Open file from the command line on Windows

Question

On Mac OS X and GNOME on Linux, there are commands that can be used to open files from the command line in their associated GUI editors: open and gnome-open, respectively. Is there any command like this for Windows?

Answer 1

If you are currently in the command prompt and have a file called test.png and , which are located in c:\test you can do the following:

If you are at the directory (so should say c:\test>) just type:

test.png

which would open test in the default png picture editor.

You can alternatively type:

c:\test\test.png

which will open the file no matter where you currently are.

Finally, you can pass the picture to another program. For example, if you have an image editor called imageedit.exe and it supports opening files through command lines (and if the program is pathed/accessible or you are in it's current directory), you can type the following:

 imageedit c:\test\test.png

Answer 2

If it is a registered extension, you can use "start" as in

start WordDoc.doc