% File src/library/base/man/windows/shell.exec.Rd
% Part of the R package, https://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 1995-2021 R Core Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{shell.exec}
\alias{shell.exec}
\title{Open a File or URL using Windows File Associations}
\usage{
shell.exec(file)
}
\arguments{
  \item{file}{file, directory or URL to be opened.}
}
\description{
  Opens the specified file or URL using the application specified in the
  Windows file associations. A directory is opened in a new or existing 
  explorer window.
}
\details{
  The path in \code{file} should be a full path.

  If the path in \code{file} is not a full path, it is interpreted relative
  to the current working directory, but in \R versions 2.13.0 and earlier it
  was interpreted relative to the \R home directory. To be interpreted as
  relative, the path also needs to use backslashes as separators (at least
  in Windows 10).

  Encoded \samp{file://} URLs should be in the Windows standard form,
  e.g.\sspace{}\code{"file:///c:/path/to/file.txt"}.
}
\value{
  No value, but informative error messages will be given if the
  operation fails.
}
\author{B. D. Ripley and Duncan Murdoch}

\seealso{\code{\link{system}}, \code{\link{shell}}}

\examples{\dontrun{
## the space should not be encoded here
shell.exec("C:\\\\Program Files\\\\BreezeSys\\\\BreezeBrowser\\\\Breezebrowser.htm")
shell.exec("C:/Program Files/BreezeSys/BreezeBrowser/Breezebrowser.htm")
shell.exec("file:///C:/Program Files/BreezeSys/BreezeBrowser/Breezebrowser.htm")
shell.exec(.libPaths()[1])
shell.exec(R.home())
shell.exec(path.expand("~"))
}}

\keyword{utilities}