x-default-browser



This cross-platform module finds out the default browser for current user.

Tested on Windows 10 64-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit (en-US locale), Mac OS X.

It requires nodejs and npm. If you don't have node, grab it at nodejs.org.
Node installer bundles npm (node package manager)

How it works

* Windows:
* checks registry value HKCU\Software\Clients\StartMenuInternet
* Linuxes:
* reads the output of xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/http
* OS X:
* delegated to default-browser-id from Sindre Sorhus

Usage as a nodejs module

``sh
$ npm install x-default-browser
`

`js
var defaultBrowser = require('x-default-browser');

defaultBrowser(function (err, res) {

// in case of error, err will be a string with error message; otherwise it's null.

console.dir(res);
// => {
// isIE: false,
// isFirefox: true,
// isChrome: false,
// isChromium: false,
// isOpera: false,
// isWebkit: false,
// identity: 'firefox.exe',
// commonName: 'firefox'
// }
});
`

* commonName is portable, it will be ie, safari, firefox, chrome, chromium, opera or unknown
* isBlink is true for Chrome, Chromium, Opera
* isWebkit is true for Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Safari
* identity key is platform-specific.
* On Windows, it's the prefix you can use for querying HKLM\Software\Clients\StartMenuInternet\
keys to find out details of the browser. It'll be one of iexplore.exe, firefox.exe, google chrome,
chromium., operastable.
* On Ubuntu, it will be firefox.desktop, google-chrome.desktop, chromium-browser.desktop or opera.desktop
* On Mac OS X, it will be the bundle ID: com.apple.Safari, com.google.chrome, com.operasoftware.Opera, org.mozilla.firefox etc

Usage from command line

`sh
$ npm install -g x-default-browser
$ x-default-browser
firefox
`

Command line version outputs the commonName key, i.e. ie, safari, firefox, chrome, chromium, opera or unknown`.

Linux support

This module was only tested on Ubuntu. Compatibility reports and fixes for other distros are more than welcome!
Use GitHub issues or email: (jakub.g.opensource) (gmail)

License

MIT © Jakub Gieryluk

Related projects

* default-browser-id (OS X)
* win-detect-browsers (Windows)
* browser-launcher2 (cross-platform)
* opener (cross-platform)
* node-open (cross-platform)