How to run xcode from terminal?

My question is very simple: suppose there is an xcode project a.xcodeproj, could I open it with the command: xcode a.xcodeproj?

If I try this, I receive the following error message:

-bash: xcode: command not found

Xcode should be the default application for .xcodeproj files, so this should work:

$ open a.xcodeproj

If that opens a different application, you can force it to use xcode:

$ open -a Xcode a.xcodeproj

If you want the command xcode to work, you can just alias it:

$ alias xcode="open -a Xcode"

then you can just xcode a.xcodeproj (and add this to ~/.bash_profile)

You could also simply run xed . in the project's root directory, apparently it will try to load a project in a hierarchical manner, i.e. the first that exists:

1. the folder, if it's a Package (Xcode 11+)
2. xcworkspace
3. xcodeproj
4. playground

which means you don't need to verify yourself the existing file structure in order to choose the best one to open.

Following command should do it:

open a.xcodeproj

Can't remember where I came across this script, but I use this ruby script for finding either a *.xcodeproj or *.xcworkspace file in the working directory and opening that file (without Xcode opening any previous projects)

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

# Open xcode without any previous projects being opened as well.
# We first look for a workspace, then a project in the current directory, opening the first that is found.

f = []
f.concat Dir["*.xcworkspace"]
f.concat Dir["*.xcodeproj"]

if f.length > 0
  puts "opening #{f.first}"
  `open -a /Applications/Xcode.app #{f.first} --args -ApplePersistenceIgnoreState YES`
  exit 0
end

puts "No Xcode projects found"
exit 1

incase, if you want to open a Xcode project from a workspace use the following command line.

user$ open -a xcode ProjectName.xcworkspace/

open terminal, then go to the path where Xcode is installed. Then, go to its "Contents/MacOS". And when you reach this folder, then type - sudo ./Xcode

Or else follow the following code: (you can use "sudo" if the user has privilege issue)

cd /  
cd Applications
cd Xcode.app
cd Contents/MacOS
sudo ./Xcode

I just type open *xcw*. This command looks up a workspace in the current directory and then opens is with Xcode.

I have a few functions in my .zshrc that accomplish what you're looking for:

cap () { tee /tmp/capture.out; }

ret () { cat /tmp/capture.out; }

x () {
    # Substitute .xcworkspace with .xcodeproj for your case.
    find . -type d -name "*.xcworkspace" -d 1 | cap
    xed "$(ret)"
}

Then, from the same directory as your *.xcodeproj, simply execute x, e.g.:

$ x