Run Qt Creator from the command line

You can start Qt Creator and specify some options from the command line. For example, you can open a file to any line and column.

To use command-line options, enter the following command in the directory that contains the Qt Creator executable or specify the path to Qt Creator as a part of the command:

 qtcreator [option] [filename[:line_number[:column_number]]]

Note: You can use either a colon (:) or a plus sign (+) as a separator between the filename and line number and the line number and the column number. You can also use a space between the separator and the line number.

Examples of CLI commands

The following are examples of the commands on supported platforms when you install Qt Creator with Qt Online Installer to the default location. Change the paths as necessary.

On Windows:

  • C:\Qt\Tools\QtCreator\bin\qtcreator -help
  • C:\Qt\Tools\QtCreator\bin\qtcreator C:\TextFinder\textfinder.cpp:100:2
  • C:\Qt\Tools\QtCreator\bin\qtcreator C:\TextFinder\textfinder.cpp +100+2

On Linux:

  • ~/Qt/Tools/QtCreator/bin/qtcreator -help
  • ~/Qt/Tools/QtCreator/bin/qtcreator /src/TextFinder/textfinder.cpp:100:2
  • ~/Qt/Tools/QtCreator/bin/qtcreator /src/TextFinder/textfinder.cpp+100+2

On macOS:

  • ~/Qt/Qt\ Creator.app/Contents/MacOS/Qt\ Creator -help

Open a project from a directory

To open a project that is located in a particular directory, you can pass on the directory name as a command-line argument. Qt Creator looks for a session that matches the directory name and loads it. Or it looks for a project file in the directory and opens it.

For example, on Windows:

C:\qtcreator\bin>qtcreator.exe C:\Examples\alarms

See also Command-Line Options.