Plutil

plutil is a program that can convert .plist files between a binary version and an XML version. Currently, there are two versions of this utility.

Apple's plutil

See also: plutil's man page

plutil: [command_option] [other_options] file...
The file '-' means stdin
Command options are (-lint is the default):
 -help		show this message and exit
 -lint		check the property list files for syntax errors
 -convert fmt	rewrite property list files in format
		fmt is one of: xml1 binary1

There are some additional optional arguments:
 -s		be silent on success
 -o path	specify alternate file path name for result;
		the -o option is used with -convert, and is only
		useful with one file argument (last file overwrites);
		the path '-' means stdout
 -e extension	specify alternate extension for converted files
 --		specifies that all further arguments are file names

Erica's plutil

plutil: [command_option] [other_options] file...
-h             show this message and exit
-l             output a list of the properties (default)
-k             list the top level property list keys
-t             create new property list(s) and exit
-c fmt         rewrite the property list in format
               fmt is one of xml1 binary1
Setting and accessing (writes to XML):
-v key         retrieve the value for key
-s key         set the value for key with the option given in -v
-i key         set int value for the key with the option given in -v
-f key         set float value for the key with the option given in -v
-0 key         set the key to the boolean value false
-1 key         set the key to the boolean value true
-r key         remove the key/value pair for key