dconf change a string key

Question

I'm trying to change a string based dconf key with a bash script, using the following command line:

dconf write /org/gnome/nautilus/preferences/show-directory-item-counts 'never'

But it return the following error:

error: 0-5:unknown keyword

Usage:
  dconf write KEY VALUE 

Write a new value to a key

Arguments:
  KEY         A key path (starting, but not ending with '/')
  VALUE       The value to write (in GVariant format)

Can someone help me?

edit 1 : I'm trying to make nautilus to not count the number of item in the directory (for optimization purpose)

I'm trying to make nautilus stop counting the number of item in each directory. — Dremor, Jun 23 '14 at 16:02

score 44 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 23 '14 at 16:13

The value needs additional quoting i.e. to assign GVariant string value 'foo' you need to write the value argument as "'foo'"

dconf write /org/gnome/nautilus/preferences/show-directory-item-counts "'never'"

See dconf — Simple tool for manipulating a dconf database at https://developer.gnome.org/

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 23 '16 at 22:42

10

What steeldriver said is the right way to do it. However using gsettings is an easier way to archive the same.

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences show-directory-item-counts never

answered Aug 23 '16 at 22:42

goetz

275
3
9

2

Using gsettings is probably the better approach. See https://developer.gnome.org/dconf/unstable/dconf-tool.html, where it states: "dconf cannot perform type and consistency checks on values. The gsettings utility is an alternative if such checks are needed." – Enterprise May 19 '17 at 21:54
2

Seems gsettings has not the same keys as dconf, example `dconf read /org/compiz/profiles/unity/plugins/scale/initiate-edge` returns `'TopRight'`, but `gsettings get org.compiz.profiles.unity.plugins.scale initiate-edge` returns `No such schema 'org.compiz.profiles.unity.plugins.scale'` – Andrey Izman Dec 20 '18 at 00:14

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 30 '14 at 19:14

0

#!/usr/bin/env bash

STATE=`gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons`
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true|false

answered Dec 30 '14 at 19:14

guneysus

103
4

2

How come you are piping the results of `gsettings` into the command `false`? :-P – Victor Mar 07 '22 at 19:53

dconf change a string key

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