The \/usr\/bin\/defaults command gives us basic command line access to the Mac OS X preferences system. I say ‘basic’ because it provides no facility for directly operating on any keys \/ values that are not at the top of the heirarchy. For example:<\/p>\n
\r\n{8} andre@werk [~] % defaults read com.apple.finder ComputerOptions\r\n{\r\n ComputerListViewColumnFlags = 1; \r\n ComputerSidebarWidth = 121; \r\n ComputerToolbarVisible = 0; \r\n ComputerUseCustomIconViewOptions = 1; \r\n ComputerUseCustomListViewOptions = 1; \r\n ComputerViewHeight = 385; \r\n ComputerViewStyle = clmv; \r\n ComputerWindowBounds = {bottom = 726; left = 1589; right = 2277; top = 341; }; \r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\nThe ComputerOptions key contains not a string or an integer, but a dict (dictionary). Note that this is different from a ‘top level’ key which is a simple key \/ value relationship, such as:<\/p>\n
\r\n{9} andre@werk [~] % defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles\r\nOFF\r\n<\/pre>\nSo, what do you do when you want to change the value of, for example, the ComputerToolbarVisible attribute in the ComputerOptions dict? With \/usr\/bin\/defaults, you’d have to read out the entire dictionary, make the change in some other mutable environment, then load the whole ComputerOptions dict back in as a plist. It works, but there’s an easier way, using a tool that’s already on your system: PlistBuddy. You’ll find this in several apple-supplied installer packages (on my system at work, I have 18 different copies of PlistBuddy scattered throughout various packages \/ receipts).<\/p>\n
Here’s how you’d twiddle the ComputerToolbarVisible attribute with PlistBuddy. Note that this is all one single command.<\/p>\n
\/Library\/Receipts\/AdditionalEssentials.pkg\/Contents\/Resources\/PlistBuddy -c \\\\\r\n\"set ComputerOptions:ComputerToolbarVisible 1\" \\\\\r\n~\/Library\/Preferences\/com.apple.finder.plist<\/pre>\nand then check the results…<\/p>\n
{14} andre@werk [~] % defaults read com.apple.finder ComputerOptions | grep Toolbar \r\n ComputerToolbarVisible = 1; <\/pre>\nExecute PlistBuddy with no arguments, and then again with -h for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The \/usr\/bin\/defaults command gives us basic command line access to the Mac OS X preferences system. I say ‘basic’ because it provides no facility for directly operating on any keys \/ values that are not at the top of the … Continue reading