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In Nautilus, when you double click a file, it will open it with the default application associated with the file's extension. For instance, .html files will open in a web browser and .pdf will be opened with Document Viewer. Is there a way to reproduce the same behavior from within the command line (i.e. open path/filename)? I'm asking because I like to browse my file-system from the command line but sometimes don't remember which app. opens what.

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2
  • There is a similar question regarding launching default browser from the command line: askubuntu.com/questions/8252/…
    – kounryusui
    Nov 29, 2010 at 13:42
  • 1
    That's a brilliant question indeed! In almost 4 years of my bashing I hadn't thought about it :P
    – John Strood
    Jun 7, 2016 at 9:40

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
317

I think xdg-open is the command you are looking for.

NAME
       xdg-open - opens a file or URL in the user's preferred application

SYNOPSIS
       xdg-open {file | URL}

       xdg-open {--help | --manual | --version}

DESCRIPTION
       xdg-open opens a file or URL in the user's preferred application. If a
       URL is provided the URL will be opened in the user's preferred web
       browser. If a file is provided the file will be opened in the preferred
       application for files of that type. xdg-open supports file, ftp, http
       and https URLs.

eg: xdg-open index.php

This will open index.php in gedit(if you are using gnome).

If you want to open a url in browser

xdg-open http://google.com

this will open google.com in your default browser.

xdg-open is a wrapper script - it will use the desktop environment's tool (gio open, gvfs-open, kde-open, gnome-open, dde-open, exo-open, and a host of other such tools). It is also installed by default, and very likely to work on past, current and future versions (on the other hand, gvfs-open and gnome-open have been deprecated, and may be unavailable in future releases).

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  • 2
    On Gnome: gnome-open and on KDE: kde-open works.
    – Farahmand
    Feb 21, 2014 at 16:01
  • xde-open worked on xfce as well.
    – Seven
    Dec 13, 2016 at 4:30
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    easy way to shorten this command is to use an alias. alias o='xdg-open'. Put this inside your .bash_aliases file to make the alias load on startup each time. nano ~/.bash_aliases and then paste inside nano using CTRL+SHIFT+V.
    – fIwJlxSzApHEZIl
    Sep 21, 2017 at 15:44
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    The command browse seems to do the same (seen on Ubuntu 19.04).
    – Cedric Reichenbach
    Nov 12, 2019 at 16:29
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    For other novices like me, xdg stands for X (cross) Dekstop Group
    – Jeremiah England
    Nov 20, 2020 at 13:54
52

xdg-open and gnome-open

xdg-open is the most universal way (work also on KDE)

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  • for ubuntu 10.04 it seems not to be granted that gnome-open is installed (Command 'gnome-open' not found, but can be installed with: sudo apt install libgnome2-bin). xdg-open was installed (at least on my machine :) )
    – grenix
    Sep 28, 2022 at 9:57
20

If you want to:

  • make an alias for this command (e.g. open)
  • hide output from the command
  • continue using this terminal after

You can use this .bashrc function:

function open () {
  xdg-open "$@">/dev/null 2>&1
}
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  • 3
    Alternative is a simpler version that does not hide output or move to background: alias o='xdg-open.
    – berkes
    Mar 26, 2021 at 8:00
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    I would at least call the function "myopen" or something because it may conflict with /bin/open. Btw this is a potential trap for any alias (even "myopen" might already exist).
    – grenix
    Sep 28, 2022 at 10:01

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