Is it possible to export safari's reading list on Safari 5.1?

Solution 1:

You can convert it into XML in a Terminal/command window using:

cd ~/Library/Safari/
cp Bookmarks.plist Bookmarks.plist.xml  
plutil -convert xml1 Bookmarks.plist.xml

Solution 2:

Yes. The file is called Bookmarks.plist and it is located in ~/Library/Safari/. This houses not only your Reading List bookmarks, but all your bookmarks.

You'll want to look for entries under the key ReadingList. They will look something like this (file viewed in xCode 4):

Unfortunately, the plist file is stored as a binary, and you'll either have to open it using xCode or another tool that can handle binary plist files.

Solution 3:

You can't export from Safari but you can import from Chrome

Here it is on Google support: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/96816?hl=en

Alternatively you can open the Terminal application on a Mac (search it in Launchpad if you can't find it) and paste this:

/usr/bin/plutil -convert xml1 -o - ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist | grep -E  -o '<string>http[s]{0,1}://.*</string>' | grep -v icloud | sed -E 's/<\/{0,1}string>//g'

Hit return and it will list all your Reading List links as text which you can copy and paste elsewhere.