How to get a Swift dictionary from a Plist file

Getting a Swift dictionary from a plist file is relatively straighforward. If you would like to get your Info.plist file in dictionary form, it can be done as a one-liner:

let infoDictionary = Bundle.main.infoDictionary

You can use this method across all of Apple's platforms. It works for iOS as well as macOS.

Turning a plist string into a dictionary

While Bundle.main.infoDictionary works great for quickly getting your Info.plist file as a dictionary, what if you want to get a dictionary from any plist file? That's where the PropertyListSerialization class from the Foundation framework comes in handy.

   let plistString = """
      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
      <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
      <plist version="1.0">
      <dict>
        <key>key1</key>
        <string>value1</string>
      </dict>
      </plist>
    """
    
    let plistData = plistString.data(using: .utf8)
    
    do {
      if let plist = try PropertyListSerialization.propertyList(from: plistData!, format: nil) 
        as? [String: Any]  {
        print(plist)           
      } else {
        print("Not able to convert plist to dictionary")
      }
    } catch let error {
      print(error)
    }

In the above code snippet, we take a plist string and convert it to data using the string's .data() method. Then we use the PropertyListSerialization class to convert the data to a dictionary.