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Firefox doesn't recognize file://~?

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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When I type / in the address bar Firefox immediately realizes that it's a local path and suggests file:///. But neither ~ nor file://~ points to my home directory. I hope Firefox will recognize ~ and save me from typing /home/my_username in the address bar myself.

When I type / in the address bar Firefox immediately realizes that it's a local path and suggests file:///. But neither ~ nor file://~ points to my home directory. I hope Firefox will recognize ~ and save me from typing /home/my_username in the address bar myself.

Modified by sw

Chosen solution

Hi, Firefox is actually governed by standards here, and they explicitly call out that `~` expansion isn't supported in file:// URIs:

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8089#appendix-D.1

Unfortunately, I doubt there is much that can be done about that - it isn't a common feature across all operating systems, which is probably why the RFC has specified it in that manner.

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Chosen Solution

Hi, Firefox is actually governed by standards here, and they explicitly call out that `~` expansion isn't supported in file:// URIs:

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8089#appendix-D.1

Unfortunately, I doubt there is much that can be done about that - it isn't a common feature across all operating systems, which is probably why the RFC has specified it in that manner.

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A possible workaround is to use a keyword (fh) bookmark that adds the file path.

  • file:////home/my_username/%s