48.1 Following URLs

M-x browse-url RET url RET

Load a URL into a Web browser.

The Browse-URL package allows you to easily follow URLs from within Emacs. Most URLs are followed by invoking a web browser; ‘mailto:’ URLs are followed by invoking the compose-mail Emacs command to send mail to the specified address (see Sending Mail).

The command M-x browse-url prompts for a URL, and follows it. If point is located near a plausible URL, that URL is offered as the default. The Browse-URL package also provides other commands which you might like to bind to keys, such as browse-url-at-point and browse-url-at-mouse.

You can customize Browse-URL’s behavior via various options in the browse-url Customize group. In particular, the option browse-url-mailto-function lets you define how to follow ‘mailto:’ URLs, while browse-url-browser-function lets you define how to follow other types of URLs. For more information, view the package commentary by typing C-h P browse-url RET.