system_profiler command in different OS X versions

[The Joker]

I have a question regarding the system_profiler terminal command. In which OS X version was it introduced and which versions added functionality to it? Supposedly the ability to save as xml (e.g system_profiler -xml > mydata.xml) was added in Panther (I'm not positive though), but what about the option to only include certain data types? (system_profiler -listDataTypes) I know Tiger made the System Profiler application look up more info, but that's not what I'm asking about here.

If anyone of you are using or have used previous versions of OS X (specifically 10.1 and 10.2) it would be helpful. Thanks.

[yellow]

/usr/sbin/system_profiler exsisted at least as far back as 10.2. I don't know about 10.1.. only I ran that and ditched it as soon as Jaguar was available (10.1 really sucked).

[trevor]

In 10.0.x and 10.1.x, the terminal command was
AppleSystemProfiler

You could get further information with
AppleSystemProfiler -help

As yellow mentions, in 10.2.x and newer, the terminal command is
system_profiler

Trevor

[The Joker]

Thanks guys.

[drone540]

Anybody know how I can grab only lines from this command:
system_profiler SPHardwareDataType

I just want CPU speed, Machine Model, CPU Type for a PHP script.

I forgot how to process text with php.

[trevor]

There's probably a much more efficient way to do this, but how about:

system_profiler | grep CPU\ Speed
system_profiler | grep Machine\ Model
system_profiler | grep CPU\ Type

Trevor

[NovaScotian]

Quote: Originally Posted by trevor There's probably a much more efficient way to do this, but how about: system_profiler | grep CPU\ Speed system_profiler | grep Machine\ Model system_profiler | grep CPU\ Type Trevor

Wow! That was pretty spectacular - I escaped the back slash and ran the first of these as an AppleScript "do shell script ...." and absolutely froze the Script Editor. Trying again in the Terminal I got an error message from the parser, and had to Control-C my way out. Restarting to be on the safe side, my dock was all messed up. Talk about unintended consequences (at least in my otherwise perfectly functioning 10.3.9). Running the Cocktail Pilot functions now to straighten things out.

[trevor]

NovaScotian, the backslash IS the escape character. If you wish, you can
system_profiler | grep 'CPU Speed'
...for example.

There's no way that running these should give you freezing, that must be due to another problem on your computer. I launched Script Editor and entered
do shell script "system_profiler | grep 'CPU Speed'"
and in the Result tab I properly received
" CPU Speed: 1 GHz"

Trevor

[NovaScotian]

Quote: Originally Posted by trevor NovaScotian, the backslash IS the escape character. If you wish, you can system_profiler | grep 'CPU Speed' ...for example. There's no way that running these should give you freezing, that must be due to another problem on your computer. I launched Script Editor and entered do shell script "system_profiler | grep 'CPU Speed'" and in the Result tab I properly received " CPU Speed: 1 GHz" Trevor

My bad. You are absolutely correct. What I hadn't anticipated was that the result took a long time, so I thought the Script Editor had frozen. Force quitting it probably did the deed, but all is well again.

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by NovaScotian What I hadn't anticipated was that the result took a long time, so I thought the Script Editor had frozen.

Ah, yes, it does take some time. That's why I said that there was probably a much more efficient way to do this.

Trevor

[bramley]

And there's

system_profiler SPHardwareDataType|grep "CPU Speed"|awk -F: '{print $2}'
system_profiler SPHardwareDataType|grep "Machine Model"|awk -F: '{print $2}'
system_profiler SPHardwareDataType|grep "CPU Type"|awk -F: '{print $2}'