alias to fire from the cmdline, open results in a GUI browser and exit:

   alias bang='ddgr --gb --np'
   $ bang !w hello world
   $ bang \!w hello world // in (some) shells (e.g. bash, zsh, tcsh) '!' character need to be escaped
   

5. Website specific search:

   $ ddgr -w amazon.com digital camera
   

   Site specific search continues at omniprompt.

6. Search for a specific file type:

   $ ddgr instrumental filetype:mp3
   

7. Fetch results on IPL cricket from India in English:

   $ ddgr -r in-en IPL cricket
   

   To find your region parameter token visit https://duckduckgo.com/params.

8. Search quoted text:

   $ ddgr it\'s a \"beautiful world\" in spring
   

9. Show complete urls in search results (instead of only domain name):

   $ ddgr -x ddgr
   

10. Use a custom color scheme, e.g., one warm color scheme designed for Solarized Dark:

    $ ddgr --colors bjdxxy hello world
    $ DDGR_COLORS=bjdxxy ddgr hello world
    

11. Tunnel traffic through an HTTPS proxy, e.g., a local Privoxy instance listening on port 8118:

    $ ddgr --proxy localhost:8118 hello world
    

    By default the environment variable https_proxy (or HTTPS_PROXY) is used, if defined.

12. Look up n, p, o, O, q, d keywords or a result index at the omniprompt: as the omniprompt recognizes these keys or index strings as commands, you need to prefix them with d, e.g.,

    d n
    d g keywords
    d 1
    

Troubleshooting

1. Some users have reported problems with a colored omniprompt (refer to issue #40) with iTerm2 on OS X. To force a plain omniprompt:

   export DISABLE_PROMPT_COLOR=1
   

Notes

1. The Albert Launcher python plugins repo (awesome-albert-plugins) includes suggestions-enabled search plugins for a variety of websites using ddgr. Refer to the latter for demos and usage instructions.

Collaborators

• Arun Prakash Jana
• Johnathan Jenkins
• SZ Lin
• Alex Gontar

Copyright © 2016-2025 Arun Prakash Jana

In the Press

• Fossbytes
• Hacker News
• Information Security Squad
• LinOxide
• OMG! Ubuntu!
• Tecmint