11

I just noticed a folder named .498731.padl in my home directory. What’s it for?

Here are its contents:

bplist00‘X$versionX$objectsY$archiverT$top�܆•U$null”   
WNS.keysZNS.objectsV$class°
Ä°ÄÄWPaddleT#A’j…˛M“Z$classnameX$classes\NSDictionary¢XNSObject_NSKeyedArchiver—TrootÄ#-27=CJR]dfhjlnvÑèò•®±√∆À����������������������������Õ
| improve this question | |
  • The .padl extension seems to imply there is a connection to the LDAP tool called PADL, “PADL provides directory service integration software based on the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Our products are used by almost a million people worldwide, at universities, U.S. government agencies, financial institutions and in the aerospace industry.” – JakeGould Dec 2 '15 at 17:02
  • If you're correct then I'm guessing Visual Studio Code is the culprit. – ammusk Dec 2 '15 at 17:09
12

It looks like it's a binary property list file. You might be able to open it using plutil -p .498731.padl if you're curious about the contents.

| improve this answer | |
  • This worked perfectly. – ammusk Dec 4 '15 at 8:51
  • I have the exact same filename in my home directory. The contents displayed by plutil doesn't give much information on the origin of the file. It was last changed over a year ago. Any definitive information about its creator yet? Is Visual Studio the prime suspect? – rholmes Jan 22 '19 at 14:53
  • I did find this info but I'm not on Windows and I've never used the indicated program. extension.nirsoft.net/padl – rholmes Jan 22 '19 at 14:55
1

It's related to the Xee license feature, not required by the Mac OS. You can check its text contents by:

plutil -p ~/.489614.padl
| improve this answer | |

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.