Opens a property list file in a text editor, converting from binary if necessary.

edit-plist.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import argparse
import subprocess
import sys

EDITOR = 'vim'
BINARY = 'Apple binary property list'
XML = 'XML  document text'

def convert_to_binary(filename):
    print 'Converting "%s" to Binary Plist' % filename
    subprocess.call('plutil -convert binary1 "%s"' % filename, shell=True)

def convert_to_xml(filename):
    print 'Converting "%s" to XML Plist' % filename
    subprocess.call('plutil -convert xml1 "%s"' % filename, shell=True)

def get_file_type(filename):
    output = subprocess.check_output('file "%s"' % filename, shell=True)
    output = output.strip()

    if output.endswith(BINARY):
        return BINARY
    elif output.endswith(XML):
        return XML
    else:
        return output

def open_in_vim(filename):
    print 'Opening "%s" in %s' % (filename, EDITOR)
    subprocess.call('"%s" "%s"' % (EDITOR, filename), shell=True)

def parse_args(argv):
    if argv is None:
        argv = sys.argv[1:]

    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument('filename',
                        metavar='FILE',
                        help="input filename")
    return parser.parse_args(argv)

def main(argv=None):
    options = parse_args(argv)
    filetype = get_file_type(options.filename)

    if filetype == BINARY:
        convert_to_xml(options.filename)
        open_in_vim(options.filename)
        convert_to_binary(options.filename)

    elif filetype == XML:
        open_in_vim(options.filename)

    else:
        print >>sys.stderr, 'Unknown filetype: %s' % filetype

if __name__ == "__main__":
    sys.exit(main())