[Tut] How to Open a URL in Your Browser From a Python Script?

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How to Open a URL in Your Browser From a Python Script?

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To open a URL in your standard browser (Win, macOS, Linux) from your Python script, e.g., call

Code:

webbrowser.open('https://google.com')

to open Google. Don’t forget to run

Code:

import webbrowser

first. But you don’t have to install the module because it’s already in Python’s standard library.



Example

Here’s an example Python script that opens the URL

Code:

'https://finxter.com'

:

Code:

import webbrowser webbrowser.open('https://finxter.com/')

A new browser tab with your default browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari, Brave — whatever you set up as standard browser in your OS settings) opens, initialized with the URL provided as a string argument of the

Code:

webbrowser.open()

function:



About the Webbrowser Module

The

Code:

webbrowser

module is already part of the Python Standard Library, so you can import it without needing to install it first.

You can also run the module from your command line or terminal by using the following command:

Code:

python -m webbrowser -t "https://finxter.com"

Good to know if you ever want to open a URL from your operating system command line or terminal (Windows, macOS, Linux, Ubuntu) because the fact that you use Python makes it portable and operating system independent!

Webbrowser open()

You can specify additional arguments to get more control over which tab is opened by means of the new argument of the

Code:

webbrowser.open()

function.

Code:

webbrowser.open(url, new=0, autoraise=True)

The

Code:

new

argument allows you to control the browser window:

• If you set
  Code:

  new=0
  (default), you open the URL in the same browser window.
  
  
• If you set
  Code:

  new=1
  , you open a new browser window.
  
  
• If you set
  Code:

  new=2
  , you open a new browser tab.
  

The

Code:

autoraise

argument allows you to raise the window (default behavior).

Webbrowser Open in New Tab

A short way of opening a given URL in a new tab from your Python script is to call

Code:

webbrowser.open_new_tab()

and pass your URL string as a single argument.

Code:

import webbrowser my_url = 'https://finxter.com' webbrowser.open_new_tab(my_url)

Select the Webbrowser

You can also return a controller object for a given browser by calling

Code:

webbrowser.get()

and passing the browser type into it. Now, you can call the

Code:

open()

or

Code:

open_new_tab()

methods on this controller object to open the URL in your desired web browser.

Code:

import webbrowser webbrowser.get("chrome").open("https://finxter.com")

Here are the supported browser types:

Type Name |
Class Name

Code:

'mozilla'

|

Code:

Mozilla('mozilla')

Code:

'firefox'

|

Code:

Mozilla('mozilla')

Code:

'netscape'

|

Code:

Mozilla('netscape')

Code:

'galeon'

|

Code:

Galeon('galeon')

Code:

'epiphany'

|

Code:

Galeon('epiphany')

Code:

'skipstone'

|

Code:

BackgroundBrowser('skipstone')

Code:

'kfmclient'

|

Code:

Konqueror()

Code:

'konqueror'

|

Code:

Konqueror()

Code:

'kfm'

|

Code:

Konqueror()

Code:

'mosaic'

|

Code:

BackgroundBrowser('mosaic')

Code:

'opera'

|

Code:

Opera()

Code:

'grail'

|

Code:

Grail()

Code:

'links'

|

Code:

GenericBrowser('links')

Code:

'elinks'

|

Code:

Elinks('elinks')

Code:

'lynx'

|

Code:

GenericBrowser('lynx')

Code:

'w3m'

|

Code:

GenericBrowser('w3m')

Code:

'windows-default'

|

Code:

WindowsDefault

Code:

'macosx'

|

Code:

MacOSXOSAScript('default')

Code:

'safari'

|

Code:

MacOSXOSAScript('safari')

Code:

'google-chrome'

|

Code:

Chrome('google-chrome')

Code:

'chrome'

|

Code:

Chrome('chrome')

Code:

'chromium'

|

Code:

Chromium('chromium')

Code:

'chromium-browser'

|

Code:

Chromium('chromium-browser')

Thanks for Reading

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