Coding⏱️ 3 min read📅 2026-06-11

How to Fix: Error Updating plist file using bash

Error updating plist file using bash, fix for '[My Value]' string.

Quick Answer: Use single-quoting to enclose the string: "[My Value]"

📋 Table of Contents

  1. 🔍 Why This Happens
  2. 🔧 Proven Troubleshooting Steps
  3. ✨ Wrapping Up

Error Updating plist file using bash: When trying to update a plist file using bash, users may encounter an error message indicating that certain characters cannot be parsed. This issue affects users who are attempting to update plist files with strings containing square brackets or other special characters.

This frustration can arise when the characters '[' and ']' are used in strings within the plist file. The error message suggests using single-quoting, but this does not provide a solution for all cases.

🔍 Why This Happens

  • The primary cause of this issue is the use of square brackets and other special characters in the string values being written to the plist file. These characters are not properly escaped or quoted, causing the parser to fail.
  • An alternative reason for this issue could be related to the encoding or character set used when writing the string values. If the string values contain non-ASCII characters, it may require special handling to ensure correct parsing.

🔧 Proven Troubleshooting Steps

Using Single Quoting to Escape Special Characters

  1. Step 1: Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where your plist file is located.
  2. Step 2: Use the defaults command with single quoting to write the string value: defaults write '/Users/test/Desktop/myPlist' 'My Key' '[My Value]'
  3. Step 3: Verify that the plist file has been updated correctly by checking its contents using the defaults read command.

Using Escaping or Encoding to Handle Special Characters

  1. Step 1: Use escaping characters (e.g., \[ and "]) to properly quote special characters in the string values being written to the plist file.
  2. Step 2: Alternatively, use a character encoding library or tool to ensure that non-ASCII characters are handled correctly when writing to the plist file.

✨ Wrapping Up

By following these steps and understanding the root causes of this issue, users should be able to resolve the error updating plist files using bash. Remember to always properly quote special characters and handle non-ASCII characters to avoid similar issues in the future.

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