wsl-open (:open_file_folder: :arrow_right: :computer:)

![pipeline
status](https://gitlab.com/4U6U57/wsl-open/commits/master)
![npm
version](http://npmjs.com/package/wsl-open)

Utility for opening files within the [Windows Subsystem for Linux][wsl] command
line in Windows GUI applications.

Usage

Just run wsl-open with the file/directory/URL that you want to open.

``bash
wsl-open { FILE | DIRECTORY | URL }

`

- FILE paths can be relative or absolute
- DIRECTORY paths are the same, with a possible limitation*
- URLs must include the protocol (http://, https://, ftp://, etc) or
begin with www, which is consistent with how xdg-open handles URLs

> *If using a WSL build without the wslpath (prior to Build 1803 - released
> April 2018), only Windows directories can be opened

$3

`bash


Opens in your Windows default image viewer

wsl-open image.png

Relative and absolute paths work

wsl-open ../Downloads/resume.pdf
wsl-open /home/other/README.txt

Directories under Windows

wsl-open /mnt/c/Users/4u6u5/Music

Opens your Windows default browser

wsl-open http://google.com
`

$3

The real benefit of wsl-open is setting it as the default program in the
Windows Subsystem for a particular filetype. This allow you to use Linux's
standard xdg-open utility to open files, and wsl-open will handle the rest!
This keeps your scripts platform agnostic.

`bash


Set association for file type

wsl-open -a image.png

Now, you can open up any PNG with xdg-open, and wsl-open will handle it

xdg-open another_image.png

Unassociate wsl-open with a file type

wsl-open -d image.png

Associate wsl-open with links (set wsl-open as your shell's BROWSER)

wsl-open -w

Now URL's work as well!

xdg-open https://gitlab.com/4U6U57/wsl-open

And this allows other programs that depend on xdg-open to use it as well!

npm repo wsl-open # Same as the previous command
`

> Protip: I like to furthur generalize my scripts by setting alias
> open='xdg-open' on my Linux machines, which make them behave more like macOS

$3

For full details on how the script operates, feel free to check out the
[manpage][manpage] or [design specification][design]

Installation

$3

The easiest way to get it is to use the [Node Package Manager][npm] and install
it globally.

`bash


Get npm if you don't have it already

sudo apt-get install -yqq npm

Install

sudo npm install -g wsl-open
`

$3

wsl-open is actually just a single, self contained bash script, so the bare
minimum installation is simply downloading the script (either by cloning the
repo or via curl) and then adding it to your path. Here is an example:

`bash


Make a bin folder in your home directory

mkdir ~/bin

Add the bin folder to your PATH in your bashrc

echo '[[ -e ~/bin ]] && export PATH=$PATH:~/bin' >> ~/.bashrc

Download the script to a file named 'wsl-open'

curl -o ~/bin/wsl-open https://raw.githubusercontent.com/4U6U57/wsl-open/master/wsl-open.sh
``

[wsl]: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/commandline/wsl/about
[npm]: https://npmjs.com
[manpage]: MANUAL.md
[design]: DESIGN.md