Open file from the command line on Windows

If it is a registered extension, you can use "start" as in

start WordDoc.doc

If you are currently in the command prompt and have a file called test.png and , which are located in c:\test you can do the following:

If you are at the directory (so should say c:\test>) just type:

test.png

which would open test in the default png picture editor.

If the files name contains spaces, then simply enclose the file name within " "

 "this image.png"

You can alternatively type:

c:\test\test.png

which will open the file no matter where you currently are.

Finally, you can pass the picture to another program. For example, if you have an image editor called imageedit.exe and it supports opening files through command lines (and if the program is pathed/accessible or you are in it's current directory), you can type the following:

 imageedit c:\test\test.png

On Windows command-line explorer "<PATH>" will open the file path with Windows default associated programs. This will also handle all URIs ( http:,https:,ftp: ) and other file protocols defined in Windows Operating System. If the file or protocol is not associated with any program then an Open With dialog will show up. If file is not present then default My Documents folder will open up. It can also open executable files ( EXE, BAT files) and shell namespace paths.

Examples

explorer "http://www.google.com"- will open http://www.google.com in windows default browser.

explorer "file:///C:\temp\" will open temp directory if present

explorer "file.txt" will open file.txt on the current directory path .i.e. %CD% path

explorer ::{645ff040-5081-101b-9f08-00aa002f954e} will open RecycleBin.

You can refer about explorer's other useful command-line switches here

powershell -c "folder\childfolder\file.txt"

Source: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee176882.aspx

Simple and versatile.

The first parameter of Start is a window title, so if you have a space in the file name, and you type

Start "My File.txt"

you'll get a command line window with "My File.txt" as the title. To get around this use a dummy title,

Start "my title" "My File.txt"

Depending on the file and what application is opened there probably won't be a window to see anyway.