docs/plistutil.1

.TH "plistutil" 1
.SH NAME
plistutil \- Convert a plist FILE between binary, XML, and JSON format
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B plistutil
[OPTIONS]
[-i FILE]
[-o FILE]
.SH DESCRIPTION
plistutil allows converting a Property List file between binary, XML, and JSON format.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-i, \-\-infile FILE
Input FILE to convert from. If this argument is omitted or - is passed as
filename, plistutil will read from stdin.
.TP
.B \-o, \-\-outfile FILE
Output FILE to convert to. If this argument is omitted or - is passed as
filename, plistutil will write to stdout.
.TP
.B \-f, \-\-format [bin|xml|json|openstep]
Force output format, regardless of input type. This is useful if the input
format is not known, but the output format should always be in a specific
format (like xml or json).

If omitted, XML plist data will be converted to binary and vice-versa. To
convert to/from JSON or OpenStep the output format needs to specified.
.TP
.B \-p, \-\-print FILE
Print PList in human-readable format.
.TP
.B \-n, \-\-nodepath PATH
Restrict output to nodepath defined by
.I PATH
which selects a specific node within the plist document.
A node path describes traversal through dictionaries and arrays using / to
separate the components.
Traversal begins at the root node and proceeds from left to right.
Each component selects a child of the current node.
If the current node is a dictionary, the component is interpreted as a
dictionary key name.
If the current node is an array, the component must be a non-negative decimal
integer specifying the array index (0-based).

Given the following structure:
.PP
.RS
.nf
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Users</key>
  <array>
    <dict>
      <key>Name</key>
      <string>Alice</string>
    </dict>
    <dict>
      <key>Name</key>
      <string>Bob</string>
    </dict>
  </array>
</dict>
</plist>
.fi

A nodepath of:
.TP
\f[B]Users\f[] resolves to the entire array.
.TP
\f[B]Users/0\f[] resolves to the first dictionary in the array.
.TP
\f[B]Users/0/Name\f[] resolves to the string value "Alice".
.TP
\f[B]Users/1/Name\f[] resolves to the string value "Bob".
.RE

.TP
.B \-c, \-\-compact
JSON and OpenStep only: Print output in compact form. By default, the output
will be pretty-printed.
.TP
.B \-s, \-\-sort
Sort all dictionary nodes lexicographically by key before converting to the output format.
.TP
.B \-h, \-\-help
Prints usage information.
.TP
.B \-d, \-\-debug
Enabled extended debug output.
.TP
.B \-v, \-\-version
Print version information
.SH EXAMPLES
.TP
.B plistutil -i test.plist -o out.plist
Convert test.plist and write to out.plist. If test.plist is in XML format,
out.plist will be in binary format. If test.plist is in binary format,
out.plist will be in XML format.
.TP
.B plistutil -i test.plist -o out.plist -f bin
Same as before, but the output will always be in binary format.
.TP
.B plistutil -i test.plist -f xml
Print test.plist as XML plist, regardless of the input format.
.TP
.B plistutil -i test.plist -f xml -o -
Same as before.
.TP
.B plistutil -i test.plist -f json
Print test.plist as JSON plist, regardless of the input format.
.TP
.B cat test.plist |plistutil -f xml
Take plist data from stdin - piped via cat - and write the output as XML
to stdout.
.SH AUTHORS
Zach C.

Martin Szulecki

Nikias Bassen
.SH ON THE WEB
https://libimobiledevice.org

https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libplist