Sublime Text from Command Line

I installed Sublime Text and wanted to know how to open rb files in it from the terminal. I saw https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7594091/what-is-the-command-to-make-sublime-text-my-core-editor and I see that I can make Sublime my core editor, but I want to be able to type

sublime file.rb

How do I do this in Windows?

Windows Command Prompt

For Windows cmd.exe you could just add the sublime text installation directory to your PATH environment variable, this would allow you to type:

sublime_text file.rb

Personally, I add a doskey (in a .bat file set to autorun with cmd) so I can type subl file.rb:

> doskey subl="C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\sublime_text.exe" $*

---

Cygwin

For the default bash shell add an alias to your ~/.bashrc file, e.g:

$ echo 'alias subl="/cygdrive/c/Program\ Files/Sublime\ Text\ 2/sublime_text.exe"' >> ~/.bashrc

From build 3065 (Release Date: 29 August 2014) onwards Sublime text includes a command line helper, nameley subl.exe. It is at sublime's installation folder: copy it in to a folder included in the system path. For example, in my case I copied it

from C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3

to C:\Windows\System32

You may then use in your terminal/console subl as a command to open whatever file, such as in your example:

subl file.rb

Or you may as well modify your system PATH variable to include sublime's instalation folder, but I believe that is much more involved.

I added this to my PowerShell profile:

Set-Alias subl 'C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\sublime_text.exe'

Modify this as needed for Sublime Text 3 (or any future versions).

Another idea would be to include C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\ in your PATH, and then run an administrator command prompt:

cd "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\"
mklink sublime.exe sublime_text.exe

That will make a symbolic link with the new name. And now you can use it freely:

sublime hello.txt

Update: After having a chance to use this trick and update Sublime Text 2, I'm happy to say that updating to a new build doesn't affect the symbolic link.

Add the installation folder to windows path and you will be able to open Sublime by typing the name of the executable file, which is by default "subl".

To include the Sublime installation folder in windows path,

1. Open command prompt and type sysdm.cpl
2. In Advanced tab, select Environment variables
3. Under system variables, select variable named "Path" and click Edit.
4. Add "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text;" to the end of the existing string.
5. Save the changes and restart command prompt.

I've created subl.bat in C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2 with contents:

start sublime_text.exe %*

Now that I have C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2 in PATH, I can simply type 'subl folder' and it works wonderfully without having to add anything to autostart.

I think that is more easy set the Environment variable in Windows.

Then just add a new System variable called SUBLIME_HOME with value "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2" (without quotes) after edit the variable Path adding in the end this value ";%SUBLIME_HOME%" (without quotes).

Restart the git BASH and enjoy, using like this:

$ sublime_text mi-new-file

(where sublime_text is the command)

Note: Also works now for cmd of Windows.

I know this thread is a bit old, but I recently came up with this solution and thought I would share it...

If you use Cygwin, you can create a bash script that will convert the unix pathnames to windows paths and pass them to sublime. Paste the following into a new file:

#!/bin/bash

/cygdrive/c/Program\ Files/Sublime\ Text\ 2/sublime_text.exe `cygpath -w $@` &

Save it in /usr/bin/subl (or wherever you want so long as the location is in your $PATH) and make it executable ($ chmod a+x /usr/bin/subl)

With this script, you can use both UNIX and Windows style paths (/cygdrive/c/ or C:/) because the cygpath utility converts the / and ~ path aliases to their windows equivalents.

Now, you can use $ subl file1.txt file2.md ~/file3.txt to open those files in sublime!

The accepted answer doesn't seem to work, at least for Sublime Text 3 on Windows 7. Copying the file directly into C:\Windows\System32 allows subl to resolve fine from the shell, but when I run it, nothing happens.

I've had more success with a hardlink:

mklink /h c:\windows\system32\subl.exe "c:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\subl.exe"

With that, subl <file.txt> and subl <directory> both work fine.

I'm trying out ruby on rails in windows and include the PATH C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\,then change the name sublime.exe to subl.exe.

worked fine in regular cmd and "command prompt with ruby and rails" cmd

I just ran the Command Prompt program as an Administrator, and executed the following command.
Simple, but works for me.

echo "c:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\subl.exe" %1 > %systemroot%\system32\subl.bat

Of course, you can call the bat file whatever you want. From then on, as any user you can simply use:

subl myfile.txt

I created a simple batch file (s.bat) in the windows directory to start sublime text

This is the code I put in the batch file to start Sublime Text 2

@start "sublime" "%ProgramW6432%\Sublime Text 2\sublime_text.exe" %*

I call sublime by typing

s

I directly open a file using

s filename.ext

If your using Cmder, you can add the alias to your aliases file, which is located wherever you installed cmder to, then config\aliases

You can then add ( this is for sublime text 3 )

subl="C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\sublime_text.exe" $1

From within Cmder, you can then open any directory in sublime via

subl="C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\sublime_text.exe" $1

try this:

alias subl='"/c/Program Files/Sublime Text 2/sublime_text.exe"'

make sure that the sublime install which directory. It will create the alias for sublime then type:

subl file.rb

Going off the most accepted answer, but whose author unfortunately said modifying the PATH is "hard" - it's not at all. It's very easy. I just did it, and you can too!

Here's what to do:

Navigate to your sublime text directory in Windows Explorer and copy the full path from the path bar.

For example, I have a few development tools set up as portable applications in Dropbox, so I copied the path:

C:\Users\username\Dropbox\Programs\Sublime Text Build 3114 x64

Go to Control panel-> System-> Advanced System Settings-> Environment Variables

In the resulting window, navigate to "path" in the bottom window, highlight it and click "Edit".

In the window that appears, click "New", paste in your Sublime Text path, and click "OK".

Now open CMD or Powershell and type subl

Sublime Text window should open. Enjoy!

Note: I noticed someone else answered this in a similar fashion, but used a fixed location for Sublime Text. That may work for some people, but for others the directions will be erroneous. The fact is, the Sublime Text location can be anywhere on the drive, and knowing where it is and copying that particular location is one of the most important parts of assigning the PATH variable.

I wanted to start a new instance of Sublime Text from the command-line.. The following page helped me, even though it only says OSX: http://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/osx_command_line.html.

So, I use a batch file in my user path to launch 'sublime'. Here is basically what I use (**the batch file contents):

@start "sublime" "%~dp0Sublime Text\sublime_text.exe" --new-window %*

(my batch file %~-dp0 is located one folder above the Sublime Text installation path.)

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd add what I was looking for (and found). It might help someone else!

• Set the path for sublime: My computer >> properties >> advanced setting >> environment variables >> path variable >> Add>> C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3

• Just go to directory where sublime is installed and rename sublime_text to sublime.

Open command prompt and type sublime.

create in registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\sublime.exe

update value of default parameter (REG_SZ) to:

C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\sublime_text.exe

You can simply install Notepad Replacer http://www.binaryfortress.com/NotepadReplacer/ what it will do is make sublime your default notepad in Windows and then you can simply use the commands that you generally use to open inbuilt notepad in windows. for example

`//to open test.txt, just type
notepad test.txt
//to open sublime, Type
notepad`

add Sublime's installation folder to your path. @set PATH=C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3;%PATH%

or

To set an environment variable permanently in Windows (so that it is available to all the Windows' processes),

start the "Control Panel" ⇒ "System" ⇒ (Vista/7/8) "Advanced system settings" ⇒ Switch to "Advanced" tab ⇒ "Environment variables" ⇒ Choose "System Variables" (for all users) or "User Variables" (for this login user only) ⇒ Choose "Edit" (for modifying an existing variable) or "New" (to create a new variable) ⇒ Enter the variable "Name" and "Value".

in that case prepend C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3 to the path.

Now, can make a copy of 'sublime_text.exe' as 'sublime.exe'

Then in any command prompt you may be able to run a file.txt file by

C:\Users\MyUsername>sublime filename.txt

1. In the Environmental variable I added %SUBLIME_HOME% variable to the path variable as well

2. Then made a symbolic link from my Command terminal

mklink sb sublime_text.exe

This powershell allows me to pipe to the edit function (or to use it in the normal way)

function edit
{
    param( [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true,Position=0)] $file )
    begin { set-alias EDITOR 'W:\tools\sublime_text.bat' }
    process { EDITOR $file }
}

here is the sublime_text.bat which for some reason seems necessary (anyone know why?)

START "Sublime Text 2" "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\sublime_text.exe" %*

Hollow every one.

I build a very easy way to do this.

project github page

just download "install.bat" and right click on install.bat -> click "run as administrator"

If you don't want to change your path you can associate files with sublime. So right click on the file, click properties, then click opens with sublime text.

From the command line: myFile.py

Will open the file in sublime. I suppose this saves you about five keystrokes.

	@echo off
	:: File: TextFiles.Starter.DESKTOP-M175NUE.cmd v1.1.0 docs at the end 

	:: this just an iso-8601 wrapper for windows:
	:: src: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/iso8601.html
	call GetNiceTime.cmd

	:: go the run dir
	cd %~dp0z

	:: this is the dir containing the batch file
	set _MyDir=%CD%

	:: look around , set vars
	for %%A in (%0) do set _MyDriveLetter=%%~dA
	for %%A in (%0) do set _MyPath=%%~pA
	for %%A in (%0) do set _MyName=%%~nA
	for %%A in (%0) do set _MyEtxtension=%%~xA

	:: contains absolute file paths of the files to open like this
	set _ListFile=%_MyDir%\%_MyName%.lst
	:: example of lines in the list file - take out the ::space
	:: C:\Users\ysg\Desktop\TextFiles.Starter.DESKTOP-M175NUE.cmd
	:: C:\Users\ysg\Desktop\TextFiles.Starter.DESKTOP-M175NUE.lst


	:: set _Program="C:\Program Files\TextPad 8\TextPad.exe"
	set _Program="C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\sublime_text.exe"
	set _
	:: DEBUG PAUSE

	:: sleep 2
	ping -n 2 www.google.com > NUL

	:: for each line of the cat file do open 
	:: for TextPad , obs note the quoting 
	:: for /f "tokens=*" %%i in ('type "%_ListFile%"') do ^
	:: cmd /c "%_Program% "%%i""

	:: for sublime, obs note the quoting 
	for /f "tokens=*" %%i in ('type "%_ListFile%"') do ^
	cmd /c "%_Program% -t "%%i""
	:: DEBUG PAUSE

	:: Purpose: 
	:: to start a list of non-binary files from a list file on Windows 10
	:: Tested on Windows 10, should work on Win7 too
	:: 
	:: Requirements:
	:: TextPad 8 or Sublime
	:: 
	:: 
	:: Usage: 
	:: copy this file onto your Desktop, list the absolute paths in to the list file 
	:: change the program name in the _Program if if you want other editor
	:: 
	:: VersionHistory: 
	:: 1.1.0 --- 2017-10-06 09:42:54 --- ysg --- added sublime 
	:: 1.0.1 --- 2013-04-15 08:19:10 --- ysg --- added - todo-%today%.txt file opening
	:: 1.0.0 --- 2012-05-23 09:08:57 --- ysg -- Initial creation 

Here is what worked for me in PowerShell:

# CHECK IF YOUR ALIAS FOR SUBLIME TEXT 3 EXISTS
Get-Alias subl

# REMOVE YOUR ALIAS FOR SUBLIME TEXT 3 IF IT EXISTS
# REF 1
Remove-Item alias:subl

# SET YOUR ALIAS FOR SUBLIME TEXT 3
Set-Alias subl -Value "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\sublime_text.exe"

# CREATE A TEST FILE ON YOUR Desktop
# REF 2
echo "Testing`nNew`nFile`n." > $HOME\Desktop\TestFile.txt

# TEST YOUR NEW ALIAS
subl $HOME\Desktop\TestFile.txt

This is the easiest way to set and test the alias. If you want to keep this against your profile try this:

# TO PERMANENTLY KEEP EVERYTIME YOU OPEN POWERSHELL PLEASE ADD TO YOUR PROFILE. BUT FIRST VERIFY YOUR PROFILE `FILE` EXISTS, IF NOT THEN THIS WILL CREATE IT.
# REF 3 & 4
if (!(Test-Path -Path $PROFILE.CurrentUserAllHosts)) {New-Item -ItemType File -Path $PROFILE.CurrentUserAllHosts -Force}

# open powershell PROFILE
ise $PROFILE.CurrentUserAllHosts

# Add the Set-Alias to your file
Set-Alias subl -Value "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\sublime_text.exe"

REF 1 Remove-Alias: https://superuser.com/q/883914/247728

REF 2 Newline: https://stackoverflow.com/a/36738723/1896134

REF 3 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_profiles?view=powershell-5.1

REF 4 https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/understanding-the-six-powershell-profiles/

Operating System (OS): Windows 10 Pro

Windows ONLY: How to open -a “Sublime Text” in windows?

Assuming your Sublime Text 3 was located in the "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3" directory

1. In Git Bash copy paste and run: echo 'alias subl="/C/Program\ Files/Sublime\ Text\ 3/sublime_text.exe"' >> ~/.bashrc

2. Close Git Bash and Open it again.

3. In Git bash type:

   subl

go to enviroment and add sublime text folder to system path directory , dont add anything to system 32 directory it's just making a mess ,after that you can type ''' subl mytext.txt ''' in cmd.

1. Add the installation folder to windows path.

---

- Click on windows button 
- Type advance system settings in search box
- Click on the result (View Advance System Setting)
- Click on the Environment Variable Button at the Bottom right
- Go to System Variable Section Second
- Search for Path 
- Click on Path and Click on Edit Button 
- Click on New on right sidebar 
- Copy the Folder Path of Sublime Text Editor Sample(C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3)
- Paste on New Line on Environment Variable
- Click on OK on Every Dialog Box
- All Set Now Follow below Steps

---

2. Close the CMD if Open or just start new CMD.
3. Go to your project folder.
4. Click on the Address line in Windows File Explorer.
5. Select all and type CMD.
6. It will open the project folder in CMD.
7. Then just type subl . //don't forget to add the dot (.) after (subl) ex (subl .)
8. All done, it will open the project in sublime text editor.