kreadconfig5

Read a key from the global configuration

$ kreadconfig5 --group [group_name] --key [key_name]

$ kreadconfig5 --file [path/to/file] --group [group_name] --key [key_name]

$ kreadconfig5 --file [startkderc] --group [General] --key [systemdBoot]

kreadconfig5 [--file <filename>] [--group <groupname>] [--key <keyname>] [--default <defaultvalue>] [--global]

--file <filename>, -f <filename>
    Specifies the exact config file to read (e.g., kwinrc). Defaults to app-specific search paths.

--group <groupname>, -g <groupname>
    The config section (INI group) containing the key. Required for targeted reads.

--key <keyname>, -k <keyname>
    The setting name to retrieve. Required.

--default <defaultvalue>, -d <defaultvalue>
    Value to output if key not found. Quoted if containing spaces.

--global
    Read from system-wide configs only, ignoring user overrides.

The kreadconfig5 command is a utility from the KDE Frameworks 5 suite, designed to retrieve specific values from KDE configuration files. These files, typically with a .rc extension, store settings in an INI-like format and are located in standard directories such as ~/.config/ for user-specific configs or system-wide paths like /etc/xdg/ when using the --global option.

It allows scripts and applications to query configuration keys without parsing files manually, leveraging the KConfig library backend. Specify a --group (equivalent to an INI section) and --key to fetch the value, with an optional --default fallback if the key is absent. Output is printed to stdout as a plain string.

This tool is essential for Plasma 5 desktop automation, panel scripting, and dynamic configuration reading in shell scripts. It respects KDE's config merging: user overrides system settings unless --global is used.

Fails silently if group/key missing without --default; use quotes for defaults with spaces. Not for writing configs (use kwriteconfig5). Deprecated in Plasma 6 (use kreadconfig6).

kreadconfig5 --file plasmarc --group Wallpaper --key lastWallpaper (prints last wallpaper path).
kreadconfig5 --global --file kwinrc --group org.kde.kdecoration2 --key BorderSize --default 1 (system border size with fallback).

Introduced in KDE Frameworks 5 (2014) for Plasma 5. Successor to kreadconfig4; evolved from Qt/KDE config tools since early 2000s.

kwriteconfig5(1), KConfig(7)