Python webbrowser.open() to open Chrome browser

Question

According to the documentation http://docs.python.org/3.3/library/webbrowser.html it's supposed to open in the default browser, but for some reason on my machine it opens IE. I did a google search and I came across an answer that said I need to register browsers, but I'm not sure how to use webbrowser.register() and the documentation doesn't seem to be very clear. How do I register Chrome so that urls I pass to webbrowser.open() open in Chrome instead of IE?

Weatherboarding

I managed to fix it just by having "https://" in front of the URL and it worked properly. When I didn't it opened in Edge. – Gresham

Answer 1

You can call get() with the path to Chrome. Below is an example - replace chrome_path with the correct path for your platform.

import webbrowser

url = 'http://docs.python.org/'

# MacOS
chrome_path = 'open -a /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app %s'

# Windows
# chrome_path = 'C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe %s'

# Linux
# chrome_path = '/usr/bin/google-chrome %s'

webbrowser.get(chrome_path).open(url)

Tallis

how would I open chrome in kiosk mode for linux with this? – Excelsior

NOT working. it execute chrome but not exiting. How to execute the chrome and make sure its opened then move to next actions? – Wavemeter

Linux file access permissions may prevent Google Chrome from loading, e.g. user access vs. root access. I have two versions of Chrome installed. One for root and one for user. – Relinquish

@Christian do you know why "Path/file.exe %s" works but not this: (r"Path/file.exe") or str(Path/file.exe) ? – Fidellas

what is the difference between webbrowser library and selenium – Draghound

I have done it and yes it displays any web when play in console but it is not pop up when execute under task schedulers. You have any idea the reason behind it.. – Loria

Answer 2

In the case of Windows, the path uses a UNIX-style path, so make the backslash into forward slashes.

webbrowser.get("C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe %s").open("http://google.com")

See: Python: generic webbrowser.get().open() for chrome.exe does not work

Procrustes

this helped me immensely – Kitti

NOT working. It execute the Chrome but then it does not exit. – Wavemeter

@zacharias any idea why "Path/browser.exe %s" works but not this: (r"Path/browser.exe") or (str(Path/browser.exe))? – Fidellas

don't work: webbrowser.get("path") webbrowser.open("url") Work: webbrowser.get("path").open("url") (any idea why?) – Fidellas

Thanks! It worked :) Can you tell me how can I get response aswell from browser in python? In my case Its just simple JSON in response – Affinitive

its working nicely in my machine but the web does not pop up when execute under task scheduler. Any idea what went wrong??? – Loria

Answer 3

import webbrowser 
new = 2 # open in a new tab, if possible

# open a public URL, in this case, the webbrowser docs
url = "http://docs.python.org/library/webbrowser.html"
webbrowser.get(using='google-chrome').open(url,new=new)

you can use any other browser by changing the parameter 'using' as given in a link

Crystalcrystalline

For open a new tab you can use webbrowser.get(using='google-chrome').open_new_tab(url) – Ironbark

This solution throws an exception 'could not locate runnable browser' – Happygolucky

Answer 4

you can also use this:

import webbrowser

chrome_path = r"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"
url = "http://docs.python.org/"

webbrowser.register('chrome', None, webbrowser.BackgroundBrowser(chrome_path))
webbrowser.get('chrome').open_new_tab(url)

Altar

This absolutely worked for me. Thanks! Would you mind explaining a little bit about the usage of "webbrowser.register"? It's hard to understand what role "None" and "BackgroundBrowser". – Shoelace

Answer 5

Please check this:

import webbrowser
chrome_path = 'C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe %s'
webbrowser.get(chrome_path).open('http://docs.python.org/')

Deberadeberry

Answer 6

worked for me to open new tab on google-chrome:

import webbrowser

webbrowser.open_new_tab("http://www.google.com")

Humoresque

Me too, but only after I made Chrome my default browser. – Cioban

Answer 7

Here's a somewhat robust way to get the path to Chrome.

(Note that you should do this only if you specifically need Chrome, and not the default browser, or Chromium, or something else.)

def try_find_chrome_path():
    result = None
    if _winreg:
        for subkey in ['ChromeHTML\\shell\\open\\command', 'Applications\\chrome.exe\\shell\\open\\command']:
            try: result = _winreg.QueryValue(_winreg.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, subkey)
            except WindowsError: pass
            if result is not None:
                result_split = shlex.split(result, False, True)
                result = result_split[0] if result_split else None
                if os.path.isfile(result):
                    break
                result = None
    else:
        expected = "google-chrome" + (".exe" if os.name == 'nt' else "")
        for parent in os.environ.get('PATH', '').split(os.pathsep):
            path = os.path.join(parent, expected)
            if os.path.isfile(path):
                result = path
                break
    return result

Cholent

Your method looks promising but your answer is incomplete. What Python libraries are you importing to get your method to work? I get an error message: "NameError: name '_winreg' is not defined". – Galan

@RichLysakowskiPhD: docs.python.org/2/library/_winreg.html – Cholent

Thanks for your superfast answer. You replied within 2 minutes! The following imports were missing in your example: import os, winreg, shlex. And then the only other thing needed was to change the variable "_winreg" to "winreg" since in Python 3 the name was changed to remove the leading underscore. – Galan

Here is the updated URL for Python 3.8 to 3.10 production versions: docs.python.org/3.8/library/winreg.html OR docs.python.org/3.10/library/winreg.html – Galan

Answer 8

Made this for a game I play, it was relevant so i'm leaving it. It's real simple. Grabs the value from platform.system. Checks it against known values for different operating systems. If it finds a match it sets the chrome path for you. If none are found it opens default browser to your link. Hope its useful to someone.

import time
import os
import webbrowser
import platform

user_OS = platform.system()
chrome_path_windows = 'C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe %s'
chrome_path_linux = '/usr/bin/google-chrome %s'
chrome_path_mac = 'open -a /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app %s'
chrome_path = ''
game_site_link = 'https://www.gamelink'

if user_OS == 'Windows':
    chrome_path = chrome_path_windows
elif user_OS == 'Linux':
    chrome_path = chrome_path_linux
elif user_OS == 'Darwin':
    chrome_path = chrome_path_mac
elif user_OS == 'Java':
    chrome_path = chrome_path_mac
else:
    webbrowser.open_new_tab(game_site_link)

webbrowser.get(chrome_path).open_new_tab(game_site_link) 

I actually changed it some more here it is updated since I am still working on this launcher

import time
import webbrowser
import platform
import subprocess
import os
import sys

privateServerLink = 'https://www.roblox.com/games/2414851778/TIER-20-Dungeon-Quest?privateServerLinkCode=GXVlmYh0Z7gwLPBf7H5FWk3ClTVesorY'
userBrowserC = input(str("Browser Type: chrome, opera, iexplore, firefox : "))
userSleepTime = int(input("How long do you want it to run?"))
if userBrowserC == 'opera':
    userBrowserD = 'launcher.exe'
else:
    userBrowserD = userBrowserC

if userBrowserC == "chrome":
    taskToKill = "chrome.exe"
else:
    taskToKill = "iexplore.exe"

if userBrowserC == 'chrome' and platform.system() == 'Windows':
     browserPath = 'C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe %s'
elif userBrowserC == 'chrome' and platform.system() == 'Linux':
    browserPath = '/usr/bin/google-chrome %s'
elif userBrowserC == 'chrome' and platform.system() == 'Darwin' or 
platform.system() == 'Java':
    browserPath = 'open -a /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app %s'
elif userBrowserC == 'opera' and platform.system() == 'Windows':
    browserPath = 'C:/Users/'+ os.getlogin() +'/AppData/Local/Programs/Opera/launcher.exe'
elif userBrowserC == 'iexplore' and platform.system() == 'Windows':
    browserPath = 'C:/Program Files/internet explorer/iexplore.exe %s'
elif userBrowserC == 'firefox' and platform.system() == 'Windows':
    browserPath = 'C:/Program Files/Mozilla Firefox/firefox.exe'
else:
    browserPath = ''
while 1 == 1:   
    subprocess.Popen('SynapseX.exe')
    time.sleep(7)
    webbrowser.get(browserPath).open_new_tab(privateServerLink)
    time.sleep(7)  
    os.system('taskkill /f /im '+taskToKill)
    time.sleep(userSleepTime)

Fritzie

Answer 9

One thing I noticed and ran into problems with were the slashes, in Windows you need to have two of them in the path an then this works fine.

import webbrowser
chrome_path = "C://Program Files (x86)//Google//Chrome//Application//Chrome.exe %s"
webbrowser.get(chrome_path).open("https://github.com/")

This at least works for me

Scrutator

Answer 10

Uhh...Hey You can Quickly Solve this Issue By adding https:// Lemme Show it Below -

import webbrowser
URL = "https://www.python.org"
webbrowser.open(URL)

Miscalculate

Answer 11

Worked for me in windows

Put the path of your chrome application and do not forget to put th %s at the end. I am still trying to open the browser with html code without saving the file... I will add the code when I'll find how.

import webbrowser
chromedir= "C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe %s"
webbrowser.get(chromedir).open("http://pythonprogramming.altervista.org")

>>> link to: [a page from my blog where I explain this]<<<

Audacity

Answer 12

If you have set the default browser in windows then you can do this:

open_google = webbrowser.get('windows-default').open('https://google.com')

// OR

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

Liaoning

It uses webbrowser module so don't forget to import it by:import webbrowser Remember, you can also do this using selenium. – Liaoning

Answer 13

if sys.platform[:3] == "win":
    # First try to use the default Windows browser
    register("windows-default", WindowsDefault)

    # Detect some common Windows browsers, fallback to IE
    iexplore = os.path.join(os.environ.get("PROGRAMFILES", "C:\\Program Files"),
                            "Mozilla Firefox\\FIREFOX.EXE")
    for browser in ("firefox", "firebird", "seamonkey", "mozilla",
                    "netscape", "opera", iexplore):
        if shutil.which(browser):
            register(browser, None, BackgroundBrowser(browser))

100% Work....See line number 535-545..Change the path of iexplore to firefox or Chrome According to your requirement... in my case change path I Mention in the above code for firefox setting......

Fukuoka

Answer 14

Something like this should work:

from selenium import webdriver
#driver = webdriver.Firefox()
driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("http://www.python.org")

Blackmarketeer

Above code will be open the URL in both Firefox and Chrome Browser instead default browser (IE) – Blackmarketeer

This isn't even using the same library? – Tricrotic

Answer 15

I found an answer to my own question raised by @mehrdad's answer below. To query the browser path from Windows in a generic way @mehrdad gives a nice short code that uses the Windows Registry, but did not include quite enough context to get it working.

import os 
import winreg
import shlex

def try_find_chrome_path():
    result = None
    if winreg:
        for subkey in ['ChromeHTML\\shell\\open\\command', 'Applications\\chrome.exe\\shell\\open\\command']:
            try: result = winreg.QueryValue(winreg.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, subkey)
            except WindowsError: pass
            if result is not None:
                result_split = shlex.split(result, False, True)
                result = result_split[0] if result_split else None
                if os.path.isfile(result):
                    break
                result = None
    else:
        expected = "google-chrome" + (".exe" if os.name == 'nt' else "")
        for parent in os.environ.get('PATH', '').split(os.pathsep):
            path = os.path.join(parent, expected)
            if os.path.isfile(path):
                result = path
                break
    return result

print(try_find_chrome_path())

Thanks for the answer @mehrdad !!

Galan

Answer 16

When you have an invalid URL (make sure that the url starts with https:// or http://, and if it doesn't, add it), it generally opens defaults IE.

Streit

Answer 17

believe me or not this is the easiest way to do

webbrowser.open("www.stackoverflow.com")#just remove https:// or http:// and simply add www.something.com

take this url for example

https://something.com

if you will give this url: https://something.com or something.com it will be opened in IE

But if you will type it in this way: www.something.com it will be opened in chrome

You can try this and this will work!

(NOTE: If it has some another suffix like take https://meet.google.com for example if you try to add www. to it, your browser will throw a typo error )

Rebut

Answer 18

I think I found a workaround too

• Method 1 ( replace / with \ )

...
expression = "https://mcmap.net/q/269359/-python-webbrowser-open-to-open-chrome-browser"

if ("https:" in expression) or ("http:" in expression):
    expression = expression.replace("/", "\\")
    web.open_new_tab(expression.strip())
...

• Method 2 ( use www as many of u suggested )

...
expression = "www.python.org"

if "www." in expression:
    web.open_new_tab(expression.strip())
...

Rationale

Answer 19

Keep it simple:

I want to be able to launch different browsers, because they have a different default theme and their displays look different on my computer.

Here is an approach that parameterizes the URL string to dynamically create the URL with the browser name "on the fly".

import subprocess

browser_type = "chrome"  # Replace the value with "edge" or "firefox"

location_url = "https://mcmap.net/q/270829/-how-to-open-a-new-default-browser-window-in-python-when-the-default-is-chrome{browser_type}"

command_fstring = f"cmd /c start firefox {location_url} --new-window"

subprocess.Popen(command_string, shell=True)

To give credit where it is due, this is based on the answer by @Sharath on this page: Web browser chrome, can't open URL in new window, keeps opening URL as a tab

Galan

Answer 20

In Selenium to get the URL of the active tab try,

from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Firefox()
print driver.current_url # This will print the URL of the Active link

Sending a signal to change the tab

driver.find_element_by_tag_name('body').send_keys(Keys.CONTROL + Keys.TAB)

and again use

print driver.current_url

I am here just providing a pseudo code for you.

You can put this in a loop and create your own flow.

I new to Stackoverflow so still learning how to write proper answers.

Optometrist

Answer 21

at least in Windows it has to be enough and you do not have to take care about path to the browser.

import webbrowser

url = 'https://stackoverflow.com'

webbrowser.open(url)

Note: With the above lines of code, it only opens in windows defualt browser(Microsoft Edge).

Pentarchy