Always open with...

December 1, 2006 9:20 AM

In OSX how do I get files without extensions to be recognized by something other than Excel? Ideally I'd like them to be opened by the shell, or perhaps a new session in iTerm but iTerm is greyed out in the Choose Application menu.
posted by Null Pointer and the Exceptions to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Response by poster: My files have the usual headers such as #!/usr/bin/ruby so I kinda hoped that would be enough. Bonus points for anyone who shows me how to easily toggle file between execution (through shell) and loading in a text editor (using TextWrangler for now).
posted by Null Pointer and the Exceptions at 9:27 AM on December 1, 2006

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the normal way to select an alternate app is to highlight the file, use Get Info (command + I), find "Open with", and select the app from the drop-down box.
Apologies if this isn't what your after.
posted by artdrectr at 9:35 AM on December 1, 2006

Oops, didn't notice "greyed out" in your question...
Did you change 'Recomended Apps' box to 'All Apps'?
posted by artdrectr at 9:42 AM on December 1, 2006

Best answer: "iTerm is greyed out in the Choose Application menu."

The reason it's greyed out is that you still have "show recommended applications" selected from the drop down menu above...

1) Choose "show all applications", select iTerm.

2) Check the "always open with" checkbox in the lower left hand corner.

That, at least, will make sure that particular file will always open in iTerm.

BTW, the file's icon may not change - don't worry about it. If you did the two things I said above, it's already been associated with iTerm, so it will work fine.

I'm pretty sure you can add a single file extension to all files in a directory by using a Unix command. Is there a Unix guru in the house?
posted by stewiethegreat at 9:44 AM on December 1, 2006

You can also use the Automator to easily change file names...
posted by allan at 10:28 AM on December 1, 2006