man open on macOS is super interesting. I have used open -a to launch specific apps for years, but I have never looked at all the other options. There are many, and they are pretty cool! Here are just a few of the neat things you can do:

• open -e opens the item in TextEdit. I basically never want this, and it’s fascinating that it’s built in.

• open -t opens in your default text editor — for me it’s BBEdit; but whatever you have configured will do. Note: this is not $EDITOR but LaunchServices: a macOS-ism.

• open -F opens a “fresh” version of the app, not doing window or document restoration. Handy if it’s borked!

• open -R reveals it in the Finder instead of opening it.

• open -f reads input from stdin and opens the results in your text editor (weird but… cool, I think).

There are a bunch of other neat little details like this. I never would have learned them if I had not taken the time to man open and learn a bit more about this tool. Now it’s a more useful tool in my toolbelt!