plistindelingen

A plistindeling, often referred to as a property list or plist, is a structured data format used by Apple's operating systems, macOS and iOS, for storing application settings, configuration data, and other information. Plists are essentially dictionaries or arrays that can contain various data types, including strings, numbers, booleans, dates, and even nested plists. This flexibility allows developers to organize and manage application data efficiently.

Historically, plists were often stored in XML format, making them human-readable and editable with text editors. However, modern Apple systems also utilize a binary plist format, which is more compact and faster to parse, making it ideal for performance-sensitive applications. While the underlying format can differ, the conceptual structure of a plist remains consistent.

Applications use plists to store preferences, such as user interface customizations, network settings, or saved game states. They are also employed for system-level configurations, allowing the operating system to manage application behavior and resource allocation. Developers can create and manipulate plists using various programming languages and tools provided by Apple's development environment. The ability to represent complex data hierarchies makes plists a fundamental component of application development within the Apple ecosystem.