NOTE: Modified to deconflict with macOS shortcuts in /usr/bin.

I uploaded a ZIP file called shortcut-2.0.0.zip in which I replaced all shortcuts to shortcut and recompiled. Just download shortcut-2.0.0.zip and put it into /usr/local/bin or any other suitable location.

shortcut - a command line interface to your text replacements on macOS

This simple utility allows you to view, update, create and delete text substitutions used in Cocoa-based applications.

⚠️ Compatibility Warning

shortcut is built on top of macOS' private APIs (InputMethodKit.framework for 10.11, KeyboardServices.framework for 10.12+) so any OS update (especially a major one) could break the utility. If this ever happens I'll try my best to fix it as soon as possible, so stay tuned!

There're two branches in this repo: v1.x for El Capitan (10.11) and master for Sierra (10.12) and High Sierra (10.13). The former is in maintaince mode mostly so it won't receive any new features (but I'll try to backport bug fixes from master, so don't worry).

If you're installing shortcut via Homebrew the appropriate version is installed automatically based on your macOS revision.

Installation

You can install shortcut with Homebrew:

$ brew install rodionovd/taps/shortcut

Please note that you'll need Xcode in order to compile the project. If you don't use Xcode, download a pre-built binary and put it into /usr/local/bin/ or any other suitable location.

Usage

Listing all text replacements

$ shortcut read [--as-plist]

You can specify --as-plist modifier to generate a property list file suitable for dragging into Keyboard Preferences Pane (see How to export and import text substitutions in OS X for details).

Importing new entries

You can import new text replacement entries either from a property list (see above)

$ shortcut import [--force] /path/to/input.plist

or manully like this

$ shortcut create [--force] <shortcut> <phrase>

The default conflict resolution strategy is that the existing entries will not be overwritten with those from the input file/command line. You should use the --force flag to update existing entries (i.e. for the same <shortcut>).

Updating shortcut

As simple as

$ shortcut update <shortcut> <new phrase>

Currently this command is an alias for the create --force command.

Deleting shortcut

$ shortcut delete <shortcut>

Well that's it.

---

Made by Internals Exposed @ 2016-2018.