Export Safari bookmarks and folder structure to ~/bookmarks.csv

export-safari-bookmarks.swift

import Foundation

// Define the file path to save the CSV
let filePath = FileManager.default.homeDirectoryForCurrentUser.appendingPathComponent("bookmarks.csv")

// Create the CSV file if it doesn't exist
if !FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: filePath.path) {
    FileManager.default.createFile(atPath: filePath.path, contents: nil, attributes: nil)
}

// Open the file handle for writing
guard let fileHandle = try? FileHandle(forWritingTo: filePath) else {
    print("Failed to open file for writing.")
    exit(1)
}
defer {
    fileHandle.closeFile()
}

// Write the CSV headers
let headers = "Website name,URL,Bookmark path\n"
fileHandle.write(headers.data(using: .utf8)!)

// Get all bookmarks
let bookmarksPlistPath = "\(NSHomeDirectory())/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist"
let bookmarksData = try! Data(contentsOf: URL(fileURLWithPath: bookmarksPlistPath))
let plist = try! PropertyListSerialization.propertyList(from: bookmarksData, options: [], format: nil)

// Recursive function to get all bookmarks with their parent folders
func getAllBookmarks(bookmarks: [[String: Any]], parentFolders: [String]) -> [[String]] {
    var results: [[String]] = []
    for bookmark in bookmarks {
        if let url = bookmark["URLString"] as? String,
           let uriDictionary = bookmark["URIDictionary"] as? [String: Any],
           let name = uriDictionary["title"] as? String {
            let bookmarkPath = parentFolders.joined(separator: " > ")
            results.append([name, url, bookmarkPath])
        }
        if let children = bookmark["Children"] as? [[String: Any]] {
            let newParentFolders = parentFolders + [bookmark["Title"] as! String]
            results += getAllBookmarks(bookmarks: children, parentFolders: newParentFolders)
        }
    }
    return results
}

// Call the recursive function to get all bookmarks with their parent folders
let allBookmarks = getAllBookmarks(bookmarks: (plist as! NSDictionary)["Children"] as! [[String: Any]], parentFolders: [])

// Write the bookmarks to the CSV
for bookmark in allBookmarks {
    let line = "\(bookmark[0]),\(bookmark[1]),\(bookmark[2])\n"
    fileHandle.write(line.data(using: .utf8)!)
}

print("Bookmarks exported to: \(filePath)")

I gave this a try but I am not sure what went wrong:

./export-safari-bookmarks.swift: line 3: //: is a directory
./export-safari-bookmarks.swift: line 4: syntax error near unexpected token `('
./export-safari-bookmarks.swift: line 4: `let filePath = FileManager.default.homeDirectoryForCurrentUser.appendingPathComponent("bookmarks.csv")'

Thank you for taking the time to try out the code. It appears that the program required an existing bookmarks.csv file, which might have caused some confusion. I have addressed this issue and updated the code to create the file automatically if it doesn't exist. This modification should eliminate the need for a pre-existing bookmarks.csv file.

Thank you for the response! I have tried the new code, but ran into similar issues

./export-safari-bookmarks-new.swift
./export-safari-bookmarks-new.swift: line 1: import: command not found
./export-safari-bookmarks-new.swift: line 3: //: is a directory
./export-safari-bookmarks-new.swift: line 4: syntax error near unexpected token `('
./export-safari-bookmarks-new.swift: line 4: `let filePath = FileManager.default.homeDirectoryForCurrentUser.appendingPathComponent("bookmarks.csv")'

I actually had the import command not found issue, before as well.

I realized that maybe this script was not meant as an executable file, so I tried running it with
swift export-safari-bookmarks-new.swift
which got me permission error, so I tried with sudo but that messed with NSHomeDirectory().

I don't have any prior experience with Swift, can you please share some instructions for your workflow?

I couldn't replicate your issue. The error import: command not found indicates that the import statement is being interpreted as a shell command rather than a valid Swift language construct. This typically happens when you try to execute a Swift script using a shell interpreter.
You should make sure that swift is installed (execute swift --version). Executing swift export-safari-bookmarks-new.swift is correct, it works on my system.