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I use this command from the Terminal to launch a URL in Firefox:

firefox reader.google.com &

I put the ampersand at the end so that it won't put my Terminal window in the background, but Gnome just ignores this and opens a new Firefox browser window on top of the Terminal. Is there a way to launch Firefox behind the Terminal? What I want to do is continue working on the command line while the page loads, which sometimes can take a few seconds.

Volker E.
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dan
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3 Answers3

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In firefox's about:config page set preference: 

'browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground' to 'true'.
McPherrinM
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  • But this unfortunately has some undesirable side effects... e.g. the page is opened in a background tab, which I would prefer to be selected. – dan Feb 16 '10 at 23:21
  • You can muck with your window manager's "Focus Stealing Prevention" to get something closer to what you want, perhaps. – McPherrinM Feb 17 '10 at 05:55
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firefox "http://www.google.com/" &

This works for me just fine. Try using quotes and a full URL.

Mech
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  • This works so long as tabs are off. Which I might do because the above method has side effects – dan Feb 16 '10 at 23:22
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firefox & -Will just open in background and you can surf. firefox --search "your text" & could directly give you the search results for to open in separate tab or windows just try --new tab or -- new windows followed by your url. you can find it just give firefox --help in terminal

Sathya Narayan
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