By name: open-url description: Open URLs, files, and directories on Linux using default applications. Use for launching browsers, opening documents, or viewing files.
Open URLs and Files
Uses xdg-open which respects default application settings from the desktop environment.
Open a URL in default browser
xdg-open https://example.com
Open a file with default app
xdg-open document.pdf
xdg-open image.png
xdg-open spreadsheet.csv
Open a directory in file manager
xdg-open /path/to/directory
xdg-open .
Check/set default applications
# Query default browser
xdg-settings get default-web-browser
# Set default browser
xdg-settings set default-web-browser firefox.desktop
# Query default for a MIME type
xdg-mime query default application/pdf
Open with a specific app
# xdg-open always uses defaults; to pick a specific app:
firefox https://example.com
google-chrome https://example.com
code /path/to/project
xdg-open returns immediately (runs in background). On headless systems without a desktop environment, it will fail. Use sensible-browser as a fallback for URLs on Debian-based systems.