LaunchBar
| Developer(s) | Objective Development Software GmbH |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1996 |
| Stable release | 5.4 / November 8, 2012 |
| Written in | Objective-C |
| Operating system | Mac OS X |
| Available in | English, German |
| Type | Application launcher |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | http://www.obdev.at/launchbar |
LaunchBar is a launch application for Mac OS X. It provides access to user's applications and files, by entering short abbreviations of the searched item's name. It uses an adaptive algorithm that 'learns' a user's preferred abbreviations for a particular application. For example, Adobe Photoshop may be launched by simply typing 'pho' after training and Interface Builder can be opened by typing 'ib' even though that sequence of characters does not appear consecutively anywhere in the name of the application.
LaunchBar also provides capabilities beyond application launching, such as:
- browse file system
- move/copy/rename/delete files
- execute terminal commands in/on current selection
- built-in calculator
- clipboard management
- etc.
In consideration of this additional capability, LaunchBar bears greater similarity to the Windows program Find and Run Robot (FARR) than it does to simple application launchers.
History
LaunchBar began as a series of shell scripts for the NeXTSTEP platform, then migrated to OPENSTEP where it was developed into a full-fledged application. It was ported to Mac OS X in 2001 as LaunchBar 3.
See also
- Comparison of application launchers