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man page for defaults command in High Sierra #dotfiles #bash #defaults_command
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$ man -P cat defaults | |
DEFAULTS(1) BSD General Commands Manual DEFAULTS(1) | |
NAME | |
defaults -- access the Mac OS X user defaults system | |
SYNOPSIS | |
defaults [-currentHost | -host hostname] read [domain [key]] | |
defaults [-currentHost | -host hostname] read-type domain key | |
defaults [-currentHost | -host hostname] write domain { 'plist' | key | |
'value' } | |
defaults [-currentHost | -host hostname] rename domain old_key new_key | |
defaults [-currentHost | -host hostname] delete [domain [key]] | |
defaults [-currentHost | -host hostname] { domains | find word | help } | |
DESCRIPTION | |
Defaults allows users to read, write, and delete Mac OS X user defaults | |
from a command-line shell. Mac OS X applications and other programs use | |
the defaults system to record user preferences and other information that | |
must be maintained when the applications aren't running (such as default | |
font for new documents, or the position of an Info panel). Much of this | |
information is accessible through an application's Preferences panel, but | |
some of it isn't, such as the position of the Info panel. You can access | |
this information with defaults | |
Note: Since applications do access the defaults system while they're run- | |
ning, you shouldn't modify the defaults of a running application. If you | |
change a default in a domain that belongs to a running application, the | |
application won't see the change and might even overwrite the default. | |
User defaults belong to domains, which typically correspond to individual | |
applications. Each domain has a dictionary of keys and values represent- | |
ing its defaults; for example, "Default Font" = "Helvetica". Keys are | |
always strings, but values can be complex data structures comprising | |
arrays, dictionaries, strings, and binary data. These data structures are | |
stored as XML Property Lists. | |
Though all applications, system services, and other programs have their | |
own domains, they also share a domain named NSGlobalDomain. If a default | |
isn't specified in the application's domain, but is specified in | |
NSGlobalDomain, then the application uses the value in that domain. | |
The commands are as follows: | |
read Prints all of the user's defaults, for every domain, to | |
standard output. | |
read domain Prints all of the user's defaults for domain to standard | |
output. | |
read domain key | |
Prints the value for the default of domain identified by | |
key. | |
read-type domain key | |
Prints the plist type for the given domain identified by | |
key. | |
write domain key 'value' | |
Writes value as the value for key in domain. value must be | |
a property list, and must be enclosed in single quotes. For | |
example: | |
defaults write com.companyname.appname "Default Color" '(255, 0, 0)' | |
sets the value for Default Color to an array containing the | |
strings 255, 0, 0 (the red, green, and blue components). | |
Note that the key is enclosed in quotation marks because it | |
contains a space. | |
write domain 'plist' | |
Overwrites the defaults information in domain with that | |
given as plist. plist must be a property list representa- | |
tion of a dictionary, and must be enclosed in single quotes. | |
For example: | |
defaults write com.companyname.appname '{ "Default Color" = (255, 0, 0); | |
"Default Font" = Helvetica; }'; | |
erases any previous defaults for com.companyname.appname and | |
writes the values for the two names into the defaults sys- | |
tem. | |
delete domain | |
Removes all default information for domain. | |
delete domain key | |
Removes the default named key from domain. | |
domains Prints the names of all domains in the user's defaults sys- | |
tem. | |
find word Searches for word in the domain names, keys, and values of | |
the user's defaults, and prints out a list of matches. | |
help Prints a list of possible command formats. | |
OPTIONS | |
Specifying domains: | |
domain If no flag is specified, domain is a domain name of the form | |
com.companyname.appname. Example: | |
defaults read com.apple.TextEdit | |
-app application | |
The name of an application may be provided instead of a domain | |
using the -app flag. Example: | |
defaults read -app TextEdit | |
filepath Domains may also be specified as a path to an arbitrary plist | |
file, with or without the '.plist' extension. For example: | |
defaults read ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.TextEdit/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TextEdit.plist | |
normally gives the same result as the two previous examples. | |
In the following example: | |
defaults write ~/Desktop/TestFile foo bar | |
will write the key 'foo' with the value 'bar' into the plist | |
file 'TestFile.plist' that is on the user's desktop. If the | |
file does not exist, it will be created. If it does exist, the | |
key-value pair will be added, overwriting the value of 'foo' if | |
it already existed. | |
WARNING: The defaults command will be changed in an upcoming | |
major release to only operate on preferences domains. General | |
plist manipulation utilities will be folded into a different | |
command-line program. | |
-g | -globalDomain | NSGlobalDomain | |
Specify the global domain. '-g' and '-globalDomain' may be used | |
as synonyms for NSGlobalDomain. | |
Specifying value types for preference keys: | |
If no type flag is provided, defaults will assume the value | |
is a string. For best results, use one of the type flags, | |
listed below. | |
-string Allows the user to specify a string as the value for the | |
given preference key. | |
-data Allows the user to specify a bunch of raw data bytes as the | |
value for the given preference key. The data must be pro- | |
vided in hexidecimal. | |
-int[eger] Allows the user to specify an integer as the value for the | |
given preference key. | |
-float Allows the user to specify a floating point number as the | |
value for the given preference key. | |
-bool[ean] Allows the user to specify a boolean as the value for the | |
given preference key. Value must be TRUE, FALSE, YES, or NO. | |
-date Allows the user to specify a date as the value for the given | |
preference key. | |
-array Allows the user to specify an array as the value for the | |
given preference key: | |
defaults write somedomain preferenceKey -array element1 element2 element3 | |
The specified array overwrites the value of the key if the | |
key was present at the time of the write. If the key was not | |
present, it is created with the new value. | |
-array-add Allows the user to add new elements to the end of an array | |
for a key which has an array as its value. Usage is the same | |
as -array above. If the key was not present, it is created | |
with the specified array as its value. | |
-dict Allows the user to add a dictionary to the defaults database | |
for a domain. Keys and values are specified in order: | |
defaults write somedomain preferenceKey -dict key1 value1 key2 value2 | |
The specified dictionary overwrites the value of the key if | |
the key was present at the time of the write. If the key was | |
not present, it is created with the new value. | |
-dict-add Allows the user to add new key/value pairs to a dictionary | |
for a key which has a dictionary as its value. Usage is the | |
same as -dict above. If the key was not present, it is cre- | |
ated with the specified dictionary as its value. | |
Specifying a host for preferences: | |
Operations on the defaults database normally apply to any host the user | |
may log in on, but may be restricted to apply only to a specific host. | |
If no host is provided, preferences operations will apply to | |
any host the user may log in on. | |
-currentHost | |
Restricts preferences operations to the host the user is cur- | |
rently logged in on. | |
-host hostname | |
Restricts preferences operations to hostname. | |
BUGS | |
Defaults can be structured in very complex ways, making it difficult for | |
the user to enter them with this command. | |
HISTORY | |
First appeared in NeXTStep. | |
Mac OS X Nov 3, 2003 Mac OS X | |
$ |
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