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
    Create a CSS Flipping Animation

    CSS animations are a lot of fun; the beauty of them is that through many simple properties, you can create anything from an elegant fade in to a WTF-Pixar-would-be-proud effect. One CSS effect somewhere in between is the CSS flip effect, whereby there's...

  • By
    Conquering Impostor Syndrome

    Two years ago I documented my struggles with Imposter Syndrome and the response was immense.  I received messages of support and commiseration from new web developers, veteran engineers, and even persons of all experience levels in other professions.  I've even caught myself reading the post...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Web Audio API

    The Web Audio API allows developers to load and decode audio on demand using JavaScript.  The more I evaluate awesome games for Firefox OS TVs, the more I get to learn about these APIs that I normally wouldn't touch.  The following is a very basic introduction to the WebAudio API...

  • By
    Styling CSS Print Page Breaks

    It's important to construct your websites in a fashion that lends well to print. I use a page-break CSS class on my websites to tell the browser to insert a page break at strategic points on the page. During the development of my...

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!