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