open-url

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.