Open pdf file using xdg-open

xdg-open file2open.pdf

xdg-open is a desktop-independent tool for configuring the default applications of a user. Many applications invoke the xdg-open command internally. Inside a desktop environment (like GNOME, KDE, or Xfce), xdg-open simply passes the arguments to those desktop environment’s file-opener application (eg. gvfs-open, kde-open, or exo-open). which means that the associations are left up to the desktop environment

Open pdf file from terminal gnome

  • until ubuntu 16.04

    gvfs-open file2open.pdf

  • Ubuntu 17.10 and higher

    gio open file2open.pdf

    gvfs-open opens files with the default application that is registered to handle files of this type

    gio stands for gnome input/output , with open option it does the same as gvfs-open

Open pdf file from terminal application-specific

  • For GNOME , you can use Evince which is the default document viewer

    evince file2open.pdf

  • For KDE , you can use Okular

    okular file2open.pdf

  • Use firefox to open pdf file

    firefox file2open.pdf

  • Open pdf file using Libreoffice

    loffice file2open.pdf

View pdf file from terminal without GUI/X11

If no gui/x11 at all , you can use command less to view text of a pdf .

less file.pdf