DEFAULTS

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: March 7 1995
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NAME

defaults - access the NEXTSTEP user defaults system

SYNOPSIS

defaults read [ domain_name [ key ] ]

defaults write domain_name { 'domain_rep' | domain_name key 'value_rep' }

defaults delete [ domain_name [ key ] ]

defaults { domains | find word | help }

DESCRIPTION

defaults allows users to read, write, and delete NEXTSTEP user defaults from a UNIX shell. NEXTSTEP 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 Inspector panel). Much of this information is accessible through an application's Preferences panel (or the equivalent), but some of it isn't, such as the position of the Inspector panel. You can access this information with defaults.

Note: Since applications do access the defaults system while they're running, 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 representing 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 property lists; see PropertyList(5) for more information.

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.

OPTIONS

read: Prints all of the user's defaults, for every domain, to standard output.
read domain_name: Prints all of the user's defaults for domain_name to standard output.
read domain_name key: Prints the value for the default of domain_name identified by key.
write domain_name key 'value_rep': Writes value_rep as the value for key in domain_name. value_rep must be a property list, and must be enclosed in single quotes. For example:

defaults write MyApplication "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_name 'domain_rep': Overwrites the defaults information in domain_name with that given as domain_rep. domain_rep must be a property list representation of a dictionary, and must be enclosed in single quotes. For example, this command:

defaults write MyApplication '{ "Default Color" = (255, 0, 0);
"Default Font" = Helvetica; }'

erases any previous defaults for MyApplication and writes the values for the two names into the defaults system.

delete domain_name: Removes all default information for domain_name.
delete domain_name key: Removes the default named key from domain_name.
domains: Prints the names of all domains in the user's defaults system.
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.

BUGS

Defaults can be structured in very complex ways, making it difficult for the user to enter them with this command.

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 01:00:51 GMT, September 26, 2024