HTTPX Troubleshooting Issue

Hello everyone, In this article, I’m addressing a frequently encountered error: “No such option: -l in httpx”. Many of us have stumbled upon this issue and, like you, I’ve searched for solutions. The error typically occurs when attempting to use the “-l” string, which is commonly employed when you have a list of hosts that you want httpx to process. Let’s dive into why this error occurs and how we can resolve it.

Before revealing the straightforward solution (which is surprisingly simple), let’s take a moment to briefly discuss what httpx is and the advantages it offers. For those eager to jump straight to the solution, feel free to scroll down to the section titled “Resolving the Issue”. A quick note: my explanations are based on the Kali Linux installation of httpx, rather than the GitHub version.

"httpx" is a fast and multi-purpose HTTP toolkit that allows running multiple probes using the retryablehttp library. It is designed to maintain result reliability with an increased number of threads.”

You can download HTTPX from here:

Httpx

From kali: https://www.kali.org/tools/httpx-toolkit/

From GitHub: https://github.com/projectdiscovery/httpx

I find httpx incredibly useful for discovering active subdomains during bug hunting sessions. My process involves using tools like Subfinder and Sublist3r to extract subdomains from a website. The subdomains that are found I save into a file, which I subsequently scan using httpx to identify active ones. For instance, I execute a command in the terminal for Subfinder as follows:

subfinder -d example.com -o nameoffile.txt (-d is the domain of the website you're searching, and -o is the file you want subfinder to store your results in.)

Next, I will open httpx and then use my subfinder .txt file I saved, and have httpx look through it.

You can download subfinder and sublist3r here:

Subfinder

From kali linux: https://www.kali.org/tools/subfinder/

From GitHub: https://github.com/projectdiscovery/subfinder

Sublist3r

From kali linux: https://www.kali.org/tools/subfinder/

From GitHub: https://github.com/projectdiscovery/subfinder

I encountered the error while using httpx to scan my .txt file containing the list of subdomains. Each time I attempted to execute the command, I was met with the response: “Usage: httpx [OPTIONS] URL Error: No such option: -l”. This indicated that httpx was not recognizing the ‘-l’ command as valid for processing the list.

While there may be several methods to resolve this issue, I’ll share the approach that proved successful for me. It’s important to note that I’m referencing the Kali Linux installed version of httpx, not the GitHub version. Initially, I attempted to consult the manual for httpx, but each time I entered “httpx -help”, I encountered a different error. However, upon reviewing the documentation on kali.org, I discovered the correct command: “httpx-toolkit -h”.

This insight led me to the simple yet effective solution: using the command “httpx-toolkit -l”. This minor adjustment not only enabled me to process my .txt file successfully but also allowed httpx to recognize and execute the list command properly.

I hope this article helped and resolved your issue. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns please don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message.

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