Apple - Replace Text Edit as the default text editor

Another option is to use duti (https://github.com/moretension/duti).

Run brew install duti, save a filetype like this as:

duti -s com.sublimetext.3 public.plain-text all

The changes should be applied immediately, so you don't have to restart like when editing com.apple.LaunchServices.plist.

To also change the default application for executable scripts with no filename extension, add a line like this:

duti -s com.sublimetext.3 public.unix-executable all

Some files are also considered 'public.data', not 'public.plain-text', so you can do this as well:

duti -s com.sublimetext.3 public.data all

To set Sublime Text as the default handler for public.plain-text:

Mavericks (10.9) and earlier

defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices \
    LSHandlers -array-add \
    '{LSHandlerContentType=public.plain-text;LSHandlerRoleAll=com.sublimetext.3;}'

---

Yosemite (10.10) and later

Use com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure.

defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure \
    LSHandlers -array-add \
    '{LSHandlerContentType=public.plain-text;LSHandlerRoleAll=com.sublimetext.3;}'

Remember to restart to pick up the changes.

I tried grg's solution in the past and I believe it worked. However, on Yosemite and El Capitan, I ran into problems.

DonnaLea's comment in that solution clued me in on creating a solution. I added the folder path before com.apple.launchservices additionally the file had a slightly different name com.apple.launchservices.secure.

You can see the file/folders being modified in the following path:

/user/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure.plist

Screenshot for reference: [![enter image description here][1]][1]

Here's the command I used in terminal:

defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure LSHandlers -array-add \
'{LSHandlerContentType=public.plain-text;LSHandlerRoleAll=com.sublimetext.3;}'

Lastly, after a restart to my machine it worked as advertised. [1]: http://i.stack.imgur.com/qQOQg.jpg