Write initial settings to settings.json

One approach includes using default configuration files that will be copied completely into the settings.json file. Consider the following modern bash function running on a mac with jq and node installed. It allows settings.json and keybindings.json to be revised to match the default where there is not already a setting. Just configure the default folder and filename for the default settings and keybindings.

setup_vscode_defaults() { #configure the below variables to the desired settings and keybindings local settings_defaults="<default_folder/vs_code_settings.json>"; local keybindings_defaults="<default_folder/vs_code_keybindings.json>"; echo -e "\nSetting up default settings and keybindings for Visual Studio Code, without clobbering any preexisting settings.\n"; local vscode_user_folder=$HOME/Library/Application\ Support/Code/User; local backup_timestamp=$(date +%s); local settings_file="${vscode_user_folder}/settings.json"; ln -s "${settings_file}" sf; local settings_backup="${vscode_user_folder}/settings_${backup_timestamp}.json"; local keybindings_file="${vscode_user_folder}/keybindings.json"; ln -s "${keybindings_file}" kf; local keybindings_backup="${vscode_user_folder}/keybindings_${backup_timestamp}.json"; local tmp_settings=/tmp/settings.json local tmp_keybindings=/tmp/keybindings.json #check if files exist or are empty and use complete default file in each case if (! test -f sf ) || [[ $(cat "${settings_file}" | jq length) -eq 0 ]]; then cat "${settings_defaults}" > sf; fi if (! test -f kf ) || [[ $(cat "${keybindings_file}" | jq length) -eq 0 ]]; then cat "${keybindings_deftauls}" > kf; fi #checks to see if the exact default settings file is being used, and adds anything missing if not using the default settings_adder() { local set_file_type="${1}"; local set_file="${2}"; local set_file_backup="${3}"; local set_file_defaults="${4}"; local set_file_temp="${5}"; #backup settings file just in case cp "${set_file}" "${set_file_backup}"; #install underscore node package for working with json if not already installed if [ $(npm list -g | grep -c underscore-cli) -eq 0 ]; then npm install -g underscore-cli; fi #creates arrays for settings vs. default settings, removing braces for settings and brackets for keybindings unset arrSettings; local -a arrSettings=(); readarray -t arrSettings < <(cat "${set_file}" | jq -S | underscore --wrapwidth 500 print | perl -pe 's/^{\n$|^}\n$|^\[\n$|^\]\n$|,$//g' | sort); unset arrDefSettings; local -a arrDefSettings=(); readarray -t arrDefSettings < <(cat "${set_file_defaults}" | jq -S | underscore --wrapwidth 500 print | perl -pe 's/^{\n$|^}\n$|^\[\n$|^\]\n$|,$//g' | sort); for settingDef in "${arrDefSettings[@]}"; do #add any settings from the default settings file that was not found in the user settings.json, by f-grepping the setting key (the first part, not the value, "key_s")-- fgrep does not interpret the string to grep, it is 'fixed' if [[ "${set_file_type}" == "settings" ]] ; then key_s=$(echo "${settingDef}" | perl -pe 's/"([^:]+)":.+\n/\1/' ); fb="{"; lb="}"; elif [[ "${set_file_type}" == "keybindings" ]] ; then key_s=$(echo "${settingDef}" | perl -pe 's/^.+key": "([^"]+)".+\n/"\1"/g' ); fb="["; lb="]"; fi #debug statement to show the setting, key for searching, and fgrep result: --> echo "${settingDef} - ${key_s}: $(fgrep -c ${key_s} ${set_file})" if [[ $(fgrep -c ${key_s} ${set_file} ) -eq 0 ]]; then arrSettings+=("${settingDef}") fi done #now output the settings array into a file, starting with the first brace/bracket then the settings/bindings for setting in "${arrSettings[@]}"; do echo "${setting}," >> "${set_file_temp}_${backup_timestamp}" done echo "${fb}" > "${set_file_temp}" # remove extra commas, last comma and add closing brace cat "${set_file_temp}_${backup_timestamp}" | perl -pe 's/^,\n//g' | sort >> "${set_file_temp}" sed -i '' '$ s/.$//' "${set_file_temp}" echo "${lb}" >> "${set_file_temp}" cat "${set_file_temp}" | jq -S | underscore --wrapwidth 500 print > "${set_file}"; } if [[ $(md5sum ${settings_defaults} | perl -pe 's/ .+//') != $(md5sum sf | perl -pe 's/ .+//') ]]; then settings_adder "settings" sf "${settings_backup}" "${settings_defaults}" "${tmp_settings}" fi if [[ $(md5sum ${keybindings_defaults} | perl -pe 's/ .+//') != $(md5sum kf | perl -pe 's/ .+//') ]]; then settings_adder "keybindings" kf "${keybindings_backup}" "${keybindings_defaults}" "${tmp_keybindings}" fi unlink sf; unlink kf; }