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oam/knowledge base/mac os x/defaults.md
Michele Cereda b757d94e10 chore(brew): dump new findings
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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 can only be accessed using defaults.

User defaults belong to domains, which typically correspond to individual applications.
Each domain has a dictionary of keys and values representing its defaults. 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.

The NSGlobalDomain domain is a special global domain shared by all applications, system services.
If a default isn't specified in the application's domain but is specified in NSGlobalDomain, then the application falls back to the value in NSGlobalDomain.

Table of contents

  1. TL;DR
  2. Further readings

TL;DR

# List available domains.
defaults domains


# Read values.
# defaults read 'domain'
# defaults read 'domain' 'key'
defaults read 'com.apple.dock'
defaults read -app 'Docker' 'SUHasLaunchedBefore'
defaults read '/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.smb.server' 'NetBIOSName'


# Write or overwrite values.
# defaults write 'domain' 'key' 'value'
# defaults write 'domain' 'plist'
defaults write 'com.apple.dock' 'springboard-columns' -int '9'
defaults write -app 'DeSmuME' 'CoreControl_EnableCheats' -bool 'TRUE'
defaults write '/Users/user/Library/Preferences/org.raspberrypi.Imager' 'imagecustomization.keyboardLayout' 'us'

# Show hidden apps indicators in the dock.
defaults write 'com.apple.dock' 'showhidden' -bool 'TRUE'

# Change the number of columns and rows in the springboard.
defaults write 'com.apple.dock' 'springboard-columns' -int '9'
defaults write 'com.apple.dock' 'springboard-rows' -int '7'

# Force Finder to always display hidden files.
defaults write 'com.apple.finder' 'AppleShowAllFiles' 'TRUE'

# Prevent Finder to create .DS_Store files on network shares.
defaults write 'com.apple.desktopservices' 'DSDontWriteNetworkStores' true


# Delete values.
# This resets changes done previously (a.k.a. restores defaults).
# defaults delete 'domain'
# defaults delete 'domain' 'key'
defaults delete 'com.apple.dock'
defaults delete 'com.apple.dock' 'springboard-columns'
defaults delete -app 'VLC'

# Reset changes to the launchpad.
defaults delete 'com.apple.dock' 'springboard-rows'
defaults delete 'com.apple.dock' 'springboard-columns'
defaults write 'com.apple.dock' 'ResetLaunchPad' -bool 'TRUE'

# Hide Bluesnooze's menu bar icon.
defaults write 'com.oliverpeate.Bluesnooze' 'hideIcon' -bool true && killall 'Bluesnooze'

# Restore Bluesnooze's menu bar icon.
defaults delete 'com.oliverpeate.Bluesnooze' 'hideIcon' && killall 'Bluesnooze'

Note: once set something related to the dock, one'll probably need to restart it with killall Dock.

Further readings