How to open a file with the standard application?

Question

My application prints a PDF to a temporary file. How can I open that file with the default application in Python?

I need a solution for

Windows
Linux (Ubuntu with Xfce if there's nothing more general.)

"The standard application"? PDF Document Viewer? Ghostscript? gs? Adobe Reader? Do you want the OS to do the file-type to application mapping? What are you asking for? — S.Lott, Nov 05 '09 at 11:09
@S.Lott I think 'the standard application' is clearly a synonym for the default application, so let the OS decide which app to run. — danio, Nov 05 '09 at 11:51
@danio: It may be "clearly a synonym" to some. The question, however, doesn't define "standard application" in any useful way. I'd rather not assume, since other people will refer to this question in the future. — S.Lott, Nov 05 '09 at 15:10

score 36 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 14 '10 at 08:54

36

os.startfile is only available for windows for now, but xdg-open will be available on any unix client running X.

if sys.platform == 'linux2':
    subprocess.call(["xdg-open", file])
else:
    os.startfile(file)

edited Aug 14 '10 at 08:54

Georg Schölly

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answered Nov 05 '09 at 11:19

Nicolas Dumazet

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7

in 2012, better use `sys.platform.startswith('linux')` – MestreLion Nov 15 '12 at 00:20
False. `xdg-open` isn't available on OS X. Further, `os.startfile` isn't on OS X. – ArtOfWarfare May 04 '15 at 17:30
1

@ArtOfWarfare: does [`webbrowser` module](http://stackoverflow.com/a/1684160/4279) work on OS X? ([it should use `open` command](https://hg.python.org/cpython/file/3.4/Lib/webbrowser.py#l550) there) – jfs May 09 '15 at 09:12
@jfs yes i used it before switched to linux – TheTechRobo the Nerd Jun 27 '20 at 18:06

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 05 '09 at 11:18

10

on windows it works with os.system('start <myFile>'). On Mac (I know you didn't ask...) it's os.system('open <myFile>')

answered Nov 05 '09 at 11:18

Kai Huppmann

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On the Mac I actually did know how, but my application isn't going to run on Mac in the near future. ;) – Georg Schölly Nov 05 '09 at 12:45

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 05 '09 at 22:39

8

Open file using an application that your browser thinks is an appropriate one:

import webbrowser
webbrowser.open_new_tab(filename)

answered Nov 05 '09 at 22:39

jfs

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score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 05 '09 at 11:06

4

if linux:
    os.system('xdg-open "$file"') #works for urls too
else:
    os.system('start "$file"') #a total guess

answered Nov 05 '09 at 11:06

pixelbeat

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score 4 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

4

A small correction is necessary for NicDumZ's solution to work exactly as given. The problem is with the use of 'is' operator. A working solution is:

if sys.platform == 'linux2':
    subprocess.call(["xdg-open", file])
else:
    os.startfile(file)

A good discussion of this topic is at Is there a difference between `==` and `is` in Python?.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

Community

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answered Aug 14 '10 at 03:19

neoblitz

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Thanks. I've edited his answer to correct that minor mistake. – Georg Schölly Aug 14 '10 at 08:56

u0b34a0f6ae · Answer 6 · 2009-11-05T21:31:58.460

0

Ask your favorite Application Framework for how to do this in Linux.

This will work on Windos and Linux as long as you use GTK:

import gtk
gtk.show_uri(gtk.gdk.screen_get_default(), URI, 0)

where URI is the local URL to the file

edited Nov 05 '09 at 21:31

answered Nov 05 '09 at 14:48

u0b34a0f6ae

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I'm using `Tkinter`... I can't see any similar function in it. `GTK` is definitely not my favorite application framework (`Tkinter` probably isn't either, but it's what I'm using for this project.) – ArtOfWarfare May 04 '15 at 18:43

How to open a file with the standard application?

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