Over in the MacAdmins’ #bash channel I saw a I question regarding how to get the Sharing states of Bluetooth devices from system_profiler. The most succinct answer was to awk out the values:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
system_profiler SPBluetoothDataType 2> \/dev\/null | awk '\/State: \/ {print $2}'\nDisabled\nDisabled\nDisabled<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nIf you are using this for a Jamf Extension Attribute, I suppose it’ll do if you never want to allow any of them to be Enabled, but what if Internet Sharing was OK but not File Sharing? How would you match your Smart Group to multiple lines of unlabeled values? How would you match the first two but not the last two… and what if there was another USB Bluetooth device, that would add extra rows. Hmmm…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The answer for me, outputting the service name and the state on the same line. Since there isn’t a consistent line count from State: <\/code>going back the service name, using something like grep -B n<\/em> to include n<\/em> lines of preceding data isn’t<\/em> going to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Services:\n Bluetooth File Transfer:\n Folder other devices can browse: ~\/Public\n When receiving items: Accept all without warning\n State: Disabled\n Bluetooth File Exchange:\n Folder for accepted items: ~\/Downloads\n When other items are accepted: Save to location\n When receiving items: Accept all without warning\n State: Disabled\n Bluetooth Internet Sharing:\n State: Disabled\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nSo you know what I say the answer to that<\/em> is? That’s right, jpt<\/code> the JSON Power Tool<\/a>! It can parse the -json<\/code> output from system_profiler<\/code> in a more structured way and it allows for the discovery of as many applicable Bluetooth devices might be on the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n