Setting default application for text files in bash

Question

I want to tweak my linux environment so that when I type a text file name on the command line and hit enter the file should be opened in Vim.

$: /tmp/file.txt

should open the file in Vim. This is similar to what happens on windows (where a text file is opened in notepad.)

Answer 1

There is a way to do this in zsh, using alias -s, but I haven't heard of bash being able to do this. I use this in bash for .txt, .pdf, e.g. Note that this works when a file has the right extension. Extensions are not necessary in Linux.

Answer 2

Since Linux recognizes files by their content and not by their name there is no reliable way of doing this. You can try binfmt_misc, but that will most likely not work properly.

Answer 3

If you're using Gnome, you can alias gnome-open to g or something and use that to open files with the the default handler used by Gnome. Would that work for you?

The way you're suggesting sounds quite annoying. What if /tmp/file.txt was executable? Would you want it to open or run when you typed it's name and hit enter?

Answer 4

In cygwin, I use: alias start=cygstart
In ubuntu, I use: alias start=xdg-open

So, I can use start /some/file/name to do the default action in a Windows cmd shell or in a bash shell.

Answer 5

I think you can't. The first part of the line is the command it self. At least if you just what something very short to open a file using vim you can set an alias: in your .bashrc if you use bash:

alias v="vim"

Answer 6

Ubiquité is correct that what you want is not supported in bash. However, you can use the netrw support in vim 7 to browse directories!

Try this:

alias v="vim ."
v

A directory listing will show up. Now you can do the following:

• Use j/k to go up & down
• Place cursor on a dir & press enter to explore it
• Place cursor on a file & press enter to edit it
• Use - to go up a dir
• Use D to delete a file or dir
• Use R to rename a file or dir
• Use s to change the sorting of items (name, time, size)
• Use d to create a dir
• Use i to cycle between listing formats (thin, long, wide, tree)
• Use Ctrl-l to refresh a directory listing

You can do a lot more with netrw too! It can be used for remote file browsing over ssh. For more info, check the help file with F1.