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Industrial
Asked: 2012-01-17 02:58:32 +0800 CST

How do I open a file from inside a bash script?

  • 772

Ok, so running gedit myfile.txt works well. But what about opening a file from inside a bash script, using the default desktop app linked to the filetype?

I've tried below, which works great when run manually in terminal, but when I put it in a bash file, nothing happens:

#!/bin/bash
xdg-open "myfile.txt"&

What should I do instead?

Please note that I need the file to stay open after the terminal is closed as well.

bash

6 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I think your script should work. But you might add something to it to get a little more information:

    #!/bin/bash
T=`xdg-mime query filetype $1`
echo "opening file "  $1  " of type " $T "with " `xdg-mime query default $T`
xdg-open $1
echo "finished script"

    when running this script (named my_open.sh) in a terminal like this:

    my_open.sh path/to/somefile.txt

    I get the following output:

    opening file  path/to/somefile.txt  of type  text/plain with  gedit.desktop
finished script

    which tells me that the path to the file is ok, the mimetype is recognized and the desktopfile which is used to open the file is ok as well. And gedit opens with the file in question.

    Now when run on another file:

    my_open.sh path/to/README

    I get the following output:

    opening file  path/to/README  of type  text/x-readme with
finished script

    Note the different mimetype and the missing desktop file. Nevertheless, xdg-open opens the default for all text files (gedit).

    So, you might want to add something like this to your script and see if you get unexpected output (which you can then add to your question...).

    • 16

  2. Make a bash script test.sh as:

    #!/bin/bash
gedit myfile.txt

    Then, make the script executable as:

    chmod +x test.sh

    Finally, run the script as:

    ./test.sh
    • 5

  3. Maybe gnome-open instead of xdg-open

    • 3

  4. You are going in the correct direction. If you want the gui app to stay open when you close the terminal window then you just need to add a nohup at the start of the line.

    #!/bin/bash
nohup xdg-open "myfile.txt"&

    If the gui app is not opening its probably because you do not have the DISPLAY environment variable set in the shell you are trying to launch it from. Try doing an echo $DISPLAY

    • 2

  5. The first part of your question

    with the command cat you can open a file inside the terminal, if that is what you want (it's stated in the first part of your question).

    to use it you can just type cat FILENAME.

    Other information

    If you need more commands: Here's a good list of Commands.

    GNOME default editor

    If you want to open the file in GNOME's default application gedit.

    to use it, just type gedit FILENAME

    • 0

  6. While I' not sure what's really to be accomplished here & based on some recent comments that a single script should open ANY file in default app or to extent the app supports this.

    If so then easiest way to do that would be by opening a terminal & going scriptname /path/to/filename or if there are any spaces in path then scriptname '/path/to/filename'

    cd; mkdir -p bin && gedit ~/bin/openit1

    Use this as a script, you can use any name you wish for script, I'll use openit1 as example. It's best when using scripts directly from ~/bin to add a number to name so no conflicts with any existing linux commands

    #!/bin/bash
xdg-open "$1"

    Close out gedit & in the terminal

    chmod u+x ~/bin/openit1

    Restart to add ~/bin to your $PATH

    To invoke open a terminal and go 

    openit1 /path/to/filename or openit1 'path/to/filename'

    IF as orig stated & using the orig. script for one particular file per script & invoking by d. left clicking on the script you just need to choose "Run" instead of "Run in Terminal"

    • 0