plisti

Plisti are property list files used in Apple's software ecosystems to store serialized objects and configuration data. A plist is a structured data representation that supports dictionaries, arrays, and scalar types such as strings, numbers, booleans, dates, and binary data. Plisti can be found as standalone .plist files or as components within app bundles, most notably Info.plist, which provides metadata about an application.

Plisti may be encoded in XML (text) or in a binary format. XML plisti are human-readable and easier to edit with a text editor; binary plisti are compact and faster to parse. The format is defined by Apple and used across macOS, iOS, and related platforms.

Common uses include:

- App configuration and metadata stored in Info.plist, including bundle identifiers, version numbers, launch configurations.

- User defaults saved by apps and scripts through the defaults system.

- Data storage for preferences, settings, and lightweight data structures.

Creation and editing tools:

- Xcode provides a graphical plist editor and validation.

- PlistBuddy (command-line) can read, write, and modify plisti.

- plutil converts between XML and binary plisti and validates syntax.

- Many programming languages have libraries to parse and generate plisti.

Limitations and considerations:

Plisti are best suited for lightweight, hierarchical data and simple lookups. They are not ideal for large datasets or complex queries. Security considerations include avoiding the storage of sensitive information in plain text within plisti and ensuring appropriate access controls. See also: Property list, XML plist, binary plist, Info.plist.