When you double-click on a file in Windows, it will automatically open a default program that is configured to manage these types of files. It is common, though, want or need to use a different ...

While you can manually enter the commands to edit files in Terminal editors, in OS X you can set up a service to open files in a desired terminal editor from the Finder's contextual menu.

Though DAT files, which house data as the shortened name implies, are usually best left alone, here's how you can open them.