24
votes

My application prints a PDF to a temporary file. How can I open that file with the default application in Python?

I need a solution for

  • Windows
  • Linux (Ubuntu with Xfce if there's nothing more general.)

Related

6
"The standard application"? PDF Document Viewer? Ghostscript? gs? Adobe Reader? Do you want the OS to do the file-type to application mapping? What are you asking for? - S.Lott
@S.Lott I think 'the standard application' is clearly a synonym for the default application, so let the OS decide which app to run. - danio
@danio: It may be "clearly a synonym" to some. The question, however, doesn't define "standard application" in any useful way. I'd rather not assume, since other people will refer to this question in the future. - S.Lott

6 Answers

34
votes

os.startfile is only available for windows for now, but xdg-open will be available on any unix client running X.

if sys.platform == 'linux2':
    subprocess.call(["xdg-open", file])
else:
    os.startfile(file)
10
votes

on windows it works with os.system('start <myFile>'). On Mac (I know you didn't ask...) it's os.system('open <myFile>')

7
votes

Open file using an application that your browser thinks is an appropriate one:

import webbrowser
webbrowser.open_new_tab(filename)
4
votes
if linux:
    os.system('xdg-open "$file"') #works for urls too
else:
    os.system('start "$file"') #a total guess
4
votes

A small correction is necessary for NicDumZ's solution to work exactly as given. The problem is with the use of 'is' operator. A working solution is:

if sys.platform == 'linux2':
    subprocess.call(["xdg-open", file])
else:
    os.startfile(file)

A good discussion of this topic is at Is there a difference between `==` and `is` in Python?.

0
votes

Ask your favorite Application Framework for how to do this in Linux.

This will work on Windos and Linux as long as you use GTK:

import gtk
gtk.show_uri(gtk.gdk.screen_get_default(), URI, 0)

where URI is the local URL to the file