Python "one-liner" to start a server to serve static files from a directory

server.sh

# Start an HTTP server from a directory, optionally specifying the port
function server() {
    # Default to port 8000
    local port="${1:-8000}"
 
    # Since the one-liner blocks, we open the browser beforehand. However, we want to
    # wait just a couple of seconds since the server will not be ready just yet.
    # Also, I think Linux users should be able to use 'xdg-open' ('open' is for OS X).
    ( sleep 2; open "http://localhost:${port}/" ) &
 
    python -m SimpleHTTPServer "$port"
}