defaults Command Examples

Read and write macOS user configuration for applications. More information: https://keith.github.io/xcode-man-pages/defaults.1.html.

• Read system defaults for an application option:

defaults read "{{application}}" "{{option}}"

• Read default values for an application option:

defaults read -app "{{application}}" "{{option}}"

• Search for a keyword in domain names, keys, and values:

defaults find "{{keyword}}"

• Write the default value of an application option:

defaults write "{{application}}" "{{option}}" {{-type}} {{value}}

• Speed up Mission Control animations:

defaults write com.apple.Dock expose-animation-duration -float 0.1

• Delete all defaults of an application:

defaults delete "{{application}}"