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How to Download and Use ioreg Command Line Tool for Mac OS X



How to Download and Use ioreg on macOS




If you are a macOS user who wants to learn more about your system's hardware and devices, you might be interested in a tool called ioreg. In this article, we will explain what ioreg is, why you might need it, how to download it, and how to use it. By the end of this article, you will be able to explore the I/O Kit registry of your Mac and get useful information about your hardware.




download ioreg



What is ioreg and why do you need it?




ioreg is a command-line tool that displays the I/O Kit registry, which is a dynamic database that describes the collection of objects (nubs or drivers) that are active in the currently running system. The I/O Kit registry tracks the provider-client relationships between these objects, and reflects the new configuration of devices when hardware is added or removed from the system. The I/O Kit registry is not stored on disk or archived between boots; instead, it is built at each system boot and resides in memory.


ioreg can help you troubleshoot hardware issues and get device information, such as:


  • The class, name, location, and properties of each object in the I/O Kit registry



  • The device tree, which shows how devices are connected to each other



  • The power plane, which shows how devices are managed for power consumption



  • The service plane, which shows how devices are matched to drivers



  • The user client plane, which shows how user applications access devices



How to download ioreg on macOS




ioreg is already installed on macOS by default, so you don't need to download it separately. You can find it in /usr/sbin/ioreg, which is a hidden directory that contains system binaries. To access ioreg, you need to open Terminal, which is an application that allows you to interact with your system using text commands. You can launch Terminal from the Applications > Utilities folder, or by using Spotlight search.


You can also download ioreg from GitHub or Apple Developer, if you want to get a different version or source code. For example, you can download IORegistryExplorer v2.1.0 from , which includes IORegistryExplorer v3.0.2 and other useful tools for developers.


How to download ioreg from GitHub


Download ioreg for Mac OS X


IORegistryExplorer 2.1 download link


Download ioreg command line tool


Download ioreg to view I/O Registry


Download ioreg for Apple developers


Download ioreg to troubleshoot hardware issues


Download ioreg to access device properties


Download ioreg to monitor device status


Download ioreg to edit device configuration


Download ioreg for IOKit development


Download ioreg for kernel extension debugging


Download ioreg for USB device analysis


Download ioreg for PCI device enumeration


Download ioreg for Bluetooth device discovery


Download ioreg for network device configuration


Download ioreg for audio device management


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Download ioreg for battery device information


Download ioreg for power management settings


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Download ioreg for CPU and GPU utilization


Download ioreg for system uptime and boot time


Download ioreg for firmware and BIOS version


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How to use ioreg on macOS




You can run ioreg in Terminal with various options and arguments, depending on what information you want to get. For example, you can use ioreg -l to list all the objects in the I/O Kit registry with their properties, or ioreg -w0 -l -n "AppleSmartBattery" to list only the properties of the battery object. You can also use ioreg -p IOUSB to list all the USB devices connected to your Mac, or ioreg -c IOHIDSystem -r -d 1 -k HIDIdleTime -n "IOHIDSystem" \ awk '/HIDIdleTime/ print $NF/1000000000' to get the idle time of your Mac in seconds. You can use man ioreg to see the manual page for ioreg, which explains all the options and arguments in detail.


You can also use IORegistryExplorer, a graphical application for browsing the I/O Kit registry. IORegistryExplorer allows you to view the registry in different planes, search for objects by name or class, filter out unwanted properties, and export the registry data to a file. IORegistryExplorer is more user-friendly and convenient than ioreg, especially if you are not familiar with Terminal commands.


How to install IORegistryExplorer




To install IORegistryExplorer, you need to download it from GitHub or Apple Developer, as mentioned above. After downloading the zip file, you need to extract it and move the IORegistryExplorer.app file to your Applications folder. You can then launch IORegistryExplorer from there, or by using Spotlight search.


How to use IORegistryExplorer




To use IORegistryExplorer, you need to select a plane from the View menu, such as Device Tree, Power Plane, Service Plane, or User Client Plane. You can then expand or collapse the nodes in the tree view, and click on any object to see its properties in the detail view. You can also use the search field to find an object by name or class, and use the filter button to hide or show certain properties. You can also use the File menu to save or load a registry snapshot, or export the registry data to a text file.


Conclusion




In this article, we have learned how to download and use ioreg on macOS, a command-line tool that displays the I/O Kit registry of your system. We have also learned how to use IORegistryExplorer, a graphical application that allows you to browse the I/O Kit registry in a more user-friendly way. By using these tools, you can get useful information about your hardware and devices, and troubleshoot any issues that might arise.


If you want to learn more about ioreg, IORegistryExplorer, or the I/O Kit framework in general, you can check out these resources:


  • : A guide that explains the concepts and architecture of the I/O Kit framework.



  • : A manual page that describes the usage and options of ioreg.



  • : A collection of tools for working with I/O Kit objects, including ioreg, ioalloccount, iostat, and more.



We hope you have enjoyed this article and found it helpful. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below. Thank you for reading!


FAQs




  • What is the difference between ioreg and iostat?



  • ioreg is a tool that displays the I/O Kit registry, which is a database that describes the objects and relationships in the I/O Kit framework. iostat is a tool that displays statistics about system input/output activity, such as disk throughput, CPU usage, load average, and more.



  • How can I get the serial number of my Mac using ioreg?



  • You can get the serial number of your Mac using ioreg by running this command in Terminal: ioreg -l \ grep IOPlatformSerialNumber. This will output a line like this: "IOPlatformSerialNumber" = "C02XXXXXXX", where C02XXXXXXX is your serial number.



  • How can I get the battery status of my Mac using ioreg?



  • You can get the battery status of your Mac using ioreg by running this command in Terminal: ioreg -w0 -l -n "AppleSmartBattery". This will output a list of properties related to your battery, such as CurrentCapacity, MaxCapacity, IsCharging, IsFinishingCharge, FullyCharged, etc. You can also use -k option to filter out specific properties, such as ioreg -w0 -l -n "AppleSmartBattery" -k "IsCharging" to see if your battery is charging or not.



  • How can I get the model identifier of my Mac using ioreg?



  • You can get the model identifier of your Mac using ioreg by running this command in Terminal: ioreg -l \ grep "model". This will output a line like this: "model" = , where MacBookPro11,4 is your model identifier.



  • How can I get the firmware version of my Mac using ioreg?



  • You can get the firmware version of your Mac using ioreg by running this command in Terminal: ioreg -l \ grep firmware-abi. This will output a line like this: "firmware-abi" = "EFI64", where EFI64 is your firmware version.



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