How to Import Preferences (.epf) in eclipse via command prompt?

Question

I wanted to run a bat file in which it can import preferences from a location (which was exported manually). I searched for the command which would import preferences but, could not find any.

Answer 1

There is no existing code to do this. You would have to write an Eclipse headless application that does something like this:

IPreferencesService service = Platform.getPreferencesService();

IExportedPreferences prefs = service.readPreferences(file input stream);

// TODO create IPreferenceFilter array to filter what you want

service.applyPreferences(prefs, filter array);

See the source of the import preferences page org.eclipse.ui.internal.wizards.preferences.WizardPreferencesImportPage1 for an example.

Answer 2

Backstory: I was looking for something similar and, a few tabs back, I've stumbled on a "half-an-answer"/alternative solution. Even if the thread is old might still turn in handy ...

In this page the author talks about using -pluginCustomization parameter inside the eclipse.ini file

-pluginCustomization
plugin_customization.ini
-startup
plugins/org.eclipse....

The plugin_customization.ini file is similar to the *.epf file, same variables minus the /instance/ prefix (maybe because this way they are interpreted/applied at product(eclipse) level and not as per-workspace preferences).