open(1) BSD General Commands Manual open(1)
NAME
open -- open files and directories
SYNOPSIS
open [-e] [-t] [-f] [-W] [-R] [-n] [-g] [-h] [-b bundle_identifier]
[-a application] file ... [--args arg1 ...]
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
Opened applications inherit environment variables just as if you had
launched the application directly through its full path. This behavior
was also present in Tiger.
The options are as follows:
-a application
Specifies the application to use for opening the file
-b bundle_indentifier
Specifies the bundle identifier for the application to use when open-
ing the file
-e Causes the file to be opened with /Applications/TextEdit
-t Causes the file to be opened with the default text editor, as deter-
mined via LaunchServices
-f Reads input from standard input and opens the results in the default
text editor. End input by sending EOF character (type Control-D).
Also useful for piping output to open and having it open in the
default text editor.
-W Causes open to wait until the applications it opens (or that were
already open) have exited. Use with the -n flag to allow open to
function as an appropriate app for the $EDITOR environment variable.
-R Reveals the file(s) in the Finder instead of opening them.
-n Open a new instance of the application(s) even if one is already run-
ning.
-g Do not bring the application to the foreground.
-h Searches header locations for a header whose name matches the given
string and then opens it. Pass a full header name (such as NSView.h)
for increased performance.
--args
All remaining arguments are passed to the opened application in the
argv parameter to main(). These arguments are not opened or inter-
preted by the open tool.
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 -b com.apple.TextEdit '/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.
"ls | open -f" writes the output of the 'ls' command to a file in /tmp
and opens the file in the default text editor (as determined by Launch-
Services).
"open http://www.apple.com/" opens the URL in the default 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.
"open -h NSView" lists headers whose names contain NSView and allows you
to choose which ones to open.
"open -a Xcode -h NSString.h" quickly opens /System/Library/Frame-
works/Foundation.framework/Headers/NSString.h in Xcode.
HISTORY
First appeared in NextStep.
Mac OS X February 10, 2004 Mac OS X
Mac OS X 10.6 - Generated Thu Sep 17 20:08:14 CDT 2009