Get key names (top level or all) from a plist

key names.sh

file="example.plist"

#ensures plist data is ASCII not binary
PLISTDATA=$(defaults export "${file}" -)

## get TOP LEVEL key names from a plist

#xmllint method .007s
#variable
xmllint --xpath "/plist/dict/key/text()" - <<< "${PLISTDATA}"
#file (if not binary plist)
xmllint --xpath "/plist/dict/key/text()" "${file}"

#xpath method .06s
#variable
xpath -e "/plist/dict/key/text()" <<< "${PLISTDATA}" 2>/dev/null  
#file
xpath -e "/plist/dict/key/text()" "${file}" 2>/dev/null  


## get ALL key names from a plist

#xmllint method .007s
#variable
xmllint --xpath "//key/text()" - <<< "${PLISTDATA}"
#file (if not binary plist)
xmllint --xpath "//key/text()" "${file}"

#xpath method .06s
#variable
xpath -e "//key/text()" <<< "${PLISTDATA}" 2>/dev/null  
#file
xpath -e "//key/text()" "${file}" 2>/dev/null  

#grep/sed method for simple plist xml .011s
#variable
grep -o '<key>[^<]*</key>' <<< "${PLISTDATA}" | sed -e 's/<key>//g' -e 's/<\/key>//g'
#file (if not binary plist)
grep -o '<key>[^<]*</key>' "${file}" | sed -e 's/<key>//g' -e 's/<\/key>//g'