For OS X 10.10 and later, use the following example AppleScript code:
set defaultBrowser to do shell script "defaults read \\
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure \\
| awk -F'\"' '/http;/{print window[(NR)-1]}{window[NR]=$2}'"
if defaultBrowser is "" or defaultBrowser contains "safari" then
-- # The default Browser is Safari.
set defaultBrowser to "Safari"
-- # Your code goes here.
else if defaultBrowser contains "chrome" then
-- # The default Browser is Google Chrome.
set defaultBrowser to "Google Chrome"
-- # Your code goes here.
else if defaultBrowser contains "firefox" then
-- # The default Browser is Firefox.
set defaultBrowser to "Firefox"
-- # Your code goes here.
else
set defaultBrowser to "Other"
-- # Your code goes here.
end if
Note: The start of the if defaultBrowser
statement tests for nothing ""
as well as "safari"
, because, if Safari is the only Browser installed or if another Browser is installed and has never had a default Browser set, then by default nothing will be returned by the do shell script "defaults ..."
command, and this means Safari is the default Browser.
In the example AppleScript code above, the value of the defaultBrowser
variable initially gets set to one of the following values:
- Nothing:
""
com.apple.safari
com.google.chrome
org.mozilla.firefox
- Some other:
output
Then within the if
statement, the defaultBrowser
gets set to the proper name of the Browser. Although you can certainly modify as needed/wanted.
Also note that the do shell script
command used herein is more efficient then the other answer, which needlessly uses the plutil
command to first convert the binary plist file to an xml plist file and then back to a binary plist file afterwards. It also needlessly uses both grep
and awk
when both are not necessary since defaults
and awk
(or just defaults
and grep
) can do it without all the extra rigmarole.
For pre OS X 10.10, replace:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure
With:
com.apple.LaunchServices
In the do shell script "defaults ..."
command.