Mac OS X Tiger in a Nutshell

Name

system_profiler

Synopsis

system_profiler [-usage] | [-listDataTypes]
system_profiler [-xml] [dataType1 ... dataTypeN]
system_profiler [-xml] [-detailLevel -n]

Reports on the hardware and software of the system. Performs the same function as the System Profiler utility (/Applications/Utilities), except from the command line. This command replaces the AppleSystemProfiler command from Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar), located in /usr/sbin.

Options

The following options are available:

-detailLevel - level

Specify the level of detail for the report with level being one of:

short

Short report

basic

Basic hardware and network information

full

All available information

-listDataTypes

List the available datatypes for the system.

-usage

Display usage information and examples.

-xml

Generate a report in XML format. The file will have a .spx file extension, which can be opened with the System Profiler.

Examples

Generate the standard System Profiler report and display it in the Terminal:

$ system_profiler

Show a listing of the available datatypes:

$system_profiler -listDataTypes

Generate a report containing information about a specific datatype:

$ system_profiler 
                     dataTypeName

Generate an XML file containing a report that can be opened by the System Profiler utility and save it to the Desktop:

$ system_profiler -xml > ~/Desktop/SysReport.spx