Open Gnome Nautilus File Manager For The Current Linux / Unix Command Line

Nautilus is the file manager for the GNOME desktop. How do I open Nautilus from the Linux or Unix shell prompt?

You can use the gnome-open command to open files and URLs using the GNOME file handler. For example, if you were in the /home/vivek directory, typing the following command would open the file manager:

 
gnome-open .

Sample outputs:

Linux / Unix: gnome-open Open a Directory File Browser Command

Fig.01: gnome-open in action

The . (dot) is your current directory. If you type two dots ( .. ) it would open the parent directory:

 
gnome-open ..

To open a directory in Nautilus, enter:

 
## home dir ##
gnome-open ~
 
## /tmp ##
gnome-open /tmp

To open a web page or url:
gnome-open www.cyberciti.biz
To open an document file
gnome-open resume.odf
To open a pdf file:
gnome-open lsst.pdf
To Send an e-mail:
gnome-open mailto:foo@cyberciti.biz

A note about KDE and other *nix desktop users

You can use kde-open or xdg-open to open a file, directory or URL in the user's preferred application. The syntax is same:

 
kde-open .
xdg-open .
kde-open 'www.cyberciti.biz'
xdg-open 'www.cyberciti.biz

You can also use kfmclient under KDE desktop for opening URLs from the command line. To opens the current directory:

 
kfmclient exec .

To open the file:

 
kfmclient exec file:/home/vivek/test.html

To opens the file with firefox:

 
 kfmclient exec file:/var/www/html/docs.en.html Firefox

To open new window with URL:

 
kfmclient exec ftp://ftp.cyberciti.biz/
kfmclient exec http://www.cyberciti.biz/

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Open Gnome Nautilus File Manager For The Current Linux / Unix Command Line

A note about KDE and other *nix desktop users

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