Name
open
Synopsis
openfile
open [-aapplication
]file
open [-e]file
The open
command can be used to open files and
directories, and to launch applications from the Terminal
application.
Options
-
-a
application
Uses
application
to open the file.-
-e
file
Forces the use of Mac OS X’s TextEdit application to open the specified
file.
Examples
To open a directory in the Finder, use open,
followed by the name of the directory. For example, to open the
current directory, type:
open .
To open your /Public
directory:
open ~/Public
To open the /Applications
directory:
open /Applications
To open an application, you need only its name. For example, you can
open Project Builder (/Developer/Applications
)
with this command:
open -a "Project Builder"
Note
You are not required to enter the path for the application — only its name—even if it is a Classic application. The only time you are required to enter the path is if you have two different versions of applications with similar names on your system.
You can also supply a filename argument with the -a
option, which launches the application and open the specified file with that application. You can use this option to open a file with something other than the application with which it’s associated. For example, to open an XML file in Project Builder instead of the default text editor, TextEdit, you could use the following command:
open -a "Project Builder" data.xml
To open multiple files, you can use wildcards:
open *.c
To force a file to be opened with ...
Get Mac OS X in a Nutshell now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.