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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Nifty terminal command: xdg-open (lemm.ee)

submitted 10 months ago by perishthethought@lemm.ee to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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Just sharing something neat I learned today about Linux...

In Windows, I used to do this a lot:
-- Be at a command prompt, in some directory, e.g.: C:\my files\more files
-- When I need to see that same folder in the Windows GUI, I'd type: start . (note the period, meaning "this directory")
-- The Windows file manager would open in a new window, focused on that same folder as the path.

I realized today I didn't know how to do that in Linux (I'm on Ubuntu) so I searched around and found the xdg-open command.

The man page for xdg-open says:

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.

At any terminal prompt, I type something like:

xdg-open .

or xdg-open ~/Documents

And boom! A new KDE Dolphin files window appears, focused on that path.

or this works too, but with a browser:

xdg-open http://eff.org

Rock and/or roll!

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[–] marty_relaxes@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

xdg-open is very nifty, especially due to its ubiquitousness on a variety of distributions. You can even have a look inside to see that it is actually a shell script yet again invoking other 'opening' scripts in the background!

I wrote a little bit about it and an alternative to it called mimeo not too long ago. That one can even open things by advanced filters such as regexes. So you could e.g. open https://eff.org in Firefox and http://localhost:3000 in a different application or other advanced shenanigans - though I've never used such advanced features much.

[–] perishthethought@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago

Ooooh, really? I need to do that next

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