Determine Default App for File Type from Command Line

By  on  

One quality of life improvement any developer can make for themselves is ensuring different file types open in the app they're most proficient in. If you know me, you know I prefer accomplishing as much as possible from the command line. The duti utility allows users to determine default file type from command line.

The duti utility allows developers to query which app is the default for different file types. You can install duti with brew:

brew install duti

Once you have duti available, you can check on the default app for file type with the following command:

~ duti -x md
Xcode.app
/Applications/Xcode.app
com.apple.dt.Xcode

You can set the default app by using its package:

duti -s com.sublimetext.2 .js all

The duti utility is really great for determining and automating default app management!

Recent Features

  • By
    Being a Dev Dad

    I get asked loads of questions every day but I'm always surprised that they're rarely questions about code or even tech -- many of the questions I get are more about non-dev stuff like what my office is like, what software I use, and oftentimes...

  • By
    I’m an Impostor

    This is the hardest thing I've ever had to write, much less admit to myself.  I've written resignation letters from jobs I've loved, I've ended relationships, I've failed at a host of tasks, and let myself down in my life.  All of those feelings were very...

Incredible Demos

Discussion

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