Set Chrome as Default Browser from Command Line

By  on  

Whenever I see a desktop GUI to accomplish a given web-related task, I'm dying to know the underlying operating system interaction to accomplish the same feat.  Many of the GUIs I use are just a front for a command line utility for that more experienced developers would use.

I set out to find the command line script for setting the system's default browser on OS X but apparently there isn't one, but I did find a command line script for setting Chrome as the default browser:

open -a "Google Chrome" --args --make-default-browser

The script above opens Google Chrome and asks for confirmation that you'd like to make it the default browser.  I'm not aware of what command line scripts would make other browsers the default browser, and I'm a bit annoyed that there isn't a single script to do so!

Recent Features

  • By
    Regular Expressions for the Rest of Us

    Sooner or later you'll run across a regular expression. With their cryptic syntax, confusing documentation and massive learning curve, most developers settle for copying and pasting them from StackOverflow and hoping they work. But what if you could decode regular expressions and harness their power? In...

  • By
    CSS Gradients

    With CSS border-radius, I showed you how CSS can bridge the gap between design and development by adding rounded corners to elements.  CSS gradients are another step in that direction.  Now that CSS gradients are supported in Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Record Text Selections Using MooTools or jQuery AJAX

    One technique I'm seeing more and more these days (CNNSI.com, for example) is AJAX recording of selected text. It makes sense -- if you detect users selecting the terms over and over again, you can probably assume your visitors are searching that term on Google...

  • By
    MooTools Documentation Search Favelet

    I'm going to share something with you that will blow your mind: I don't have the MooTools documentation memorized. I just don't. I visit the MooTools docs frequently to figure out the order of parameters of More classes and how best to use...

Discussion

  1. Too bad that still prompts you to accept the make default browser action/choice. That kind of detracts from the ability to fully automate system provisioning for instance. :(

  2. Danie

    Or simply go here:

    OS X Yosemite:
    1 – From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, then click General.
    2 – Click the “Default web browser” pop-up menu and choose a web browser, like Safari.

    OS X Mavericks or earlier:
    1 – Open Safari from the Applications folder, Dock, or Launchpad.
    2 – From the Safari menu, choose Preferences.
    3 – Click the General button.
    4 – Choose a web browser from the “Default web browser” pop-up menu, like Safari.

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!