dwww Home | Manual pages | Find package

Config::IniFiles(3pm) User Contributed Perl DocumentationConfig::IniFiles(3pm)

NAME
       Config::IniFiles - A module for reading .ini-style configuration files.

VERSION
       version 3.000003

SYNOPSIS
         use Config::IniFiles;
         my $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => "/path/configfile.ini" );
         print "The value is " . $cfg->val( 'Section', 'Parameter' ) . "."
           if $cfg->val( 'Section', 'Parameter' );

DESCRIPTION
       Config::IniFiles provides a way to have readable configuration files
       outside your Perl script. Configurations can be imported (inherited,
       stacked,...), sections can be grouped, and settings can be accessed
       from a tied hash.

FILE FORMAT
       INI files consist of a number of sections, each preceded with the
       section name in square brackets, followed by parameter names and their
       values.

         [a section]
         Parameter=Value

         [section 2]
         AnotherParameter=Some value
         Setting=Something else
         Parameter=Different scope than the one in the first section

       The first non-blank character of the line indicating a section must be
       a left bracket and the last non-blank character of a line indicating a
       section must be a right bracket. The characters making up the section
       name can be any symbols at all. However section names must be unique.

       Parameters are specified in each section as Name=Value.  Any spaces
       around the equals sign will be ignored, and the value extends to the
       end of the line (including any whitespace at the end of the line.
       Parameter names are localized to the namespace of the section, but must
       be unique within a section.

       Both the hash mark (#) and the semicolon (;) are comment characters.
       by default (this can be changed by configuration). Lines that begin
       with either of these characters will be ignored. Any amount of
       whitespace may precede the comment character.

       Multi-line or multi-valued parameters may also be defined ala UNIX
       "here document" syntax:

         Parameter=<<EOT
         value/line 1
         value/line 2
         EOT

       You may use any string you want in place of "EOT". Note that whatever
       follows the "<<" and what appears at the end of the text MUST match
       exactly, including any trailing whitespace.

       Alternately, as a configuration option (default is off), continuation
       lines can be allowed:

         [Section]
         Parameter=this parameter \
           spreads across \
           a few lines

USAGE -- Object Interface
       Get a new Config::IniFiles object with the new method:

         $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => "/path/config_file.ini" );
         $cfg = new Config::IniFiles -file => "/path/config_file.ini";

       Optional named parameters may be specified after the configuration file
       name. See the new in the METHODS section, below.

       Values from the config file are fetched with the val method:

         $value = $cfg->val('Section', 'Parameter');

       If you want a multi-line/value field returned as an array, just specify
       an array as the receiver:

         @values = $cfg->val('Section', 'Parameter');

METHODS
   new ( [-option=>value ...] )
       Returns a new configuration object (or "undef" if the configuration
       file has an error, in which case check the global
       @Config::IniFiles::errors array for reasons why). One Config::IniFiles
       object is required per configuration file. The following named
       parameters are available:

       -file  filename
                 Specifies a file to load the parameters from. This 'file' may
                 actually be any of the following things:

                   1) the pathname of a file

                     $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => "/path/to/config_file.ini" );

                   2) a simple filehandle

                     $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => STDIN );

                   3) a filehandle glob

                     open( CONFIG, "/path/to/config_file.ini" );
                     $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => *CONFIG );

                   4) a reference to a glob

                     open( CONFIG, "/path/to/config_file.ini" );
                     $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => \*CONFIG );

                   5) an IO::File object

                     $io = IO::File->new( "/path/to/config_file.ini" );
                     $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => $io );

                   or

                     open my $fh, '<', "/path/to/config_file.ini" or die $!;
                     $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => $fh );

                   6) A reference to a scalar (requires newer versions of IO::Scalar)

                     $ini_file_contents = <<EOT
                     [section name]
                     Parameter=A value
                     Setting=Another value
                     EOT

                     $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => \$ini_file_contents );

                 If  this  option  is  not specified, (i.e. you are creating a
                 config file from scratch) you  must  specify  a  target  file
                 using SetFileName in order to save the parameters.

       -default section
                 Specifies  a  section  to  be  used  for  default values. For
                 example, in the following configuration file, if you look  up
                 the  "permissions"  parameter  in the "joe" section, there is
                 none.

                    [all]
                    permissions=Nothing

                    [jane]
                    name=Jane
                    permissions=Open files

                    [joe]
                    name=Joseph

                 If you create your Config::IniFiles  object  with  a  default
                 section of "all" like this:

                    $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => "file.ini", -default => "all" );

                 Then  requesting  a  value  for  a "permissions" in the [joe]
                 section will check for a value from  [all]  before  returning
                 undef.

                    $permissions = $cfg->val( "joe", "permissions");   // returns "Nothing"

       -fallback section
                 Specifies  a  section  to  be  used  for parameters outside a
                 section. Default is none.  Without -fallback specified (which
                 is the default), reading a configuration  file  which  has  a
                 parameter outside a section will fail. With this set to, say,
                 "GENERAL", this configuration:

                    wrong=wronger

                    [joe]
                    name=Joseph

                 will be assumed as:

                    [GENERAL]
                    wrong=wronger

                    [joe]
                    name=Joseph

                 Note  that  Config::IniFiles  will  also  omit  the  fallback
                 section header when outputting such configuration.

       -nocase 0|1
                 Set -nocase => 1  to  handle  the  config  file  in  a  case-
                 insensitive  manner  (case  in values is preserved, however).
                 By default, config files are case-sensitive (i.e., a  section
                 named  'Test'  is  not  the  same as a section named 'test').
                 Note that there is an added overhead  for  turning  off  case
                 sensitivity.

       -import object
                 This  allows  you  to import or inherit existing setting from
                 another Config::IniFiles object. When importing settings from
                 another object, sections with the same name  will  be  merged
                 and  parameters  that are defined in both the imported object
                 and the -file will take the value of given in the -file.

                 If a -default section is also given on this call, and it does
                 not coincide with the default of the imported object, the new
                 default section will be used instead. If no -default  section
                 is  given,  then  the  default of the imported object will be
                 used.

       -allowcontinue 0|1
                 Set -allowcontinue => 1 to enable continuation lines  in  the
                 config  file.  i.e. if a line ends with a backslash "\", then
                 the following  line  is  appended  to  the  parameter  value,
                 dropping the backslash and the newline character(s).

                 Default  behavior  is  to  keep a trailing backslash "\" as a
                 parameter value. Note that continuation cannot be mixed  with
                 the "here" value syntax.

       -allowempty 0|1
                 If set to 1, then empty files are allowed at ReadConfig time.
                 If  set  to  0  (the default), an empty configuration file is
                 considered an error.

       -negativedeltas 0|1
                 If set to 1  (the  default  if  importing  this  object  from
                 another  one),  parses and honors lines of the following form
                 in the configuration file:

                   ; [somesection] is deleted

                 or

                   [inthissection]
                   ; thisparameter is deleted

                 If set to 0 (the default if not  importing),  these  comments
                 are treated like ordinary ones.

                 The WriteConfig1)> form will output such comments to indicate
                 deleted  sections  or parameters. This way, reloading a delta
                 file using the same imported object produces the same results
                 in memory again. See " DELTA FEATURES" in  IMPORT   for  more
                 details.

       -commentchar 'char'
                 The  default comment character is "#". You may change this by
                 specifying this option to another character. This can be  any
                 character  except alphanumeric characters, square brackets or
                 the "equal" sign.

       -allowedcommentchars 'chars'
                 Allowed default  comment  characters  are  "#"  and  ";".  By
                 specifying this option you may change the range of characters
                 that  are used to denote a comment line to include any set of
                 characters

                 Note: that  the  character  specified  by  -commentchar  (see
                 above) is always part of the allowed comment characters.

                 Note 2: The given string is evaluated as a regular expression
                 character  class,  so  '\' must be escaped if you wish to use
                 it.

       -reloadwarn 0|1
                 Set -reloadwarn => 1 to enable a warning message  (output  to
                 STDERR)  whenever  the  config  file is reloaded.  The reload
                 message is of the form:

                   PID <PID> reloading config file <file> at YYYY.MM.DD HH:MM:SS

                 Default behavior is to not warn (i.e. -reloadwarn => 0).

                 This is generally only useful when using Config::IniFiles  in
                 a  server  or  daemon  application.  The application is still
                 responsible  for  determining  when  the  object  is  to   be
                 reloaded.

       -nomultiline 0|1
                 Set -nomultiline => 1 to output multi-valued parameter as:

                  param=value1
                  param=value2

                 instead of the default:

                  param=<<EOT
                  value1
                  value2
                  EOT

                 As the latter might not be compatible with all applications.

       -handle_trailing_comment 0|1
                 Set  -handle_trailing_comment  =>  1  to  enable  support  of
                 parameter trailing comments.

                 For example, if we have a parameter line like this:

                  param1=value1;comment1

                 by default, handle_trailing_comment will be set to 0, and  we
                 will  get  value1;comment1 as the value of param1. If we have
                 -handle_trailing_comment set to 1, then we will get value1 as
                 the value for param1, and comment1 as the trailing comment of
                 param1.

                 Set and get methods for trailing  comments  are  provided  as
                 "SetParameterTrailingComment"                             and
                 "GetParameterTrailingComment".

       -php_compat 0|1
                 Set  -php_compat  =>  1  to  enable  support  for  PHP   like
                 configfiles.

                 The  differences  between parse_ini_file and Config::IniFiles
                 are:

                  # parse_ini_file
                  [group]
                  val1="value"
                  val2[]=1
                  val2[]=2

                  vs

                  # Config::IniFiles
                  [group]
                  val1=value
                  val2=1
                  val2=2

                 This option only affect parsing, not writing new configfiles.

                 Some features from parse_ini_file are not compatible:

                  [group]
                  val1="val"'ue'
                  val1[key]=1

   val ($section, $parameter [, $default] )
       Returns the value of the specified parameter  ($parameter)  in  section
       $section,  returns undef (or $default if specified) if no section or no
       parameter for the given section exists.

       If you want a multi-line/value field returned as an array, just specify
       an array as the receiver:

         @values = $cfg->val('Section', 'Parameter');

       A multi-line/value field that is returned in a scalar context  will  be
       joined  using  $/  (input  record separator, default is \n) if defined,
       otherwise the values will be joined using \n.

   exists($section, $parameter)
       True if and only if there exists a section $section, with  a  parameter
       $parameter inside, not counting default values.

   push ($section, $parameter, $value, [ $value2, ...])
       Pushes  new  values  at  the  end  of  existing  value(s)  of parameter
       $parameter in section $section.  See below for methods to write the new
       configuration back out to a file.

       You may  not  set  a  parameter  that  didn't  exist  in  the  original
       configuration  file.   push will return undef if this is attempted. See
       newval below to do this. Otherwise, it returns 1.

   setval ($section, $parameter, $value, [ $value2, ... ])
       Sets the value of parameter $parameter in section  $section  to  $value
       (or  to  a  set  of  values).   See  below for methods to write the new
       configuration back out to a file.

       You may  not  set  a  parameter  that  didn't  exist  in  the  original
       configuration file.  setval will return undef if this is attempted. See
       newval below to do this. Otherwise, it returns 1.

   newval($section, $parameter, $value [, $value2, ...])
       Assigns  a  new  value,  $value  (or  set  of  values) to the parameter
       $parameter in section $section in the configuration file.

   delval($section, $parameter)
       Deletes the specified parameter from the configuration file

   ReadConfig
       Forces the configuration file to be re-read. Returns undef if the  file
       can  not  be  opened, no filename was defined (with the "-file" option)
       when the object was constructed, or an error occurred while reading.

       If   an   error   occurs   while   parsing    the    INI    file    the
       @Config::IniFiles::errors  array  will contain messages that might help
       you figure out where the problem is in the file.

   Sections
       Returns an array containing section names in  the  configuration  file.
       If  the nocase option was turned on when the config object was created,
       the section names will be returned in lowercase.

   SectionExists ( $sect_name )
       Returns 1 if the specified section exists in the INI file, 0  otherwise
       (undefined if section_name is not defined).

   AddSection ( $sect_name )
       Ensures  that  the named section exists in the INI file. If the section
       already exists, nothing is done. In this case, the "new"  section  will
       possibly contain data already.

       If  you  really  need  to  have a new section with no parameters in it,
       check that the name that you're adding isn't in the  list  of  sections
       already.

   DeleteSection ( $sect_name )
       Completely removes the entire section from the configuration.

   RenameSection         (        $old_section_name,        $new_section_name,
       $include_groupmembers)
       Renames a section if it does not already  exist,  optionally  including
       groupmembers

   CopySection ( $old_section_name, $new_section_name, $include_groupmembers)
       Copies one section to another optionally including groupmembers

   Parameters ($sect_name)
       Returns  an  array containing the parameters contained in the specified
       section.

   Groups
       Returns an array containing the names of available groups.

       Groups are specified in the config file as new sections of the form

         [GroupName MemberName]

       This is useful for building up lists.  Note that  parameters  within  a
       "member"  section  are  referenced  normally (i.e., the section name is
       still "Groupname Membername", including the space)  -  the  concept  of
       Groups is to aid people building more complex configuration files.

   SetGroupMember ( $sect )
       Makes  sure  that  the specified section is a member of the appropriate
       group.

       Only intended for use in newval.

   RemoveGroupMember ( $sect )
       Makes sure that the specified section is no  longer  a  member  of  the
       appropriate group. Only intended for use in DeleteSection.

   GroupMembers ($group)
       Returns  an  array  containing  the  members  of specified $group. Each
       element of the array is a section name. For example, given the sections

         [Group Element 1]
         ...

         [Group Element 2]
         ...

       GroupMembers would return ("Group Element 1", "Group Element 2").

   SetWriteMode ($mode)
       Sets the mode (permissions) to use when writing the INI file.

       $mode must be a string representation of the octal mode.

   GetWriteMode ($mode)
       Gets the current mode (permissions) to use when writing the INI file.

       $mode is a string representation of the octal mode.

   WriteConfig ($filename [, %options])
       Writes out a new copy of the configuration file.  A temporary  file  is
       written  out and then renamed to the specified filename.  Also see BUGS
       below.

       If "-delta" is set to a true value in %options,  and  this  object  was
       imported  from  another  (see "new"), only the differences between this
       object and the imported one will be recorded. Negative deltas  will  be
       encoded  into  comments,  so that a subsequent invocation of new() with
       the  same  imported  object  produces  the  same   results   (see   the
       -negativedeltas option in "new").

       %options is not required.

       Returns true on success, "undef" on failure.

   RewriteConfig
       Same as WriteConfig, but specifies that the original configuration file
       should be rewritten.

   GetFileName
       Returns the filename associated with this INI file.

       If no filename has been specified, returns undef.

   SetFileName ($filename)
       If  you created the Config::IniFiles object without initialising from a
       file, or if you just want to change the name of the  file  to  use  for
       ReadConfig/RewriteConfig from now on, use this method.

       Returns $filename if that was a valid name, undef otherwise.

   $ini->OutputConfigToFileHandle($fh, $delta)
       Writes  OutputConfig to the $fh filehandle. $delta should be set to 1 1
       if  writing  only  delta.  This  is  a  newer  and  safer  version   of
       "OutputConfig()" and one is encouraged to use it instead.

   $ini->OutputConfig($delta)
       Writes  OutputConfig  to STDOUT. Use select() to redirect STDOUT to the
       output target before calling this function. Optional argument should be
       set to 1 if writing only a delta. Also see OutputConfigToFileHandle

   SetSectionComment($section, @comment)
       Sets the comment  for  section  $section  to  the  lines  contained  in
       @comment.

       Each comment line will be prepended with the comment character (default
       is "#") if it doesn't already have a comment character (ie: if the line
       does   not  start  with  whitespace  followed  by  an  allowed  comment
       character, default is "#" and ";").

       To clear a section comment, use DeleteSectionComment ($section)

   GetSectionComment ($section)
       Returns a  list  of  lines,  being  the  comment  attached  to  section
       $section.  In  scalar context, returns a string containing the lines of
       the comment separated by newlines.

       The lines are presented as-is,  with  whatever  comment  character  was
       originally used on that line.

   DeleteSectionComment ($section)
       Removes the comment for the specified section.

   SetParameterComment ($section, $parameter, @comment)
       Sets the comment attached to a particular parameter.

       Any  line  of  @comment  that does not have a comment character will be
       prepended with one. See "SetSectionComment($section, @comment)" above

   GetParameterComment ($section, $parameter)
       Gets the comment attached to a parameter. In list context  returns  all
       comments - in scalar context returns them joined by newlines.

   DeleteParameterComment ($section, $parameter)
       Deletes the comment attached to a parameter.

   GetParameterEOT ($section, $parameter)
       Accessor  method  for  the  EOT  text (in fact, style) of the specified
       parameter. If any text is used as an EOT mark, this will  be  returned.
       If  the  parameter  was  not  recorded using HERE style multiple lines,
       GetParameterEOT returns undef.

   $cfg->SetParameterEOT ($section, $parameter, $EOT)
       Accessor method for the EOT text for the specified parameter. Sets  the
       HERE  style  marker  text  to the value $EOT. Once the EOT text is set,
       that parameter will be saved in HERE style.

       To un-set the EOT text, use DeleteParameterEOT ($section, $parameter).

   DeleteParameterEOT ($section, $parameter)
       Removes the EOT marker for  the  given  section  and  parameter.   When
       writing a configuration file, if no EOT marker is defined then "EOT" is
       used.

   SetParameterTrailingComment ($section, $parameter, $cmt)
       Set  the  end trailing comment for the given section and parameter.  If
       there is a old comment for the parameter, it will be overwritten by the
       new one.

       If there is a new parameter trailing comment to  be  added,  the  value
       should be added first.

   GetParameterTrailingComment ($section, $parameter)
       An  accessor  method  to read the trailing comment after the parameter.
       The trailing comment will be returned if there is one.  A  null  string
       will  be  returned  if the parameter exists but there is no comment for
       it.  otherwise, undef will be returned.

   Delete
       Deletes the entire configuration file in memory.

USAGE -- Tied Hash
   tie %ini, 'Config::IniFiles', (-file=>$filename, [-option=>value ...] )
       Using "tie", you can tie a hash  to  a  Config::IniFiles  object.  This
       creates a new object which you can access through your hash, so you use
       this  instead of the new method. This actually creates a hash of hashes
       to access the values in the INI file. The options you  provide  through
       "tie" are the same as given for the new method, above.

       Here's an example:

         use Config::IniFiles;

         my %ini;
         tie %ini, 'Config::IniFiles', ( -file => "/path/configfile.ini" );

         print "We have $ini{Section}{Parameter}." if $ini{Section}{Parameter};

       Accessing  and  using the hash works just like accessing a regular hash
       and many of the object methods are  made  available  through  the  hash
       interface.

       For  those methods that do not coincide with the hash paradigm, you can
       use the Perl "tied" function to get at the underlying  object  tied  to
       the  hash  and  call  methods on that object. For example, to write the
       hash out to a new ini file, you would do something like this:

         tied( %ini )->WriteConfig( "/newpath/newconfig.ini" ) ||
           die "Could not write settings to new file.";

   $val = $ini{$section}{$parameter}
       Returns the value of $parameter in $section.

       Multiline values accessed through a hash will be returned as a list  in
       list context and a concatenated value in scalar context.

   $ini{$section}{$parameter} = $value;
       Sets the value of $parameter in $section to $value.

       To  set  a  multiline  or  multi-value  parameter  just assign an array
       reference to the hash entry, like this:

        $ini{$section}{$parameter} = [$value1, $value2, ...];

       If the parameter did not  exist  in  the  original  file,  it  will  be
       created. However, Perl does not seem to extend autovivification to tied
       hashes. That means that if you try to say

         $ini{new_section}{new_paramters} = $val;

       and  the section 'new_section' does not exist, then Perl won't properly
       create it. In order to work around this you will need to create a  hash
       reference  in  that  section  and  then  assign  the  parameter  value.
       Something like this should do nicely:

         $ini{new_section} = {};
         $ini{new_section}{new_paramters} = $val;

   %hash = %{$ini{$section}}
       Using the tie interface, you can copy whole sections of  the  ini  file
       into  another  hash. Note that this makes a copy of the entire section.
       The new hash in no longer tied to the ini  file,  In  particular,  this
       means -default and -nocase settings will not apply to %hash.

   $ini{$section} = {}; %{$ini{$section}} = %parameters;
       Through  the hash interface, you have the ability to replace the entire
       section with a new set of parameters. This call will fail, however,  if
       the  argument  passed in NOT a hash reference. You must use both lines,
       as shown above so that Perl recognizes the section as a hash  reference
       context before COPYing over the values from your %parameters hash.

   delete $ini{$section}{$parameter}
       When  tied  to  a  hash,  you  can  use  the  Perl "delete" function to
       completely remove a parameter from a section.

   delete $ini{$section}
       The tied interface also allows you to delete an entire section from the
       ini file using the Perl "delete" function.

   %ini = ();
       If you really want to delete all the items in the ini file,  this  will
       do  it.  Of  course,  the  changes  won't be written to the actual file
       unless you call RewriteConfig on the object tied to the hash.

   Parameter names
       my @keys = keys %{$ini{$section}}
       while (($k, $v) = each %{$ini{$section}}) {...}
       if( exists %{$ini{$section}}, $parameter ) {...}

       When tied to a hash, you use the Perl "keys" and  "each"  functions  to
       iteratively list the parameters ("keys") or parameters and their values
       ("each") in a given section.

       You  can  also  use the Perl "exists" function to see if a parameter is
       defined in a given section.

       Note that none of these will return parameter names that  are  part  of
       the  default  section (if set), although accessing an unknown parameter
       in the specified section will return a value from the  default  section
       if there is one.

   Section names
       foreach( keys %ini ) {...}
       while (($k, $v) = each %ini) {...}
       if( exists %ini, $section ) {...}

       When  tied  to  a hash, you use the Perl "keys" and "each" functions to
       iteratively list the sections in the ini file.

       You can also use the Perl "exists" function to  see  if  a  section  is
       defined in the file.

IMPORT / DELTA FEATURES
       The  -import  option  to "new" allows one to stack one Config::IniFiles
       object on top of another (which might be itself stacked in turn and  so
       on  recursively,  but this is beyond the point). The effect, as briefly
       explained in "new", is that  the  fields  appearing  in  the  composite
       object  will  be  a superposition of those coming from the ``original''
       one and the lines coming from the file, the latter  taking  precedence.
       For  example,  let's  say  that $master and "overlay" were created like
       this:

          my $master  = Config::IniFiles->new(-file => "master.ini");
          my $overlay = Config::IniFiles->new(-file => "overlay.ini",
                   -import => $master);

       If the contents of "master.ini" and "overlay.ini" are respectively

          ; master.ini
          [section1]
          arg0=unchanged from master.ini
          arg1=val1

          [section2]
          arg2=val2

       and

          ; overlay.ini
          [section1]
          arg1=overridden

       Then  "$overlay->val("section1",  "arg1")"   is   "overridden",   while
       "$overlay->val("section1", "arg0")" is "unchanged from master.ini".

       This  feature  may  be used to ship a ``global defaults'' configuration
       file for a Perl application, that can be overridden piecewise by a much
       shorter, per-site configuration file. Assuming UNIX-style  path  names,
       this would be done like this:

          my $defaultconfig = Config::IniFiles->new
              (-file => "/usr/share/myapp/myapp.ini.default");
          my $config = Config::IniFiles->new
              (-file => "/etc/myapp.ini", -import => $defaultconfig);
          # Now use $config and forget about $defaultconfig in the rest of
          # the program

       Starting  with version 2.39, Config::IniFiles also provides features to
       keep the importing / per-site configuration file small, by only  saving
       those  options  that  were modified by the running program. That is, if
       one calls

          $overlay->setval("section1", "arg1", "anotherval");
          $overlay->newval("section3", "arg3", "val3");
          $overlay->WriteConfig('overlay.ini', -delta=>1);

       "overlay.ini" would now contain

          ; overlay.ini
          [section1]
          arg1=anotherval

          [section3]
          arg3=val3

       This  is  called  a  delta  file  (see  "WriteConfig").  The  untouched
       [section2]  and  arg0  do  not appear, and the config file is therefore
       shorter; while of course, reloading the configuration into $master  and
       $overlay,  either  through "$overlay->ReadConfig()" or through the same
       code as above (e.g. when application restarts), would yield exactly the
       same result had the overlay object been saved  in  whole  to  the  file
       system.

       The  only  problem  with  this delta technique is one cannot delete the
       default values in the overlay configuration  file,  only  change  them.
       This   is   solved   by   a  file  format  extension,  enabled  by  the
       -negativedeltas option to "new": if, say, one would  delete  parameters
       like this,

          $overlay->DeleteSection("section2");
          $overlay->delval("section1", "arg0");
          $overlay->WriteConfig('overlay.ini', -delta=>1);

       The overlay.ini file would now read:

          ; overlay.ini
          [section1]
          ; arg0 is deleted
          arg1=anotherval

          ; [section2] is deleted

          [section3]
          arg3=val3

       Assuming  $overlay  was  later re-read with "-negativedeltas => 1", the
       parser would interpret the  deletion  comments  to  yield  the  correct
       result,  that  is,  [section2]  and  arg0  would  cease to exist in the
       $overlay object.

DIAGNOSTICS
   @Config::IniFiles::errors
       Contains a list of errors encountered while parsing  the  configuration
       file.  If the new method returns undef, check the value of this to find
       out what's wrong.  This value is reset each time a config file is read.

BUGS
       •  The  output from [Re]WriteConfig/OutputConfig might not be as pretty
          as it can be.  Comments are tied to whatever was  immediately  below
          them.   And case is not preserved for Section and Parameter names if
          the -nocase option was used.

       •  No locking is done by [Re]WriteConfig.  When writing  servers,  take
          care  that only the parent ever calls this, and consider making your
          own backup.

Data Structure
       Note that this is only a reference for the package maintainers - one of
       the upcoming revisions to this package will include a total clean up of
       the data structure.

         $iniconf->{cf} = "config_file_name"
                 ->{startup_settings} = \%orginal_object_parameters
                 ->{imported} = $object WHERE $object->isa("Config::IniFiles")
                 ->{nocase} = 0
                 ->{reloadwarn} = 0
                 ->{sects} = \@sections
                 ->{mysects} = \@sections
                 ->{sCMT}{$sect} = \@comment_lines
                 ->{group}{$group} = \@group_members
                 ->{parms}{$sect} = \@section_parms
                 ->{myparms}{$sect} = \@section_parms
                 ->{EOT}{$sect}{$parm} = "end of text string"
                 ->{pCMT}{$sect}{$parm} = \@comment_lines
                 ->{v}{$sect}{$parm} = $value   OR  \@values
                 ->{e}{$sect} = 1 OR does not exist
                 ->{mye}{$sect} = 1 OR does not exists

AUTHOR and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
       The original code was written by Scott Hutton.  Then handled for a time
       by Rich Bowen (thanks!),  and  was  later  managed  by  Jeremy  Wadsack
       (thanks!),     and    now    is    managed    by    Shlomi    Fish    (
       <http://www.shlomifish.org/> ) with  many  contributions  from  various
       other people.

       In particular, special thanks go to (in roughly chronological order):

       Bernie  Cosell,  Alan  Young, Alex Satrapa, Mike Blazer, Wilbert van de
       Pieterman, Steve  Campbell,  Robert  Konigsberg,  Scott  Dellinger,  R.
       Bernstein,  Daniel  Winkelmann,  Pires  Claudio, Adrian Phillips, Marek
       Rouchal, Luc St Louis, Adam Fischler, Kay Roepke, Matt Wilson,  Raviraj
       Murdeshwar and Slaven Rezic, Florian Pfaff

       Geez,  that's  a  lot  of  people.  And apologies to the folks who were
       missed.

       If you want someone to bug about this, that would be:

           Shlomi Fish <shlomif@cpan.org>

       If you want more information, or want to participate, go to:

       <http://sourceforge.net/projects/config-inifiles/>

       Please submit bug  reports  using  the  Request  Tracker  interface  at
       <https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Config-IniFiles> .

       Development     discussion     occurs     on     the    mailing    list
       config-inifiles-dev@lists.sourceforge.net, which you can  subscribe  to
       by going to the project web site (link above).

LICENSE
       This software is copyright (c) 2000 by Scott Hutton and the rest of the
       Config::IniFiles contributors.

       This  is  free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
       the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

AUTHOR
       Shlomi Fish <shlomif@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
       This software is copyright (c) 2000 by RBOW and others.

       This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify  it  under
       the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

BUGS
       Please  report  any  bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website
       <https://github.com/shlomif/perl-Config-IniFiles/issues>

       When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch
       to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.

SUPPORT
   Perldoc
       You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

         perldoc Config::IniFiles

   Websites
       The following websites have more information about this module, and may
       be of help to you. As always, in addition to those websites please  use
       your favorite search engine to discover more resources.

       •   MetaCPAN

           A  modern,  open-source  CPAN  search engine, useful to view POD in
           HTML format.

           <https://metacpan.org/release/Config-IniFiles>

       •   RT: CPAN's Bug Tracker

           The RT (  Request  Tracker  )  website  is  the  default  bug/issue
           tracking system for CPAN.

           <https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Config-IniFiles>

       •   CPANTS

           The CPANTS is a website that analyzes the Kwalitee ( code metrics )
           of a distribution.

           <http://cpants.cpanauthors.org/dist/Config-IniFiles>

       •   CPAN Testers

           The  CPAN  Testers  is a network of smoke testers who run automated
           tests on uploaded CPAN distributions.

           <http://www.cpantesters.org/distro/C/Config-IniFiles>

       •   CPAN Testers Matrix

           The CPAN Testers  Matrix  is  a  website  that  provides  a  visual
           overview  of  the  test  results  for  a  distribution  on  various
           Perls/platforms.

           <http://matrix.cpantesters.org/?dist=Config-IniFiles>

       •   CPAN Testers Dependencies

           The CPAN Testers Dependencies is a website that shows  a  chart  of
           the test results of all dependencies for a distribution.

           <http://deps.cpantesters.org/?module=Config::IniFiles>

   Bugs / Feature Requests
       Please   report   any   bugs   or   feature   requests   by   email  to
       "bug-config-inifiles at rt.cpan.org", or through the web  interface  at
       <https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Report.html?Queue=Config-IniFiles>. You
       will  be  automatically  notified of any progress on the request by the
       system.

   Source Code
       The code is open to the world, and available for you to hack on. Please
       feel free to browse it and play with it, or whatever. If  you  want  to
       contribute  patches, please send me a diff or prod me to pull from your
       repository :)

       <https://github.com/shlomif/perl-Config-IniFiles>

         git clone git://github.com/shlomif/perl-Config-IniFiles.git

perl v5.36.0                      2022-12-09             Config::IniFiles(3pm)

Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 17:07:56 CET 2025.