Open windows executable, file, or folder from cygwin terminal

explorer $( cygpath "/path/to/file_or_exe" -w )
This executes faster than cygstart.exe I put this in a script and added it to my path: cat `which explore.sh` #!/bin/bash if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then explorer.exe $( cygpath `pwd` -w ) & else explorer.exe $( cygpath $1 -w ) & fi; Using the script you just type explore.sh file_or_executable Note: you can do this for any file that has an associated executable in the windows registry. This is quite handy if you want to open pictures or movies from xterm.
Sample Output 
$ explorer $( cygpath "/path/to/executable" -w ) # Run the windows executable
$ explorer $( cygpath "movie file.avi" -w ) # Plays movie file with default player
$ explorer $( cygpath "/path/to/a folder" -w ) # Opens a folder in windows explorer

-2
By: Highwayman
2009-07-22 17:00:21
cygstart explorer.exe cygpath open
3
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What Others Think

explorer.exe often chooses the wrong app when opening files, whereas cygstart is usually more accurate. I also have never noticed cygstart to be especially slow. Since I'm used to working on a Mac, I use a function to map open to cygstart: open () { echo 'Using Windoze cygstart.exe instead.'; cygstart "$*" ; }
Ben · 588 weeks and 1 day ago
If it opens the wrong app, then it is because you have the wrong app in your windows registry. You should update your registry with the correct app. You can quickly update it using the "Open with..." option from windows explorer. I can safely confirm that cygstart is slow on Windows Vista. It takes much longer than using explorer.exe! Its the same speed as double clicking a file from windows explorer.
Highwayman · 588 weeks and 1 day ago
Cygstart uses the same mechanism as Explorer... and shouldn't be any slower.
romulusnr · 577 weeks ago

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