xdg-open - Man Page

• Open the current directory in the default file explorer: xdg-open .
• Open a URL in the default browser: xdg-open https://example.com
• Open an image in the default image viewer: xdg-open path/to/image
• Open a PDF in the default PDF viewer: xdg-open path/to/pdf
• Display help: xdg-open --help

tldr.sh

xdg-open {file | URL}

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

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.

xdg-open is for use inside a desktop session only. It is not recommended to use xdg-open as root.

As xdg-open can not handle arguments that begin with a “-” it is recommended to pass filepaths in one of the following ways:

• Pass absolute paths, i.e. by using realpath as a preprocessor.
• Prefix known relative filepaths with a “./”. For example using sed -E 's|^[^/]|./\0|'.
• Pass a file URL.

--help

Show command synopsis.

--manual

Show this manual page.

--version

Show the xdg-utils version information.

An exit code of 0 indicates success while a non-zero exit code indicates failure. The following failure codes can be returned:

1. Error in command line syntax.
2. One of the files passed on the command line did not exist.
3. A required tool could not be found.
4. The action failed.

xdg-mime(1), xdg-settings(1), MIME applications associations specification^[1]

xdg-open 'http://www.freedesktop.org/'

Opens the freedesktop.org website in the user's default browser.

xdg-open /tmp/foobar.png

Opens the PNG image file /tmp/foobar.png in the user's default image viewing application.

Kevin Krammer

Jeremy White

Copyright © 2006

1.

MIME applications associations specification
http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/mime-apps-spec/

fldigi(1), gapplication(1), hman(1), mpris-scrobbler-signon(1), xdg-email(1), xdg-settings(1).