| XDG-OPEN(1) | xdg-open Manual | XDG-OPEN(1) |
.SH "NAME" xdg-open - opens a file or URL in the user's preferred
application
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.HP 216u
xdg-open
{
| file
| URL
}
.HP 216u
xdg-open
{
| --help
| --manual
| --version
}
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP 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.
.PP xdg-open is for use inside a desktop session only. It is not recommended
to use xdg-open as root.
.PP As xdg-open can not handle arguments that begin with a “-”
it is recommended to pass filepaths in one of the following ways:
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP --help
Show command synopsis.
.RE
.PP --manual
Show this manual page.
.RE
.PP --version
Show the xdg-utils version information.
.RE
.SH "EXIT CODES"
.PP An exit code of 0 indicates success while a non-zero exit code indicates
failure. The following failure codes can be returned:
.PP 1
Error in command line syntax.
.RE
.PP 2
One of the files passed on the command line did not exist.
.RE
.PP 3
A required tool could not be found.
.RE
.PP 4
The action failed.
.RE
.PP In case of success the process launched from the .desktop file will not
be forked off and therefore may result in xdg-open running for a very long
time. This behaviour intentionally differs from most desktop specific
openers to allow terminal based applications to run using the same terminal
xdg-open was called from.
.SH "REPORTING ISSUES"
.PP Please keep in mind xdg-open inherits most of the flaws of its
configuration and the underlying opener.
.PP In case the command xdg-mime query default "$(xdg-mime query
filetype path/to/troublesome_file)" names the program responsible for
any unexpected behaviour you can fix that by setting a different handler.
(If the program is broken let the developers know)
.PP Also see the security note on xdg-mime(1) for the default
subcommand.
.PP If a flaw is reproducible using the desktop specific opener (and isn't a
configuration issue): Please report to whoever is responsible for that first
(reporting to xdg-utils is better than not reporting at all, but since the
xdg-utils are maintained in very little spare time a fix will take much
longer)
.PP In case an issue specific to xdg-open please report it to
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-utils/-/issues .
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP xdg-mime(1), xdg-settings(1), MIME applications
associations specification[1]
.SH "EXAMPLES"
.PP
xdg-open 'http://www.freedesktop.org/'
Opens the freedesktop.org website in the user's default browser.
.PP
xdg-open /tmp/foobar.png
Opens the PNG image file /tmp/foobar.png in the user's default image viewing application.
AUTHORS
Kevin Krammer
Jeremy White
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2006
NOTES
- 1.
- MIME applications associations specification
| 04/02/2026 | xdg-utils 1.0 |