REGTOOL(1)

NAME
 - View or edit the Win32 registry

SYNOPSIS
regtool [OPTION] (add|check|get|list|remove|unset|load|unload|save) KEY

OPTIONS

  Actions:

add KEY\SUBKEY
    add new SUBKEY

check KEY
    exit 0 if KEY exists, 1 if not

get KEY\VALUE
    prints VALUE to stdout

list KEY
    list SUBKEYs and VALUEs

remove KEY
    remove KEY

set KEY\VALUE [data ...]
    set VALUE

unset KEY\VALUE
    removes VALUE from KEY

load KEY\SUBKEY PATH
    load hive from PATH into new SUBKEY

unload KEY\SUBKEY
    unload hive and remove SUBKEY

save KEY\SUBKEY PATH
    save SUBKEY into new hive PATH

  Options for 'list' Action:

-k, --keys
    print only KEYs

-l, --list
    print only VALUEs

-p, --postfix
    like ls -p, appends '\' postfix to KEY names

  Options for 'get' Action:

-b, --binary
    print REG_BINARY data as hex bytes

-n, --none
    print data as stream of bytes as stored in registry

-x, --hex
    print numerical data as hex numbers

  Options for 'set' Action:

-b, --binary
    set type to REG_BINARY (hex args or '-')

-D, --dword-be
    set type to REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN

-e, --expand-string
    set type to REG_EXPAND_SZ

-i, --integer
    set type to REG_DWORD

-m, --multi-string
    set type to REG_MULTI_SZ

-n, --none
    set type to REG_NONE

-Q, --qword
    set type to REG_QWORD

-s, --string
    set type to REG_SZ

  Options for 'set' and 'unset' Actions:

-K<c>, --key-separator[=]<c>
    set key separator to <c> instead of '\'

  Other Options:

-h, --help
    output usage information and exit

-q, --quiet
    no error output, just nonzero return if KEY/VALUE missing

-v, --verbose
    verbose output, including VALUE contents when applicable

-w, --wow64
    access 64 bit registry view (ignored on 32 bit Windows)

-W, --wow32
    access 32 bit registry view (ignored on 32 bit Windows)

-V, --version
    output version information and exit

KEY is in the format [host]\prefix\KEY\KEY\VALUE, where host is optional remote host in either \\hostname or hostname: format and prefix is any of:

root
    HKCR HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (local only)

config
    HKCC HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG (local only)

user
    HKCU HKEY_CURRENT_USER (local only)

machine
    HKLM HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

users
    HKU HKEY_USERS

You can use forward slash ('/') as a separator instead of backslash, in that case backslash is treated as escape character Example: regtool.exe get '\user\software\Microsoft\Clock\iFormat'

DESCRIPTION
The regtool program allows shell scripts to access and modify the Windows registry. Note that modifying the Windows registry is dangerous, and carelessness here can result in an unusable system. Be careful.

The -v option means "verbose". For most commands, this causes additional or lengthier messages to be printed. Conversely, the -q option supresses error messages, so you can use the exit status of the program to detect if a key exists or not (for example).

The -w option allows you to access the 64 bit view of the registry. Several subkeys exist in a 32 bit and a 64 bit version when running on Windows 64. Since Cygwin is running in 32 bit mode, it only has access to the 32 bit view of these registry keys. When using the -w switch, the 64 bit view is used and regtool can access the entire registry. This option is simply ignored when running on 32 bit Windows versions.

The -W option allows you to access the 32 bit view on the registry. The purpose of this option is mainly for symmetry. It permits creation of OS agnostic scripts which would also work in a hypothetical 64 bit version of Cygwin.

You must provide regtool with an action following options (if any). Currently, the action must be add, set, check, get, list, remove, set, or unset.

The add action adds a new key. The check action checks to see if a key exists (the exit code of the program is zero if it does, nonzero if it does not). The get action gets the value of a key, and prints it (and nothing else) to stdout. Note: if the value doesn't exist, an error message is printed and the program returns a non-zero exit code. If you give -q, it doesn't print the message but does return the non-zero exit code.

 The list action lists the subkeys and values belonging to the given key. With list, the -k option instructs regtool to print only KEYs, and the -l option to print only VALUEs. The -p option postfixes a '/' to each KEY, but leave VALUEs with no postfix. The remove action removes a key. Note that you may need to remove everything in the key before you may remove it, but don't rely on this stopping you from accidentally removing too much.

The get action prints a value within a key. With the -b option, data is printed as hex bytes. -n allows to print the data as a typeless stream of bytes. Integer values (REG_DWORD, REG_QWORD) are usually printed as decimal values. The -x option allows to print the numbers as hexadecimal values.

The set action sets a value within a key. -b means it's binary data (REG_BINARY). The binary values are specified as hex bytes in the argument list. If the argument is '-', binary data is read from stdin instead. -d or -i means the value is a 32 bit integer value (REG_DWORD). -D means the value is a 32 bit integer value in Big Endian representation (REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN). -Q means the value is a 64 bit integer value (REG_QWORD). -s means the value is a string (REG_SZ). -e means it's an expanding string (REG_EXPAND_SZ) that contains embedded environment variables. -m means it's a multi-string (REG_MULTI_SZ). If you don't specify one of these, regtool tries to guess the type based on the value you give. If it looks like a number, it's a DWORD, unless it's value doesn't fit into 32 bit, in which case it's a QWORD. If it starts with a percent, it's an expanding string. If you give multiple values, it's a multi-string. Else, it's a regular string.

The unset action removes a value from a key.

The load action adds a new subkey and loads the contents of a registry hive into it. The parent key must be HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_USERS. The unload action unloads the file and removes the subkey.

The save action saves a subkey into a registry hive.

 By default, the last "\" or "/" is assumed to be the separator between the key and the value. You can use the -K option to provide an alternate key/value separator character.

COPYRIGHT
Cygwin is Copyright (C) 1995-2010 Red Hat, Inc.

Cygwin is Free software; for complete licensing information, refer to: http://cygwin.com/licensing.html

SEE ALSO
The full documentation to the Cygwin API is maintained on the web at: http://cygwin.com/cygwin-api/cygwin-api.html The website is updated more frequently than the man pages and should be considered the authoritative source of information.