Surfraw consists of a collection of elvi, each of which searches a specific web site.
To see the list of elvi type:
surfraw -elvi
```
Note that `sr` is an alias for surfraw, so that could equally be:
sr -elvi
To search using an elvis use:
sr elviname [options] search terms..
For example, to search google for information on Debian ports, using the "I'm feeling lucky" option:
sr google -l debian ports
Note that putting quotes round arguments works now, so you can do, for example:
sr google foo "bar baz" bam
and the quoting is passed on to the search engine.
### Adding the elvi to your path
If you are a regular user of surfraw, you will probably get sick of typing `sr` or `surfraw` repeatedly. You can runn the elvi directly by adding the elvi directory (usually `/usr/lib/surfraw/` or `/usr/local/lib/surfraw/`) to your path, either manually or using `surfraw-update-path`(1).
### Bookmarks
Surfraw now supports bookmarks. To add a bookmark, add it to `/etc/surfraw.bookmarks` or `$HOME/.surfraw.bookmarks`
The format of the bookmarks file is simple, each bookmark is on a separate line, with the bookmark and URL separated by whitespace, for example:
To invoke a bookmark, use `surfraw bookmark` or `sr bookmark`, and if an elvis of that name doesn't exist, it searches for a bookmark of that name instead.
There are some example bookmarks in `/etc/surfraw.bookmarks`
### Completion
Surfraw has support for bash completion, which is enabled by default. If bash completion is enabled in your distribution, you can use the `<TAB>` key to complete elvi names, options and arguments.
### Options
Global options are common to all Surfraw elvi (clients). You can get a list of the currently installed elvi by typing `surfraw -elvi`.
All elvi have useful low calorie help, for example:
sr bbcnews -help Usage: bbcnews [options] [search words]... Description: Surfraw search BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk) Local options: -scope=world | uk Search world or uk news Default: world Environment: SURFRAW_bbcnews_scope