ini

Package ini provides INI file read and write functionality in Go.

简体中文

Feature

• Load multiple data sources([]byte or file) with overwrites.
• Read with recursion values.
• Read with parent-child sections.
• Read with auto-increment key names.
• Read with multiple-line values.
• Read with tons of helper methods.
• Read and convert values to Go types.
• Read and WRITE comments of sections and keys.
• Manipulate sections, keys and comments with ease.
• Keep sections and keys in order as you parse and save.

Installation

go get gopkg.in/ini.v0

Getting Started

Loading from data sources

A Data Source is either raw data in type []byte or a file name with type string and you can load as many as data sources you want. Passing other types will simply return an error.

cfg, err := ini.Load([]byte("raw data"), "filename")

When you cannot decide how many data sources to load at the beginning, you still able to Append() them later.

err := cfg.Append("other file", []byte("other raw data"))

Working with sections

To get a section, you would need to:

section, err := cfg.GetSection("section name")

For a shortcut for default section, just give an empty string as name:

section, err := cfg.GetSection("")

When you're pretty sure the section exists, following code could make your life easier:

section := cfg.Section("")

What happens when the section somehow does not exists? Won't panic, it returns an empty section object.

To create a new section:

err := cfg.NewSection("new section")

To get a list of sections or section names:

sections := cfg.Sections()
names := cfg.SectionStrings()

Working with keys

To get a key under a section:

key, err := cfg.Section("").GetKey("key name")

Same rule applies to key operations:

key := cfg.Section("").Key("key name")

To create a new key:

err := cfg.Section("").NewKey("name", "value")

To get a list of keys or key names:

keys := cfg.Section().Keys()
names := cfg.Section().KeyStrings()

To get a clone hash of keys and corresponding values:

hash := cfg.GetSection("").KeysHash()

Working with values

To get a string value:

val := cfg.Section("").Key("key name").String()

To get value with types:

v, err = cfg.Section("").Key("BOOL").Bool()
v, err = cfg.Section("").Key("FLOAT64").Float64()
v, err = cfg.Section("").Key("INT").Int()
v, err = cfg.Section("").Key("INT64").Int64()

v = cfg.Section("").Key("BOOL").MustBool()
v = cfg.Section("").Key("FLOAT64").MustFloat64()
v = cfg.Section("").Key("INT").MustInt()
v = cfg.Section("").Key("INT64").MustInt64()

// Methods start with Must also accept one argument for default value
// when key not found or fail to parse value to given type.

v = cfg.Section("").Key("BOOL").MustBool(true)
v = cfg.Section("").Key("FLOAT64").MustFloat64(1.25)
v = cfg.Section("").Key("INT").MustInt(10)
v = cfg.Section("").Key("INT64").MustInt64(99)

What if my value is three-line long?

[advance]
ADDRESS = """404 road,
NotFound, State, 5000
Earth"""

Not a problem!

cfg.Section("advance").Key("ADDRESS").String()

/* --- start ---
404 road,
NotFound, State, 5000
Earth
------  end  --- */

That's all? Hmm, no.

Helper methods of working with values

To get value with given candidates:

v = cfg.Section("").Key("STRING").In("default", []string{"str", "arr", "types"})
v = cfg.Section("").Key("FLOAT64").InFloat64(1.1, []float64{1.25, 2.5, 3.75})
v = cfg.Section("").Key("INT").InInt(5, []int{10, 20, 30})
v = cfg.Section("").Key("INT64").InInt64(10, []int64{10, 20, 30})

Default value will be presented if value of key is not in candidates you given, and default value does not need be one of candidates.

To auto-split value into slice:

vals = cfg.Section("").Key("STRINGS").Strings(",")
vals = cfg.Section("").Key("FLOAT64S").Float64s(",")
vals = cfg.Section("").Key("INTS").Ints(",")
vals = cfg.Section("").Key("INT64S").Int64s(",")

Advanced Usage

Recursive Values

For all value of keys, there is a special syntax %(<name>)s, where <name> is the key name in same section or default section, and %(<name>)s will be replaced by corresponding value(empty string if key not found). You can use this syntax at most 99 level of recursions.

NAME = ini

[author]
NAME = Unknwon
GITHUB = https://github.com/%(NAME)s

[package]
FULL_NAME = github.com/go-ini/%(NAME)s

cfg.Section("author").Key("GITHUB").String()		// https://github.com/Unknwon
cfg.Section("package").Key("FULL_NAME").String()	// github.com/go-ini/ini

Parent-child Sections

You can use . in section name to indicate parent-child relationship between two or more sections. If the key not found in the child section, library will try again on its parent section until there is no parent section.

NAME = ini
VERSION = v0
IMPORT_PATH = gopkg.in/%(NAME)s.%(VERSION)s

[package]
CLONE_URL = https://%(IMPORT_PATH)s

[package.sub]

cfg.Section("package.sub").Key("CLONE_URL").String()	// https://gopkg.in/ini.v0

Auto-increment Key Names

If key name is - in data source, then it would be seen as special syntax for auto-increment key name start from 1, and every section is independent on counter.

[features]
-: Support read/write comments of keys and sections
-: Support auto-increment of key names
-: Support load multiple files to overwrite key values

cfg.Section("features").KeyStrings()	// []{"#1", "#2", "#3"}

Getting Help

• API Documentation
• File An Issue

FAQs

What does BlockMode field do?

By default, library lets you read and write values so we need a locker to make sure your data is safe. But in cases that you are very sure about only reading data through the library, you can set cfg.BlockMode = false to speed up read operations about 50-70% faster.

Why another INI library?

Many people are using my another INI library goconfig, so the reason for this one is I would like to make more Go style code. Also when you set cfg.BlockMode = false, this one is about 10-30% faster.

To make those changes I have to confirm API broken, so it's safer to keep it in another place and start using gopkg.in to version my package at this time.(PS: shorter import path)

License

This project is under Apache v2 License. See the LICENSE file for the full license text.