I'm trying to get the value of the repeatInterval key in the com.apple.scheduler plist. I'd like to just use NSDictionary's valueForKeyPath: method like so: CFPropertyListRef value; value = CFPreferencesCopyValue(CFSTR("AbsoluteSchedule"), CFSTR("com.apple.scheduler"), kCFPreferencesCurrentUser, kCFPreferencesCurrentHost); NSNumber *repeatInterval = [(NSDictionary *)value valueForKeyPath:@"com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.SUCheckSchedulerTag.Timer.repeatInterval"]; But the problem with this is that the first key is really "com.apple.SoftwareUpdate", not just "com". I can get around this by getting that first value separately: NSDictionary *dict = [(NSDictionary *)value valueForKey:@"com.apple.SoftwareUpdate"]; NSNumber *repeatInterval = [dict valueForKeyPath:@"SUCheckSchedulerTag.Timer.repeatInterval"]; I just wanted to know if there is a way to escape periods in a keypath so I can eliminate this extra step.