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defaults is a command line utility that manipulates plist files. defaults is present in the macOS and GNUstep operating systems, and first appeared in the NeXTSTEP operating system upon which both aforementioned systems are based. The system stores each user's preferences set in a .plist file for each program stored at ~/Library/Preferences for user-specific preferences, and /Library/Preferences/ for global preferences. defaults writes to or reads from these plist files depending on the domain given.

A great advantage of the defaults system, which differentiates it from other systems, is its ability to store data in almost any format imaginable: integer, character string, floating point, binary data, dates, so-called dictionaries, or arrays of the same.

Previous versions also offered the opportunity of direct disk access.

Usage

Common uses of defaults:

$ defaults read DOMAIN # gets all
$ defaults read DOMAIN PROPERTY_NAME # gets
$ defaults write DOMAIN PROPERTY_NAME $VALUE # sets
$ defaults delete DOMAIN PROPERTY_NAME # resets a property
$ defaults delete DOMAIN # resets preferences

DOMAIN should be replaced by the plist file sans extension ('.plist'). plist files are named with reverse domain name notation. For example:

$ defaults read com.apple.iTunes # prints all iTunes preference values

plist files store keys and values. The PROPERTY_NAME key is the name of the property to modify. For example, to remove the search field from Safari's address bar:

$ defaults write com.apple.Safari AddressBarIncludesGoogle 0

or

$ defaults write com.apple.Safari AddressBarIncludesGoogle -bool NO # case-sensitive!

Replacing 0 with 1 or NO with YES or FALSE with TRUE returns the search bar to normal.

Preferences can at times corrupt applications. To reset Address Book's preferences, you would either remove the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.plist or issue the command:

$ defaults delete com.apple.AddressBook

Settings

Some example settings configurable with defaults.

References

• 
  NSUserDefaults documentation Apple Inc

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