Open Sublime Text from Terminal in macOS

In Terminal when I use .subl

It returns -bash: .subl: command not found

Anyone know how to open Sublime Text 3 from the command line in macOS?

I finally got this to work on my OSX box. I used these steps to get it to work:

1. Test subl from your ST installation:

   First, navigate to a small folder in Terminal that you want ST to open and enter the following command:

    /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl .
   

   NOTE: You may need to replace Sublime\ Text.app in the command above to Sublime\ Text\ 3.app or Sublime\ Text\ 2.app depending upon where the application is stored in your Applications directory. The . at the end of the above command opens the current working directory you are located in (again make sure you're in a directory that only contains a few files!).

   If you DO NOT get Sublime Text opening your current working directory then the next set of steps will NOT work. If nothing happens or you get an error from Terminal it will be because it couldn't find the Sublime Text application. This would mean that you would have to check what you've typed (spelling, etc.) OR that Sublime Text isn't installed!

2. Check ".bash_profile":

   Now it's time to create your symbolic link in your PATH folder, BUT, before we do, let's check your profile file by using nano ~/.bash_profile. These are the following lines that pertain to having subl work on the command line for Sublime Text:

    export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH
    export EDITOR='subl -w'
   

   The first line sets the location where you want Terminal to look for binaries on your machine, I'm going to store my symbolic link in the /usr/local/bin directory - I guess you could store it anywhere provided you've notified Terminal where to look for binaries.

   The second line is OPTIONAL and just sets Sublime Text as the default editor. The flag -w has been added and you can find out more about flags by going to the Sublime Text docs: ST4 subl, ST3 subl or ST2 subl

   If you do make any edits to this file once you have closed it, you need to run the command:

    source ~/.bash_profile 
   

   to compile your newly applied edits. If you see any errors after sourcing your file get them fixed before moving to the final step.

3. Create a symbolic link to Sublime Text:

   Now in your chosen path (I used /usr/local/bin) you now enter the following command:

    ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/local/bin/subl
   

   The /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl being EXACTLY the same location as what you entered and verified as working in STEP 1 above. The /usr/local/bin/subl being the location of where you want the symbolic link to be located - needs to be one of your PATH locations from STEP 2 above.

   Now when you navigate to a folder or file that you want to open in Sublime Text you now just enter subl followed by the name of the file or . to open the current working directory.

For MAC 10.8+:

sudo ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/local/bin/subl

worked.

Assuming:

• You have already installed Homebrew.
• /usr/local/bin is in your $PATH.
• You are on Yosemite or El Capitain.

MacOS Sierra 10.12.5 works as well confirmed by David Rawson and MacOS Sierra 10.12.6 confirmed by Alexander K.

Run the following script in Terminal to create the specific symlink.

ln -s "/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl" /usr/local/bin/subl

Then:

subl .

Hit Return and it should instantly open Sublime Text.

I'm using oh-my-zsh on Mac OSX Mavericks and the symbol link didn't work for me, so I added an alias in my .zshrc file instead:

alias subl="/Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl"

Open a new terminal and you should be good to go, and type subl.

This worked for me (I'm using OS X Mavericks)

First, create a symbolic link:

sudo ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/bin/subl

Now you can open sublime with

subl "/a/path/to/the/directory/you/want/to/open"

The one I will use is very simple.

open -a "sublime text" [file]

this opens up the sublime text right away. You can specify the file to open as an optional parameter, e.g. to open "myfile.txt" in the current directory.

You can create a new alias in Terminal:

nano ~/.bash_profile

Copy this line and paste it into the editor:

alias subl='open -a "Sublime Text"'

Hit control + x, then y, then enter to save and close it.

Close all Terminal windows and open it up again.

That's it, you can now use subl filename or subl .

Update for zsh:

Default shell was changed to zsh since macOS 10.15 Catalina.

nano ~/.zshrc

The rest of the steps remain the same.

There is a easy way to do this. It only takes a couple steps and you don't need to use the command line too much. If you new to the command line this is the way to do it.

Step 1 : Finding the bin file to put the subl executable file in

1. Open up the terminal
2. type in cd .. ---------------------this should go back a directory
3. type in ls ------------------------to see a list of files in the directory
4. type in cd .. ---------------------until you get a folder that contains usr
5. type in open usr ---------------this should open the finder and you should see some folders
6. open up the bin folder -------this is where you will copy your sublime executable file.

Step 2: Finding the executable file

1. open up the finder
2. Under file open up a new finder window (CMD + N)
3. Navigate to applications folder
4. find Sublime Text and right click so you get a pulldown menu
5. Click on Show Package Content
6. Open up Content/SharedSupport/bin
7. Copy the subl file
8. Paste it in the bin folder in the usr folder we found earlier
9. In the terminal type in subl --------------this should open Sublime Text

Make sure that it gets copied and it's not a shortcut. If you do have a problem, view the usr/bin folder as icons and paste the subl in a empty area in the folder. It should not have a shortcut arrow in the icon image.

Try this.

ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/local/bin/subl

The Symlink command from the Sublime Text 3 documentation won't work as there is no ~/bin/ directory in Home location on Mac OS X El Capitan or later.

So, we'll need to place the symlink on the /usr/local/bin as this path would be in our $PATH variable in most cases.

So, the following command should do the trick:

ln -s "/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl" /usr/local/bin/subl

Once you create the symlink correctly, you would be able to run the Sublime Text 3 like this: subl . (. means the current directory)

Please note not to write into /usr/bin but instead into /usr/local/bin. The first one is for app that write themselves the binary into the system and the latest is for that specific usage of making our own system-wide binaries (which is our case here when symlinking).

Also /usr/local/bin is read after /usr/bin and therefore also a good place to override any default app.

Considering this, the right symlinking would be:

ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/local/bin/subl

Close Sublime. Run this command. It will uninstall it. You won't lose your prefs. Then run it again. It will automatically bind subl.

brew install Caskroom/cask/sublime-text

In OS X Mavericks running Sublime Text 2 the following worked for me.

sudo ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text\ 2.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/bin/subl

Its handy to locate the file in the finder and drag and drop that into the terminal window so you can be sure the path is the correct one, I'm not a huge terminal user so this was more comfortable for me. then you can go to the start of the path and start adding in the other parts like the shorthand UNIX commands. Hope this helps

It works !!!! for me on MacOS Sierra 10.12.2

ln -s "/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl" /usr/local/bin/subl

and find it in terminal subl

The following worked for me

open -a Sublime\ Text file_name.txt
open -a Sublime\ Text Folder_Path

You can use alias to make it event simple like

Add the following line in your

> ~/.bash_profile

alias sublime="open -a Sublime\ Text $@"

Then next time you can use following command to open files/folders

sublime file_name.txt
sublime Folder_Path

Adding this to ur .bashrc or .zshrc is a simple solution.

alias sublime="open -a /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app"

if you have subl set up to be called from the command line, the proper command to open the current directory is:

subl .

"OS X Command Line" is a link on how to make sure everything is set up.

You shouldn't pollute /usr/bin directory unless you really need to. I always use /usr/local/bin for those binaries that aren't managed by the distribution package manager. Why? Because if the package manager gets updated it'll always replace the files in /usr/bin.

So what I'd do is

sudo ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/local/bin/subl

You can just add an alias

alias subl='/Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl'

Then you should be able to open a folder or whatever with

subl <path>

According to Sublime setup documentation

echo 'export PATH="/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zprofile

Works fine.

Starting with macOS Catalina (ver 10.15) zsh is used. To allow Sublime to run from the command line, edit .zshrc in your home directory (cd with no arguments will get you there) and add the following line:

export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin"

To run Sublime Text from the command line use subl [filename]

For anyone looking for opening a file with Sublime on mac from terminal

open 'path/file.txt' -a '/Applications/Sublime Text.app'

This is to get it working as an ALIAS, not a Symbolic link!

This will allow you to run additional commands in the terminal without interrupting the subl session. Using many of the symbolic link answers here (ln -s), cause the terminal process to endure while using Sublime text. If you want the separation, create an alias in the Bash profile like so:

1. Test subl from your ST installation:

   First, navigate to a folder in Terminal that you want ST to open and enter the following command:

    /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl .
   

   NOTE: You may need to replace Sublime\ Text.app in the command above to Sublime\ Text\ 3.app or Sublime\ Text\ 2.app depending upon where the application is stored in your Applications directory. The . at the end of the above command opens the current working directory you are located in (again make sure you're in a directory that only contains a few files!).

   If you DO NOT get Sublime Text opening your current working directory then the next set of steps will NOT work. If nothing happens or you get an error from Terminal it will be because it couldn't find the Sublime Text application. This would mean that you would have to check what you've typed (spelling, etc.) OR that Sublime Text isn't installed!

2. Check and update ".bash_profile":

   Now add the alias in your Bash Profile. Open it via vim ~/.bash_profile. These are the following lines that pertain to having subl work on the command line for Sublime Text:

    ## For Sublime Text 3 alias
    alias subl='/Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl'
    ## For Sublime Text global editor preference **Optional
    export EDITOR='subl -w'
   

   I suggest always commenting your code in here with ##. The second line is OPTIONAL and just sets Sublime Text as the default editor. The flag -w has been added and you can find out more about flags by going to the Sublime Text docs: ST3 subl or ST2 subl

   If you do make any edits to this file once you have closed it, you need to source this file in your current session or close the terminal (tab) and open a new one. You can source this file by running the command source ~/.bash_profile Resolve any errors before moving to the final step.

Just follow the Sublime Documentation

Bash

echo 'export PATH="/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile

ZSH

echo 'export PATH="/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zprofile

Linux

sudo ln -s /opt/sublime_text/sublime_text /usr/local/bin/subl

---

Make sure you close the terminal after run the command.

Usage

To see the available flags, run subl --help.

I would add that if you are upgrading from Sublime Text 2, go into /usr/bin and delete your old subl first before following the same instructions above. It's worth the upgrade.

I achieve this with just one line in terminal (with Sublime 3):

alias subl='/usr/local/bin/sublime'

I am using mac airbook open your terminal and type

 sudo ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/bin/subl

Then type simple subl and file name

 subl index.py

I am using Oh-My-Zshell and the previous aliases stated didn't work for me so I wrote a simple bash function that will allow you to open Sublime from the command line by using sublime to open the current folder in the editor. With the addition functionality to specify a file to open the editor from.

# Open Sublime from current folder or specified folder
sublime(){
  /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl ./$1
}

Usage to open current folder in terminal:

$ sublime

Usage to open specific folder:

$ sublime path/to/the/file/to/open

Summarizing the different ways you can accomplish it:

1. To open sublime text from terminal

open /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/

2. To open a specific file in current path (or provide path to the file you need to open) using sublime text

open -a /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/ myFileToOpen.txt

3. Make your command short by introducing a new alias named 'sublime' and use it

   a. open bash_profile:

nano ~/.bash_profile

b. copy this line to create the alias and save and restart terminal

alias sublime="open -a /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app"

c. usage: apple.txt will open with sublime text (provide file path if necessary)

sublime apple.txt

Creating the file in the Default path did not work for me as the Menu.sublime-menu file has overridden almost all other menu options and left me with only the custom one.

What worked for me is creating the below file in path ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text 3/Packages/User/Main.sublime-menu (note directory User instead of Default):

[
    {
        "caption": "File",
        "mnemonic": "F",
        "id": "file",
        "children":
        [
            {
                "caption": "Open Recent More",
                "children":
                [
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 1 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 2 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 3 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 4 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 5 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 6 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 7 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 8 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 9 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 10 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 11 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 12 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 13 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 14 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 15 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 16 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 17 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 18 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 19 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 20 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 21 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 22 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 23 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 24 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 25 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 26 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 27 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 28 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 29 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 30 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 31 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 32 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 33 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 34 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 35 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 36 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 37 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 38 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 39 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 40 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 41 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 42 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 43 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 44 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 45 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 46 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 47 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 48 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 49 } },
                    { "command": "open_recent_file", "args": {"index": 50 } }
                ]
            }
        ]
    }
]

---

Result:

(needed to blur some parts of the image for security reasons)

For Sublime 4+ it's even simpler with Bash:

echo 'export PATH="/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile

I'm on a mac and this worked for me:

open /Applications/Sublime\ Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl