Search code examples
linuxxcodebashmacosplist

Extract only the <key> in plist using bash in Mac

I want to extract the key value in Countries in the following plist. For example, I want the output file contains the following keys only:

USA
ITALY

But if I use the following script, It will print all the nested element under Countries including: Capital Washington DC Continent North America.

How can I modify the script so that it will only print the keys under Countries?

output=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy "$infoplistPath/Info.plist" -c "Print :Nation:Countries")

Here is the plist:

<dict>
<key>Nation</key>
<dict>
   <key>Countries</key>
    <dict>
        <key>USA</key>
        <dict>
           <key>Capital</key>
           <string>Washington DC</string>
           <key>Continent</key>
           <string>North America</string>
        </dict>
           <key>Italy</key>
        <dict>
           <key>Capital</key>
           <string>Rome</string>
           <key>Continent</key>
           <string>Europe</string>
        </dict>
    </dict>
 </dict>
</dict>
Solution

  • I couldn't find a way to do with PlistBuddy directly, but with some tinkering, I was able to process the output to get what you want:

    output=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy "$infoplistPath/Info.plist" -c "Print :Nation:Countries" | grep Dict | sed 's/^\(.*\) =.*/\1/g' | grep -v "Dict {" | awk '{print $1}')

    When you echo the contents of $output it comes back with this:

    $ echo $output
USA Italy