How to read a Property List (plist) into the code

When I want to keep some information or configuration out of a code base and don't want something fancy, I usually save it as Property List file (.plist).

Create a plist file

To create a plist file, it just as simple as creating a new class.

1. Click menu File > New > File... (⌘ - CMD + N).)
2. Under Resource section, select Property List
3. That's it

You can easily support sarunw.com by checking out this sponsor.

AI Grammar: Correct grammar, spell check, check punctuation, and parphrase.

Try it for Free

Read a plist file

There are two ways that I usually use to read it back (There is only one now since another one is deprecated, but I will leave it here for completeness).

NSDictionary and NSArray Deprecated

Dictionary

I use this since the Objective-C time. You can read it directly to NSDictionary.

var config: [String: Any]?
if let infoPlistPath = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Config", ofType: "plist"),
   let dict = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: infoPlistPath) as? [String: Any] {
    config = dict
}

Array

The root level of Property List can be either Array or Dictionary, so you can also read it to NSArray if your plist is an array.

var config: [Any]?
if let infoPlistPath = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Config", ofType: "plist"),
   let arr = NSArray(contentsOfFile: infoPlistPath) as? [Any]
{
    config = arr
}

Too bad, the above solutions are deprecated. Both NSArray and NSDictionary initializer are deprecated in iOS 11.

PropertyListSerialization

Since iOS 4, with a help of .propertyList(from:options:format:) in PropertyListSerialization, we can deserialize plist into Dictionary and Array. It might a bit verbose, but it get the job done.

Dictionary

var config: [String: Any]?
if let infoPlistPath = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "Config", withExtension: "plist") {
    do {
        let infoPlistData = try Data(contentsOf: infoPlistPath)
        
        if let dict = try PropertyListSerialization.propertyList(from: infoPlistData, options: [], format: nil) as? [String: Any] {
            config = dict
        }
    } catch {
        print(error)
    }
}

Array

The only difference between getting array and dictionary here is just a matter of casting.

var config: [Any]?
if let infoPlistPath = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "Config", withExtension: "plist") {
    do {
        let infoPlistData = try Data(contentsOf: infoPlistPath)
        
        if let arr = try PropertyListSerialization.propertyList(from: infoPlistData, options: [], format: nil) as? [Any] {
            config = arr
        }
    } catch {
        print(error)
    }
}

These are a quick way of saving and reading data from a file.

You can easily support sarunw.com by checking out this sponsor.

AI Grammar: Correct grammar, spell check, check punctuation, and parphrase.

Try it for Free

Related Resources

• Property List Programming Guide
• Apple Documentation – NSDictionary
• Apple Documentation – NSArray
• Apple Documentation – PropertyListSerialization