mdls

Displays macOS Spotlight metadata for files.

macOS

Last updated: 2025-09-09 Report error

Syntax

$mdls [OPTIONS] [FILE]

Examples

$mdls file.txt

Examples

$mdls -name kMDItemContentType file.txt

Warnings

Available from macOS 10.4

Typical use cases

Standard usage

mdls --help

Detailed Help

man mdls

Note macOS-specific tool for file metadata.

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