defaults is a command line utility that manipulates plist files. Introduced in 1998 OpenStep, defaults is found in the system's descendants macOS and GNUstep. The name "defaults" derives from OpenStep's name for user preferences, Defaults, or NSUserDefaults in Foundation Kit. Each application had its own defaults plist ("domain"), under ~/Defaults for the user configuration and /Defaults for the system configuration. The lookup system also supports a NSGlobalDomain.plist, where defaults written there will be seen by all applications. In macOS, the Defaults part of the path is replaced by the more intuitive Library/Preferences. defaults accesses the plists based on the domain given.