Home / ubuntu / Questions / 17062
Accepted
Oscar Godson
Asked: 2010-12-13 02:00:43 +0800 CST

How to open a directory/folder and a URL through Terminal

  • 772

I can navigate my files quite fast through terminal. Faster than double clicking... open... look, double click... etc.

How do I open a directory in the Ubuntu GUI? For example:

cd projects
{some cmd} client_project

Then voila, it opens in the Ubuntu GUI as if i navigated manually?

Also, how can I open a URL in my default browser via terminal. It'd be awesome to go: F12

open http://google.com

And Chrome opens it up.

command-line

7 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    To Open Directory:

    • To open a Folder from terminal type the following, 

      nautilus /path/to/that/folder

      or

      xdg-open /path/to/the/folder

      i.e

      nautilus /home/karthick/Music
xdg-open /home/karthick/Music

    • Simply typing nautilus will take you file browser,

      nautilus

    To Open URL:

    • You can type any one of the following in terminal, 

      xdg-open http://google.com       
google-chrome http://google.com                 
opera http://google.com
firefox http://google.com

    • If you want to open two URL's at the same time then leave some space after the first URL and type the second, 

      firefox www.google.com www.gmail.com

    Note:

    • Linux is case-sensitive, so type the file name correctly.
    • You can also add an alias to short the command,for example if you need openurl instead of x-www-browser you should edit the .bashrc file
      gedit ~/.bashrc

    • In the bottom of the file add the following lines

      alias openurl=x-www-browser

      alt text

    • Save and close the file.

    • Now you can open URLs by typing, 

      openurl http://google.com
    • 46

  2. Instead of typing all the quotes etc. one could use:

    nautilus .

    Works with directories containing spaces in their names.

    • 7

  3. You can just call the aplication. Both Nautilus and Chrome accept path (url) as parameter.

    nautilus /directory/subdirectory/subsubdirectory

    or

    cd /directory/subdirectory/subsubdirectory and then nautilus . (the dot is important -- it says to Nautilus to open the current directory)

    google-chrome www.google.com

    or

    x-www-browser www.google.com -- this command calls the browser set as default (so if your default browser is Chrome, it will open Chrome)

    • 2

  4. Nope, the above answers are OK, but this is what I think you are looking for:

    nautilus "$(pwd)"

xdg-open "$(pwd)"

    I was just experimenting today, and it worked. Isn't it fabulous?

    • 2

  5. Open Directory:

    • To open a Directory or Folder from terminal.

      nautilus /home/user/path_to_folder/ &

      Or

      xdg-open /home/user/path_to_folder/ &

      The ampersand & is used; so the process get start into the background and we can continue to use the shell or terminal without waiting for script to get finished.

      Note: For better result use absolute path.

    Open URL

    • Type any one of the following in terminal.

      opera http://www.google.com &
firefox http://www.google.com &
xdg-open http://www.google.com &

    To close directory, URL, etc.:

    • Onto the Folder/URL or any screen window, type Ctrl + w
    • 1

  6. To open a directory/ folder

    You can use, nautilus . and press enter to open the current directory.

    To open path specified location try the following.

    E.g. If you want to open Music folder under this location:

    /media/dulithdecozta/A08A64BB8A648F98/Music/

    Then execute the following.

    nautilus /media/dulithdecozta/A08A64BB8A648F98/Music/

    To open a URL via the terminal

    E.g. Lets open stackoverflow.com via terminal

    (Google Chrome)

    google-chrome http://stackoverflow.com

    (Firefox)

    firefox http://stackoverflow.com
    • 1

  7. The easy way is to paste the url file in the address box of Firefox, at least, haven't tried other browsers, and when you hit enter Firefox shows the real address of the url. Paste that in the address box. Works for me

    • 0