Accessing File Association Information on macOS Sonoma (14.3.1)

Accessing File Association Information in macOS Sonoma (14.3.1)

In macOS, file associations are stored in a property list (plist) file called com.apple.LaunchServices.plist, which is located in the user's preferences directory: ~/Library/Preferences/.

Understanding File Associations in macOS

File associations in macOS allow the operating system to determine which application to open when a user double-clicks a file. This information is stored in the com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file, which is used by the Launch Services framework to manage the association between file types and applications.

Finding the File Association Plist

The com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file is located in the user's preferences directory, which is typically found at ~/Library/Preferences/. This directory contains configuration files for various applications and system components. The com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file is a binary plist, which can be viewed and edited using the plutil command-line tool or a graphical editor such as Xcode.

Accessing the File Association Information

To access the file association information in the com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file, you can use the plutil command-line tool to convert the binary plist to a human-readable format, such as XML:

plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist -o -

This will output the contents of the plist to the terminal in XML format. You can then search for the file association information using a tool such as grep:

grep -A 10 'LSHandlerRoleAll' ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist.xml

This will output the file association information for all file types, including the handler role, the file extension, and the application identifier.

Updating the File Association Information

To update the file association information, you can edit the com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file using a graphical editor such as Xcode or a command-line tool such as plutil. You can then use the plutil command-line tool to convert the updated plist back to binary format:

plutil -convert binary1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist.xml -o ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist

• File associations in macOS are stored in the com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file, which is located in the user's preferences directory.
• The com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file is a binary plist, which can be viewed and edited using the plutil command-line tool or a graphical editor such as Xcode.
• To access the file association information, you can use the plutil command-line tool to convert the binary plist to a human-readable format, such as XML, and then search for the information using a tool such as grep.
• To update the file association information, you can edit the com.apple.LaunchServices.plist file using a graphical editor or a command-line tool, and then use the plutil command-line tool to convert the updated plist back to binary format.

References

• Launch Services
• LSRegisterURL
• LSUnregisterURL
• LSI