open(1) BSD General Commands Manual open(1)
NAME
open - open files and directories
SYNOPSIS
open [-a application] file ...
open [-e] file ...
DESCRIPTION
The open command opens a file (or a directory or URL), just as if you had
double-clicked the file's icon. If no application name is specified, the
default application as determined via LaunchServices is used to open the
specified files.
If the file is in the form of a URL, the file will be opened as a URL.
You can specify one or more file names (or pathnames), which are inter-
preted relative to the shell or Terminal window's current working direc-
tory. For example, the following command would open all Word files in the
current working directory:
open *.doc
The options are as follows:
-a application
specifies the application to use for opening the file
-e causes the file to be opened with /Applications/TextEdit
EXAMPLES
'open /Volumes/Macintosh HD/foo.txt' opens the document in the default
application for its type (as determined by LaunchServices).
'open /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Applications/' opens that directory in the
Finder.
'open -a /Applications/TextEdit.app /Volumes/Macintosh HD/foo.txt' opens
the document in the application specified (in this case, TextEdit).
'open -e /Volumes/Macintosh HD/foo.txt' opens the document in TextEdit.
'open http://www.apple.com/' opens the URL in the right browser.
'open file://localhost/Volumes/Macintosh HD/foo.txt' opens the document
in the default application for its type (as determined by LaunchSer-
vices).
'open file://localhost/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Applications/' opens that
directory in the Finder.
HISTORY
First appeared in NextStep.
Mac OS April 26, 2002 Mac OS
Mac OS X 10.3 - Generated Wed Feb 6 19:25:32 CST 2008