PMSET(1)

NAME
pmset - modify power management settings

SYNOPSIS
pmset [-a | -b | -c] [dim minutes] [spindown minutes] [sleep minutes] [womp 1/0] [ring 1/0] [autorestart 1/0] [dps 1/0] [reduce 1/0] [boot] [powerbutton 1/0]
pmset -g [disk | live | cap]

DESCRIPTION
pmset changes and reads power management settings such as idle sleep timing, wake on administrative access, automatic restart on power loss, etc.

SETTING
The -a, -b, -c flags determine whether the settings apply to battery (-b), charger (wall power) (-c), or all (-a).

Use a minutes argument of 0 to set the idle time to never.

pmset must be run as root.

The boot argument tells power management that system bootup is complete. Loginwindow handles this on a normal Mac OS X system.

GETTING
The -g flag outputs the settings currently in use (same as -g live ). -g disk will tell you the settings on disk. -g cap will tell you which power management features the machine supports.

ARGUMENTS
dim - display dim timer (value in minutes)
spindown - disk spindown timer (value in minutes)
sleep - system sleep timer (value in minutes)
womp - wake on ethernet magic packet (value = 0/1)
ring - wake on modem ring (value = 0/1)
autorestart - automatic restart on power loss (value = 0/1)
dps - dynamically change processor speed based on load (value = 0/1)
reduce - reduce processor speed (value = 0/1)

OTHER ARGUMENTS
These arguments don't directly affect power management settings:
boot - tell the kernel that system boot is complete
powerbutton - if set, ignores power button sleep requests (value = 0/1)

EXAMPLES
pmset -b dim 5

pmset -a dim 10 spindown 10 sleep 30 womp 1

pmset -g live

FILES
All changes made through pmset are saved in a persistent preferences file (per-system, not per-user) at /var/db/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.xml

pmset modifies the same file that System Preferences Energy Saver modifies.