running arbitrary system commands from Ruby, on OSX and Windows

Question

I would like to open OSX windows (and Windows windows) from a ruby script. If I do

system "touch /Users/apple/Documents/thekbase-temp-files/test5.txt"

it works (creates an empty file), but this

system "mate /Users/apple/Documents/thekbase-temp-files/test5.txt"

does not open TextMate, even though it does if I type it. I feel this might be a version of this question but I just want to be sure.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Try

system "open -a textmate /Users/apple/Documents/thekbase-temp-files/test5.txt"