ds
User Defaults Plist → Shell Script converter.
- Made for dotfiles
- Written in Bash
- Tested on Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur (Although not tested, it should work with older OSes)
Installation
Homebrew
brew install aerobounce/tap/dsUsage
ds (-d | domain) <(domain | plist-path)>
ds (-c | currentHost) <domain>
ds (-s | save)
ds (-e | --regex) <pattern> (-d | domain) <(domain | plist-path)>
ds (-e | --regex) <pattern> (-c | currentHost) <domain>
ds (-e | --regex) <pattern> (-s | save)Examples
Regular expression filtering:
### Case Insensitive
$ ds -e '(?i)show' -d "com.apple.finder"
defaults write com.apple.finder "AppleShowAllFiles" -boolean true
defaults write com.apple.finder "ShowHardDrivesOnDesktop" -boolean false
defaults write com.apple.finder "ShowPathbar" -boolean true
...
### Ignore specific keys with an exception
$ ds -e '^(SUEnableAutomaticChecks|(?!SU|NSWindow|NSSplitView|MSApp|NSToolbar).)*$' \
-d "com.flexibits.fantastical2.mac"
# With this example above, ds skips any keys that start with:
# "SU", "NSWindow", "NSSplitView", "MSApp", "NSToolbar".
# However, "SUEnableAutomaticChecks" is the exception and will not be skipped.
If you came up with other useful expressions, please let me know.
See the preferences of Dock.app on the fly:
$ ds -d com.apple.dockSee the preferences of Music.app on the fly:
$ ds -d com.apple.music
# Dump CurrentHost plist (Note that you just replace `-d` with `-c`, not `-c -d ...`)
$ ds -c com.apple.musicPipe the result into any command you like:
$ ds -d com.apple.dock | <subl | less | ...>Export all the user defaults as shell script:
$ ds saveScript that resets preferences of an app while preserving your settings:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
trap 'killall Finder ; open -a Finder >/dev/null 2>&1' EXIT
defaults remove com.apple.finder
defaults write com.apple.finder "AppleShowAllFiles" -boolean true
defaults write com.apple.finder "DisableAllAnimations" -boolean true
..."Convert" User Defaults?
With defaults, you get either of these:
NeXTStep Format
$ defaults read com.apple.dock
{
autohide = 1;
"autohide-delay" = 0;
...XML Property Lists
$ defaults export com.apple.dock -
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>autohide</key>
<true/>
<key>autohide-delay</key>
<real>0.0</real>
...With ds, you'll get this:
Shell Script
$ ds -d com.apple.dock
#!/usr/bin/env bash
defaults write com.apple.dock "autohide" -boolean true
defaults write com.apple.dock "autohide-delay" -float 0.0
...