Command Line Interface
Version:

Sublime Text includes a command line tool, subl, to work with files on the command line. This can be used to open files and projects in Sublime Text, as well working as an EDITOR for unix tools, such as git and subversion.

Setup🔗

Some operating systems and installation methods will require a configuration change to make subl available on the PATH.

Windows🔗

On Windows, the command line helper is subl.exe. To use this from the Command Prompt or Powershell, the Sublime Text installation folder needs to be added to the Path environment variable:

Windows 10🔗

  • Open the Start Menu and type environ

  • Select the item Edit the system environment variables

  • Click the button Environment Variables at the bottom of the System Properties dialog

  • Select, or create, the Path environment variable in the appropriate section:

    • For the current user, select Path in the User variables for {username} section

    • For all users, select Path in the System variables section

  • Click the New button and add an entry with the Sublime Text installation directory

    • 64bit installs are typically in C:\Program Files\Sublime Text\

    • 32bit installs on a 64bit version of Windows will be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Sublime Text\

    • 32bit installs on a 32bit version of Windows will be in C:\Program Files\Sublime Text\

Windows 8🔗

  • Press the Windows Key and type environ

  • Select the item Edit the system environment variables

  • Click the button Environment Variables at the bottom of the System Properties dialog

  • Select, or create, the Path environment variable in the appropriate section:

    • For the current user, select Path in the User variables for {username} section

    • For all users, select Path in the System variables section

  • In the Variable value input, add an entry with the Sublime Text installation directory. If there is an existing value, add a ; before the Sublime Text directory.

    • 64bit installs are typically in C:\Program Files\Sublime Text\

    • 32bit installs on a 64bit version of Windows will be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Sublime Text\

    • 32bit installs on a 32bit version of Windows will be in C:\Program Files\Sublime Text\

Windows 7🔗

  • Open the Start Menu

  • Right-click on Computer and select Properties

  • Click on Advanced System Settings in the left-hand sidebar

  • Click the button Environment Variables at the bottom of the System Properties dialog

  • Select, or create, the Path environment variable in the appropriate section:

    • For the current user, select Path in the User variables for {username} section

    • For all users, select Path in the System variables section

  • In the Variable value input, add an entry with the Sublime Text installation directory. If there is an existing value, add a ; before the Sublime Text directory.

    • 64bit installs are typically in C:\Program Files\Sublime Text\

    • 32bit installs on a 64bit version of Windows will be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Sublime Text\

    • 32bit installs on a 32bit version of Windows will be in C:\Program Files\Sublime Text\

Mac🔗

To use subl, the Sublime Text bin folder needs to be added to the path. For a typical installation of Sublime Text, this will be located at /Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin.

Bash🔗

If using Bash, the default before macOS 10.15, the following command will add the bin folder to the PATH environment variable:

echo 'export PATH="/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile

Zsh🔗

If using Zsh, the default starting with macOS 10.15, the following command will add the bin folder to the PATH environment variable:

echo 'export PATH="/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zprofile

Linux🔗

If Sublime Text is installed via one of the Linux Package Manager Repositories or a package, a subl symlink will automatically be installed into the /usr/bin/ directory.

If installing from a tarball, the sublime_text executable should be symlinked to subl, with a command such as:

sudo ln -s /opt/sublime_text/sublime_text /usr/local/bin/subl

The exact details of the symlink command will depend on the installation location. Most default PATH environment variable values should contain /usr/local/bin, so no further commands should be necessary.

Usage🔗

To see the available flags, run subl --help. The available flags will vary per operating system – the following example is from Linux:

Sublime Text build 4131

Usage: subl [arguments] [files]         Edit the given files
   or: subl [arguments] [directories]   Open the given directories
   or: subl [arguments] -- [files]      Edit files that may start with '-'
   or: subl [arguments] -               Edit stdin
   or: subl [arguments] - >out          Edit stdin and write the edit to stdout

Arguments:
  --project <project>:    Load the given project
  --command <command>:    Run the given command
  -n or --new-window:     Open a new window
  --launch-or-new-window: Only open a new window if the application is open
  -a or --add:            Add folders to the current window
  -w or --wait:           Wait for the files to be closed before returning
  -b or --background:     Don't activate the application
  --safe-mode:            Launch using a sandboxed (clean) environment
  -h or --help:           Show help (this message) and exit
  -v or --version:        Show version and exit

Filenames may be given a :line or :line:column suffix to open at a specific
location.

Configuring as EDITOR🔗

To use Sublime Text as the editor for many commands that prompt for input, set your EDITOR environment variable:

export EDITOR='subl -w'

Specifying -w will cause the subl command to not exit until the file is closed.