xdg-utils - ArchWiki

# xdg-utils

From ArchWiki

xdg-utils provides the official utilities for managing XDG MIME Applications.

- xdg-desktop-menu(1) - Install desktop menu items
- xdg-desktop-icon(1) - copies desktop entries to the user's desktop
- xdg-email(1) - Compose a new email in the user's preferred email client, potentially with subject and other info filled in
- xdg-icon-resource(1) - Install icon resources
- xdg-mime(1) - Query and install MIME types and associations
- xdg-open(1) - Open a file or URI in the user's preferred application
- xdg-screensaver(1) - Enable, disable, or suspend the screensaver
- xdg-settings(1) - Get or set the default web browser and URL handlers

## Installation

Install the xdg-utils package.

## Usage

### xdg-mime

See xdg-mime(1).

Determine a file's MIME type:

    $ xdg-mime query filetype photo.jpeg
    image/jpeg

Determine the default application for a MIME type:

    $ xdg-mime query default image/jpeg
    gimp.desktop

Change the default application for a MIME type:

    $ xdg-mime default feh.desktop image/jpeg

### xdg-open

xdg-open is a resource opener that implements XDG MIME Applications and is used by many programs, see xdg-open(1) for the usage.

xdg-open is desktop-environment-independent in the sense that it attempts to use each environment's native default application tool.

If no desktop environment is detected, MIME type detection falls back to using file which—ironically—does not implement the XDG standard. If you want xdg-open to use XDG MIME Applications without a desktop environment, you will need to install perl-file-mimeinfo or switch to one of the resource openers that support XDG MIME Applications.

### xdg-settings

See xdg-settings(1).

Shortcut to open all web MIME types with a single application:

    $ xdg-settings set default-web-browser firefox.desktop

Shortcut for setting the default application for a URL scheme:

    $ xdg-settings set default-url-scheme-handler irc xchat.desktop

Category:

- Freedesktop.org