title: INI date: 2022-12-30 09:51:44 background: bg-[#6d94c7] tags: categories: - Programming intro: |

This is a quick reference cheat sheet for understanding and writing INI-format configuration files.

Getting Started

introduction

INI is a configuration file with a fixed standard format
Base elements are keys or properties
Each key consists of a name and a value, separated by an equal sign (=)
key name is displayed to the left side of the equals sign
equal sign and semicolon are reserved characters
INI configuration method comes from the MS-DOS operating system

Now an informal standard for many configurations, other operating systems may use .conf or .cfg as a suffix

Example

; Here are the comments
[owner]
name=John Doe
organization=Acme Products

[database]
; Here are the comments
server=192.0.2.42
port=143
file="acme payroll.dat"

[section.subsection]
foo = bar

Comments

comment (;)

; This is the comment text and will be ignored

comment (#)

# Here is the comment text, ⚠️ Some compilers support it

Comments after a line (;,#) (not standard)

var = a ; this is an inline comment
foo = bar # this is another inline comment

Comments must appear alone on lines in some cases

Sections

The name appears on a line by itself
Names are enclosed in square brackets [ and ]
No explicit section end delimiter
End at the next section declaration or at the end of the file
Section and attribute names are case insensitive

[section]
key1 = a
key2 = b

The same as JSON below 👇

{
  "section": {
    "key1": "a",
    "key2": "b"
  }
}

Nesting (supported by some parsers)

[section]
domain = quickref.me
[section.subsection]
foo = bar

The same as JSON below 👇

{
  "section": {
    "domain": "quickref.me"
    "subsection": {
      "foo": "bar"
    }
  }
}

Nest to previous section (shorthand)

[section]
domain = quickref.me
[.subsection]
foo = bar

Escape character

sequence	meaning
`\\`	\ (single backslash, escape escape character)
`\'`	apostrophe
`\"`	double quotes
`\0`	null character
`\a`	ringtone/alert/sound
`\b`	Backspace, [Bell character] for some applications (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_character)
`\t`	tab character
`\r`	carriage return
`\n`	newline
`\;`	semicolon
`\#`	number sign
`\=`	equal sign
`\:`	colon
`\x????`	Unicode character for the hexadecimal code point corresponding to ????

Array

[section]
domain = quickref.me
array[]=first value
array[]=second value

The same as JSON below 👇

{
    "section": {
        "domain": "quickref.me",
            "array": [
            "first value",
            "second value"
        ]
    }
}

Interpreter

@go-ini/ini (golang)
@npm/ini (nodejs)
@zonyitoo/rust-ini (rust)
@rxi/ini (c)
@pulzed/mINI (c++)
@rickyah/ini-parser (c#)
@Enichan/Ini (c#)

This is a quick reference cheat sheet for understanding and writing INI-format configuration files.

Getting Started

introduction

Example

Comments

Sections

Nesting (supported by some parsers)

Escape character

Array

Interpreter

See also