Customizing the File Header Comment and Text Macros

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Text macros

Text macros are symbols that are expanded in-place to the specified text. They are used in files and other places in Xcode, such as the header text for a new file or the project name. You can customize existing macros and add your own macros in a project, for all users of a project, or for all of Xcode. Customizing a macro requires two things:

  • A plist named IDETemplateMacros.plist at an appropriate location.
  • An entry in IDETemplateMacros.plist for the text macro.
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    Xcode looks for the value of a text macro in the following locations and uses the first matching macro:
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    Project user data -> Project shared data -> Workspace user data -> Workspace shared data -> User Xcode data

For a single project and user:

<ProjectName>.xcodeproj/xcuserdata/[username].xcuserdatad/IDETemplateMacros.plist

For all team members in a single project:

<ProjectName>.xcodeproj/xcshareddata/IDETemplateMacros.plist

For all projects in a workspace for a single user:

<WorkspaceName>.xcworkspace/xcuserdata/[username].xcuserdatad/IDETemplateMacros.plist

For all projects in a workspace for all team members:

<WorkspaceName>.xcworkspace/xcshareddata/IDETemplateMacros.plist

For everything you work on, regardless of project:

~/Library/Developer/Xcode/UserData/IDETemplateMacros.plist

Example

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//  ___FILENAME___
//  ___PACKAGENAME___
//
//  Created by ___FULLUSERNAME___ on ___DATE___.
//  ___COPYRIGHT___
//

Text macros reference

Source: Ole Begemann