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Is it possible to configure OS X Terminal to detect text that looks like URLs, and make them clickable? Where "clickable" means, clicking will open a web browser on the local/client machine?

Example use case: Connect with SSH to my own remote host running non-GUI-desktop Linux. Read email in mutt (or whatever) that is running on the server. But when an email contains a URL, be able to open it locally, in a GUI browser.

In other words, use the terminal and SSH as the client for texty things on my own remote server -- but use a local web browser as the client for browsing the web on N servers. (I don't want to VNC to a remote GUI where a browser is running; I think that would be silly.)

This is one big flaw in my idea of ditching Gmail and keeping all email only on my own server (not even downloading to a local mail client): So much of my email consists of links to click.

If the answer entails using a terminal app other than the one provided with OS X, I'm open to trying that.

2 Answers 2

19

You can easily open any URL directly in the Terminal-app.

OSX-versions before Lion:

cmd+shift+double-click a URL and it will open.

OSX Lion/Moutain Lion:

cmd+double-click

1

On iTerm2, it is simply: cmd+click (convenient, as the cmd key will highlight and underline the link).

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