Open multiple URLs at once (replacing browser function on startup which is horrible)?

[Diana (Cda)]

We reach tipping point sometimes.  I use the "Open a specific page or set of pages" in my browser to open a set of pages on browser startup.  But it's a serious pain to edit, however, and to keep maintained.  And I'm finally just fed up with it despite the feature's value.  I'd like to pare down the use of this function to strictly necessary pages, and get the bulk of extra URLs off into an AU3 file and text file full of links, instead.

I've searched and searched for a utility and then a script, and I found this script (original URL at the very top of it):

; Th.Aug.14.2025 - https://www.reddit.com/r/autoit/comments/1iz3odb/possible_to_open_multiple_links/
#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>

Example()

Func Example()
    ; Define the path to the text file containing the links
    Local $sFilePath = @ScriptDir & "\URL_links.txt"

    ; Read the current script file into an array using the filepath.
    Local $aArray = FileReadToArray($sFilePath)
    Local $iLineCount = @extended
    If @error Then
        MsgBox($MB_SYSTEMMODAL, "", "There was an error reading the file. @error: " & @error) ; An error occurred reading the current script file.
    Else
        For $i = 0 To $iLineCount - 1 ; Loop through the array. UBound($aArray) can also be used.
            ;MsgBox($MB_SYSTEMMODAL, "", $aArray[$i]) ; Display the contents of the array.
            ShellExecute($aArray[$i]) ;Execute each line from the file
            Sleep(500) ; Adjust the delay as needed
        Next
    EndIf
EndFunc   ;==>Example

And my text file, called "URL_links.txt" I laid out with these example URLs, as per the original message in the URL listed above:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GygBY01Qbnk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrAtBtQnvCE&list=RDLrAtBtQnvCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe5Jk7YT_JE&list=RDfe5Jk7YT_JE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44tiZ7IP7zA

But nothing happened and no error message appeared.  Was wondering if someone know what was wrong.

There may be other methods of doing this, but calling on a list within a text file seems the easiest to maintain.

Thank you!

Edited August 14 by Diana (Cda)

[argumentum]

ShellExecute() returns the PID of the running process, if that helps.
Did run the code you posted and was all good ( other than a sudden craving for peanut butter due to one of the videos ).

Nothing wrong with the code.

[Nine]

All decent web sites have a policy of excessive usage.  Maybe you fell under it. You should consider using WebDriver instead, which is lot more permissive.

[KaFu]

The result of calling ShellExecute() with only the URL as a parameter depends on which default browser you have installed.

This works fine for me with FireFox installed on an x64 system.

#Region ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****
#AutoIt3Wrapper_UseX64=y
#EndRegion ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****

$sFile = FileRead(@ScriptDir & "\URL_Links.txt")
$aLines = StringSplit($sFile, @CRLF, 1)

For $i = 1 To $aLines[0]
    ShellExecute(@ProgramFilesDir & '\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe', $aLines[$i], '', 'open')
Next

 

[ioa747]

This works for me too, with Firefox as the default browser and Win10 22H2.

Local $sTxt = ""
$sTxt &= "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GygBY01Qbnk" & @CRLF
$sTxt &= "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrAtBtQnvCE&list=RDLrAtBtQnvCE" & @CRLF
$sTxt &= "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe5Jk7YT_JE&list=RDfe5Jk7YT_JE" & @CRLF
$sTxt &= "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44tiZ7IP7zA"

$aLines = StringSplit($sTxt, @CRLF, 1)

For $i = 1 To $aLines[0]
    ConsoleWrite("$aLines[$i]=" & $aLines[$i] & @CRLF)
    ShellExecute($aLines[$i])
Next

 

Edited August 15 by ioa747
remove last @CRLF