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up vote 19 down vote favorite
4

Your job is to open a browser window of the default browser to http://codegolf.stackexchange.com.

Your code must open the browser itself, and cannot rely on an open one.

This is , so the shortest answer in bytes wins.

share|improve this question
5  
Are URL shorteners allowed? – isaacg Mar 30 at 15:01
3  
Is it allowed to run JavaScript in the default browser to open a window? – Mwr247 Mar 30 at 15:30
3  
@Mwr247 No, it is not. – CrazyPython Mar 30 at 15:49
11  
You should add clarifications/restrictions to the question itself, since comments are not guaranteed to stick around forever. – Mego Mar 30 at 16:01
6  
Your spec is minimal, which led to alot of uncertainty over what is allowed to accomplish the task. Additionally, some probably consider it a trivial task. Still, you're in the positive ;) – Mwr247 Mar 30 at 17:16

36 Answers 36

1 2
up vote 31 down vote

Batch, 18 bytes

Saved 3 bytes thanks to Mego.

start www.ppcg.lol

This will open in your default browser if you run it from the windows command line.

I think it'll work in Powershell too, but I'm not sure.

share|improve this answer
1  
You can use start instead of explorer. – Mego Mar 30 at 15:07
8  
You can use start www.ppcg.lol instead to implicitly have Windows parse it as HTTP. Works in both CMD and PowerShell. – TimmyD Mar 30 at 15:37
1  
It gets 1 byte shorter in PowerShell – Matt Mar 30 at 20:13
2  
Why do you need the www.? – Blender Mar 30 at 20:26
3  
@Blender Because otherwise it tries to find a local program called pccg with the .lol file extension and run it. – Morgan 'Venti' Thrappuccino Mar 30 at 20:27
up vote 25 down vote

Oration, 41 bytes

Not winning, but sure was fun. :P TIED WITH PYTHON!!! :D

I need webbrowser
Now open "http:ppcg.ga"

I need compiles to import $1 with webbrowser being the module.

Now runs the following command from the module as module.command with the arguments of anything following.

So this compiles to: 

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import webbrowser
webbrowser.open("http:ppcg.lol")

I do end up needing the http:// part though, and it can't be shortened.

The code being the same as an earlier revision of @Skyler's answer is a coincidence.

This is the shortest possible Oration code, and I never saw the earlier revision for his answer. The only thing I did was upvote it when it had the "import *" part.

share|improve this answer
13  
As the owner of ppcg.lol, I approve of this message. – Quill Mar 30 at 16:13
    
@Quill thankee for your url. :D It is actually shorter than all the normal url shorteners, btw. – Easterly Irk Mar 30 at 16:15
    
This conversation has been moved to chat. – Dennis♦ Mar 30 at 17:40
    
I'm almost certain that you can replace "http://ppcg.lol" with "http:ppcg.lol". I'm uncertain whether you can remove the space between open and "http:...", but try it? – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:01
1  
@Quill I meant how do we know you won't Rick roll us all at some future point? – PyRulez Mar 30 at 23:55
up vote 19 down vote

PowerShell, 17 Bytes

saps www.ppcg.lol

While start is a known alias for Start-Process there is another one for saps. You can see this from Get-Alias. It follows the convention for similar Start- and Stop- cmdlets.

share|improve this answer
    
psst you can use www.ppcg.ga now – Milo 3 hours ago
up vote 18 down vote

 GNU Emacs, 29 27 15 bytes

(eww"ppcg.lol")

EWW is a browser inside Emacs. The browse-web function is an alias for eww, and so that makes eww the default browser in Emacs:

Your job is to open a browser window of the default browser to http://codegolf.stackexchange.com.

(thanks to CoolestVeto and Jonathan Leech-Pepin)

share|improve this answer
    
Can you use www.ppcg.lol instead of http://ppcg.lol? – TimmyD Mar 30 at 15:55
1  
@TimmyD No, at first I tried with "www" but the protocol must be supplied (the behavior is different for example with "mailto://"). For user interaction, there is "browse-url-at-point" which prepends "http", but this is longer of course. – coredump Mar 30 at 16:47
    
You shouldn't need the //, I don't think. (I don't use emacs, but it's generally accepted without the //) – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:03
    
@CoolestVeto Correct, thanks – coredump Mar 30 at 20:47
    
Arguably this could be shortened to (eww"ppcg.lol") sinceeww is now the default browser for Emacs itself. (browse-web is an alias for eww in the menu bar) – Jonathan Leech-Pepin 2 days ago
up vote 15 down vote

Terminal (OSX), 20 18 bytes

open http:ppcg.lol

Saved 2 thanks to CoolestVeto

share|improve this answer
4  
open is an OSX utility, not a bash one; this would be more appropriately called "OSX command line". – Skyler Mar 30 at 15:17
1  
@Skyler Is this incorrect then? ss64.com/bash/open.html – Mwr247 Mar 30 at 15:19
    
the first line: "Open a file in its default application, using virtual terminal (VT)." If you try to run that on unix, it will tell you "Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console", because it's trying to open in a terminal, not in a browser. – Skyler Mar 30 at 15:21
2  
You can get rid of //. – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 18:50
    
You can save another byte: open http:ppcg.ga – DarkDust 16 hours ago
up vote 11 down vote

MATLAB, 28 25 bytes

web www.ppcg.lol -browser
  • www is shorter than http:// and ensures that the address is processed as a URL
  • This is shorter using the implicit function call (which casts inputs as strings) rather than the explicit version web('www.ppcg.lol', '-browser').
  • If you are on a OS X, this can be simplified to web ppcg.lol -browser as MATLAB will automatically append an http:// (21 bytes)

Alternatives:

  • On windows this can be shortened to (19 bytes)

    !start www.ppcg.lol

  • On OS X (21 bytes)

    !open http://ppcg.lol

  • The following would work in a deployed MATLAB application (16 bytes)

    web www.ppcg.lol

  • If the built-in browser could be used this could be reduced even further as http is implied (12 bytes)

    web ppcg.lol
share|improve this answer
    
OS X is redundant because the built-in open command does the same. – CrazyPython Mar 30 at 15:50
1  
@CrazyPython That's precisely what ! does in MATLAB, it's the equivalent of system(command). I had it as more of a demonstration of other alternatives that could be executed from within MATLAB. Is that OK? – Suever Mar 30 at 15:53
    
Do you need the www.? – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:02
    
@CoolestVeto Sometimes you do sometimes you do not. When using the external browser you do, however the internal browser you do not. If you do not specify it, no browser window will open. If you can get it to work, I'm more than happy to change it! – Suever Mar 30 at 19:07
    
@CoolestVeto So I dug a little more and it looks like the www is unnecessary only on OS X – Suever Mar 30 at 21:10
up vote 9 down vote

AutoHotKey, 16 bytes

Run www.ppcg.lol
share|improve this answer
5  
Unfortunately, not everybody has *shudder* Google Chrome *shudder* set as their default browser (or installed at all!). – wizzwizz4 Mar 30 at 18:23
3  
Not everyone has AHK either...both facts are very shudder worthy – Michelfrancis Bustillos Mar 30 at 18:23
3  
I was shuddering because I had to type... never mind. – wizzwizz4 Mar 30 at 18:26
1  
The challenge spec requires opening PPCG in the default browser, which may or may not be Chrome. – Dennis♦ Mar 30 at 18:40
1  
You don't need the comma – Engineer Toast Mar 30 at 19:31
up vote 8 down vote

Pylongolf, 11 bytes (Non-Competing)

"ppcg.lol"p

Pushes ppcg.lol into the stack then p opens it.

share|improve this answer
    
Will that open it as a local file, or as a website address? – wizzwizz4 Mar 30 at 18:09
    
And did you just add the changes that allowed this to work? – Easterly Irk Mar 30 at 18:09
    
@wizzwizz4 As an address. Yes, so this does not compete with others, just for fun. – Midnightas Mar 30 at 18:23
4  
If I were you, I would edit "(Non-competing)" into the title, so people don't downvote. – wizzwizz4 Mar 30 at 18:24
    
@wizzwizz4 done. – Easterly Irk 2 days ago
up vote 8 down vote

Bash, 24 22 bytes

xdg-open http:ppcg.lol

Not as short as some others. firefox ppcg.lol is shorter, but it doesn't meet question spec.

share|improve this answer
    
xdg-open www.ppcg.lol works for me as well. – Digital Trauma Mar 30 at 17:47
    
@digital_trauma interesting, it didn't for me. It looked for www.ppcg.lol on the file system. Ubuntu 15.10. – Ogaday Mar 30 at 18:29
    
Weird. Ubuntu 14.04 for me. xdg-utils 1.0. – Digital Trauma Mar 30 at 18:37
1  
You shouldn't need the //. – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:03
1  
@CoolestVeto Correct. xdg-open http:ppcg.lol also works for me. – Digital Trauma Mar 30 at 20:18
up vote 7 down vote

Python, 52 48 47 45

Shamelessly borrowing that shortened link.

from webbrowser import*;open("http:ppcg.lol")

Thanks to CrazyPython for -4 bytes, and Sp3000 for a further one.

Edit: shaved 2 more off thanks to CoolestVeto

share|improve this answer
    
The former change leaves it exactly the same length. As for the http://, if you leave that out it tries to open a local file called "ppcg.lol", which doesn't exist. – Skyler Mar 30 at 15:27
1  
You don't need //. – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:06
    
Thanks! I wonder why that works? – Skyler Mar 30 at 19:10
    
I've always seen the // as convention, I don't think you need it for some browsers. – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:12
1  
You can also do this with just command line options python -m webbrowser -t http:ppcg.lol which I think counts as 30 chars – gnibbler♦ Mar 31 at 6:24
up vote 6 down vote

JavaScript, 34 bytes

require('open')('http://ppcg.lol')

Uses Node.js

share|improve this answer
    
Do you need //? – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:04
1  
If node.js supports ES6: require`open``http://ppcg.lol`; (added ; to avoid tripping the formatting) – Ismael Miguel 2 days ago
    
Alternatively, does it require a protocol? eg require('open')('//ppcg.lol') to save 5 bytes – Martijn 2 days ago
    
@Martijn Shh... – wizzwizz4 2 days ago
up vote 6 down vote

Java 7, 118 bytes

class P{public static void main(String[]a)throws Exception{java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop().browse(new java.net.URI("http://ppcg.lol"));}}

Java is not the best language for golfing... Here's the same program in a more readable format:

class P {
    public static void main (String[] a) throws Exception {
        java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop().browse(new java.net.URI("http://ppcg.lol"));
    }
}
share|improve this answer
7  
Use interface for shorter code – Mego Mar 30 at 16:34
1  
@Mego I could do that, but then it would be Java 8. This is a Java 7 answer. But thanks for the tip! – Alex L. Mar 30 at 17:11
1  
Replace "http://ppcg.lol" with "http:ppcg.lol" – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 18:59
7  
code-golf specifies that functions are sufficient, you do not have to write a full program. So void f(){ .... } would be enough. – flawr Mar 30 at 19:52
1  
Your program in more readable format is missing a closing parenthesis – Nate Kerkhofs Mar 30 at 22:28
up vote 4 down vote

Mathematica, 28 bytes

SystemOpen@"http://ppcg.lol"
share|improve this answer
    
That would be 16 bytes in Mthmtca. – Michael Stern Mar 30 at 18:40
    
Do you need //? – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:04
    
@CoolestVeto I think I do. – Martin Büttner♦ Mar 30 at 19:05
    
@MichaelStern Is that a thing? I want. – Mario Carneiro 2 days ago
    
@MarioCarneiro A development version can be found at github.com/LegionMammal978/Mthmtca I don't have the system to make it work, but I'm counting on future releases being platform-agnostic. – Michael Stern 2 days ago
up vote 4 down vote

R, 26 bytes

shell.exec("www.ppcg.lol")

I don't know of any shorter way to do this in R.

share|improve this answer
    
Duplicate of this. Simply wrapping another answer in a system/fork/whatever call is a trivial modification. – Mego Mar 30 at 19:40
up vote 4 down vote

Racket, 41 bytes

(require net/sendurl)(send-url"ppcg.lol")
share|improve this answer
up vote 4 down vote

Java 8, 115 bytes

interface P{static void main(String[]a)throws Exception{java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop().browse(new java.net.URI("http://ppcg.lol"));}}

Java is not the best language for golfing... Here's the same program in a more readable format:

interface P {
    static void main (String[] a) throws Exception {
        java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop().browse(new java.net.URI("http://ppcg.lol"));
    }
}
share|improve this answer
    
You can remove the //. – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:04
    
Isn't it supposed to be java.net? – Ryan 2 days ago
    
cant you replace interface with class? – MCMastery 2 days ago
    
@MCMastery Yes. However, with an interface, you can save 3 bytes because even though interface is longer than class, you save more bytes because the public modifier is implied. – Alex L. 2 days ago
    
@Ryan Whoops. Fail. Yes, you're right. Thanks! – Alex L. 2 days ago
up vote 3 down vote

Applescript, 28

  • 3 bytes saved thanks to @CoolestVeto.
open location"http:ppcg.lol"
share|improve this answer
up vote 3 down vote

Actionscript 3, 117 bytes

package{import flash.display.Sprite;public class A extends Sprite{function A(){navigateToUrl("ppcg.lol","_blank")}}}

Like Java, this is not a great golfing language. Here's the code with formatting:

package
{
    import flash.display.Sprite;

    public class A extends Sprite
    {
        function A()
        {
            navigateToUrl("ppcg.lol", "_blank")
        }
    }
}
share|improve this answer
up vote 2 down vote

C#, 33 bytes

Process.Start("http://ppcg.lol");

Opens the default browser to the web address

share|improve this answer
    
Nope... Replace \\ via //. – Qwertiy Mar 31 at 1:16
    
not a c# program, just a single line – BryanJ yesterday
    
Also this needs the System.Diagnostics namespace to be added in or Process to be fully qualified to work. – TheLethalCoder yesterday
up vote 2 down vote

Perl 5, 66 bytes

Should work everywhere, but needs that import :(

use Browser::Open open_browser;open_browser("http://www.ppcg.lol")

Also, for funsies :

Perl 5 (Windows), 34 bytes

system "start http://www.ppcg.lol"

Perl 5 (Unix), 31 bytes

system "xdg-open http:ppcg.lol"
share|improve this answer
    
+1 for still use Perl ;-) (private joke) – Paul Gaborit yesterday
    
use -M instead of use to shave a coupla bytes. (Untested.) Also, I'm guessing you don't need the parens or the www.. (Also untested.) – msh210 yesterday
up vote 2 down vote

VBScript, 57 bytes

I used to have lots of fun creating tiny programs in VBScript, back in 2010.

I've remembered this language and used the code on: http://stackoverflow.com/a/13401872/2729937

It still works on Windows 7, at least.

set S=CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
S.run("www.ppcg.lol")

This is a bit different from the usual start www.ppcg.lol, in the sense that it executes the www.ppcg.lol directly, with an implicit start.

An alternative way would be "cmd.exe /C start www.ppcg.lol".

share|improve this answer
up vote 2 down vote

VB.NET, 32 30 bytes

Process.Start("http:ppcg.lol")
share|improve this answer
up vote 2 down vote

RFO-BASIC, 22 bytes

BROWSE "http:ppcg.lol"

Read about RFO-BASIC at laughton.com.

share|improve this answer
    
While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review – Mego yesterday
    
Alright. I just figured most people wouldn't know about this "dialect" of BASIC. – TickTock yesterday
up vote 2 down vote

Rebol2, 16 bytes 

browse"ppcg.lol"

if you accept an error before opening the page

20 bytes without an error

browse http:ppcg.lol
share|improve this answer
    
Alternative to the first one (although with the same score): browse #ppcg.lol – Izkata yesterday
up vote 2 down vote

Ruby, 22 20 bytes (on OS X)

`open http:ppcg.lol`

Simple.

Thanks to Daniel for 2 bytes off.

share|improve this answer
    
You can save 2 characters by using backticks instead of %x. open http:ppcg.lol – Daniel Evans 2 days ago
    
@DanielEvans Great, thanks. That saves 2 bytes. – Easterly Irk 2 days ago
    
"'open' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." – Dewi Morgan yesterday
1  
@DewiMorgan OS X only. – Easterly Irk yesterday
up vote 1 down vote

NodeJS, 53 bytes

require('child_process').exec('open http://ppcg.lol')

Works on mac.

share|improve this answer
1  
Duplicate of this – Mego Mar 30 at 18:58
up vote 1 down vote

Dyalog APL, 21 bytes

]Open http://ppcg.lol

Uses the User Command ]Open, which is installed with Dyalog.

share|improve this answer
    
Needs you the //? – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:31
1  
@CoolestVeto Yes, otherwise you get an error: * Command Execution Failed: File not found – Nᴮᶻ Mar 30 at 19:34
up vote 1 down vote

05AB1E, 16 bytes (non-competing)

Non-competing, since the features used here postdate the challenge. Code:

’…Ò ™³.ÐÏg.´¢’.E

You can try the string online here. This basically evaluates to this batch answer.

Uses the CP1252 encoding.

share|improve this answer
    
How do you count the bytes? Depending which program I use for counting I get from 21 to 34 bytes. – sqlab 2 days ago
    
@sqlab 05AB1E uses the CP1252 encoding. – Adnan 2 days ago
up vote 1 down vote

Python, 43 41 bytes

import os
os.system("open http:ppcg.lol")

-2 bytes thanks to @Quill.

share|improve this answer
    
Duplicate of this – Mego Mar 30 at 18:57
4  
@mego how is it a duplicate - It's not even the same language! – proud haskeller Mar 30 at 22:30
    
@proudhaskeller See my comments on this answer – Mego Mar 30 at 23:56
    
@mego on the nominations for moderator you said yo believe in hands-off moderation. I don't see how this is reflected here. – proud haskeller Mar 31 at 6:03
    
@proudhaskeller By hands-off moderation, I mean letting the community do all the moderation work that it can, rather than stepping in with mod powers. As I am neither a moderator nor using moderation powers/privileges, this is still hands-off moderation. If you wish to discuss my views on moderation further, I would encourage you to do so with me in the chatroom created specifically for that purpose. – Mego Mar 31 at 6:10
up vote 1 down vote

Factor, 38 36 bytes (non-noncompeting)

Don't know what leaving off wait-for-process does.

"xdg-open http:ppcg.lol" run-process

Only works on systems with Xorg / xdg-open such as any Linux, and Windows with MinGW. It'll work on Mac OSX if you install X.

I didn't know one could golf-off the // in the protocol.

I also didn't know this was a "copy" of the bash answer. Never mind...

share|improve this answer
    
I think you can remove the space between the end-quote and run-process, and you can wholly drop //. – CoolestVeto Mar 30 at 19:16
    
@CoolestVeto Thanks! I didn't know the // could be left off. As for the space between " and run-process, dropping that would require a word named "run-process to be present in the current vocabulary search path – cat Mar 30 at 19:22
    
@CoolestVeto Factor's like Forth -- highly whitespace dependent – cat Mar 30 at 19:24
    
Duplicate of this. Simply wrapping another answer in a system/fork/whatever call is a trivial modification. – Mego Mar 30 at 19:35
    
@Mego Okay, well, not that it really matters but I did come up with this without seeing that one. But, there is really no other way to run The default browser without xdg-open in languages which are not equipped with special functions for browsing the web. A C or ASM answer would surely also have to do system("xdg-open...") – cat Mar 30 at 19:44
1 2

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