OPEN(1)

NAME
open - open files and directories

SYNOPSIS
open [-a application] file ...

open [-e] file ...

DESCRIPTION
The open command opens a file (or a directory), just as if you had double-clicked the file's icon. If no application name is specified, the default application as determined via Finder is used to open the specified files.

You can specify one or more file names (or pathnames), which are interpreted relative to the shell or Terminal window's current working directory. For example, the following command would open all Word files in the current working directory:

open *.doc

The options are as follows:

-a application
    specifies the application to use for opening the file

-e  causes the file to be opened with /Applications/TextEdit

HISTORY
First appeared in NextStep.