How Do I Open a File In Terminal That Has Space In Its Name?

Comments: 3 Responses to “How Do I Open a File In Terminal That Has Space In Its Name?”

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

There are at least two ways two do it.
The first is to simply unescape space characters with a backslash. For example:
open funny\ thing.rtf
The second is to use quotes to encode the file name.
open "funny thing.rtf"
If it is a long file name or a long path, you can also drag and drop the file to the Terminal window to insert its filename. For instance, you would type the command (open) and then drag the file from Finder window or desktop to the Terminal and it would insert the file name or full path, like: /Users/username/Desktop/my\ file\ name.rtf
Another thing you can do is use file name autocomplete. So you type the command, and then space, and then the first few letters of the file name (funn) and then hit the Tab key. If that is the open file in the current directory start starts with those letters, then the rest of the file name is filled in.

Vegard Falmår

12 years ago

Thanks a lot

ckp

11 years ago

thanks for the drag and drop tip...worked great.