Editor or way to print plist in a clean way without Xcode

Question

I need to share information from a plist with someone who is not technically inclined. Is there a common free editor that one can use to view plist info in a similar way in which it is presented in Xcode? Or is there a way to print it out?

In other words I would like to view the plist without all the xml-like mark up and without the use of Xcode.

Answer 1

Command-line options for viewing Plist files:

• For viewing only: Use plutil -p, which prints the content of a property-list in JSON-like format (the format is meant for human consumption only).

Example (append | open -tf to view output in a text editor):

plutil -p ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist

• Alternative: Use /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c print, which outputs in JavaScript-object-literal-like format:

Example:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c print ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.airplay.plist

Caveat: If the plist has properties containing binary data, PlistBuddy will include it in raw form (by contrast, non-binary properties in the same file are printed properly). If XML output is desired, add option -x.

Note that PlistBuddy:

• can be used to extract properties selectively using :-separated, case-sensitive property paths; e.g., /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'print :favorites:ShowRemovable' ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
• is also capable of modifying Plist files from the command line (including, with limitations, importing from previously exported-to XML files).

See /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -h for details.