Manual: xdg-open

XDG-OPEN(1)					       xdg-open Manual						 XDG-OPEN(1)

NAME
       xdg-open - opens a file or URL in the user's preferred application

SYNOPSIS

       xdg-open {file | URL}

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

DESCRIPTION
       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.

OPTIONS
       --help
	   Show command synopsis.

       --manual
	   Show this manual page.

       --version
	   Show the xdg-utils version information.

EXIT CODES
       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.

       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.

REPORTING ISSUES
       Please keep in mind xdg-open inherits most of the flaws of its configuration and the underlying opener.

       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)

       Also see the security note on xdg-mime(1) for the default subcommand.

       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)

       In case an issue specific to xdg-open please report it to https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-utils/-/issues .

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

EXAMPLES
	   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.

AUTHORS
       Kevin Krammer
	   Author.

       Jeremy White
	   Author.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2006

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

xdg-utils 1.0						 12/06/2025						 XDG-OPEN(1)