Config::IniFiles - A module for reading .ini-style configuration files.
use Config::IniFiles; my $cfg = new Config::IniFiles( -file => "/path/configfile.ini" ); print "We have parm $cfg->val( 'Section', 'Parameter' )." if $cfg->val( 'Section', 'Parameter' );
Config::IniFiles provides a way to have readable configuration files outside your Perl script. The configuration can be safely reloaded upon receipt of a signal. Configurations can be imported (inherited, stacked,...), sections can be grouped, and settings can be accessed from a tied hash.
Get a new Config::IniFiles object with the new method:
$cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => "/path/configfile.ini" ); $cfg = new Config::IniFiles -file => "/path/configfile.ini";
Optional named parameters may be specified after the configuration file name. See the new in the METHODS section, below.
INI files consist of a number of sections, each preceeded with the section name in square brackets. The first nonblank character of the line indicating a section must be a left bracket and the last nonblank 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. The section may even be be empty. 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. Parameter names are localized to the namespace of the section, but must be unique within a section.
[section] Parameter=Value
Both the hash mark (#) and the semicolon (;) are comment characters. Lines that begin with either of these characters will be ignored. Any amount of whitespace may preceed the comment character.
Multiline or multivalued fields 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 what follows the "<<" and what appears at the end of the text MUST match exactly, including any trailing whitespace.
See the METHODS section, below, for settable options.
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');
Returns a new configuration object (or "undef" if the configuration file has an error). One Config::IniFiles object is required per configuration file. The following named parameters are available:
Specifies a section is used for default values. For example, if you look up the "permissions" parameter in the "users" section, but there is none, Config::IniFiles will look to your default section for a "permissions" value before returning undef.
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
See your system documentation for information on valid signals.
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.
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.
Returns the value of the specified parameter in section $section, returns undef if no section or no parameter for the given section exists.
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.
Adds a new value to the configuration file.
Deletes the specified value from the configuration file
Forces the config file to be re-read. Also see the -reloadsig option to the new method for a way to connect this method to a signal (such as SIGHUP).
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.
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).
Returns an array containing the members of specified $group.
Returns an array containing the parameters contained in the specified section.
Writes out a new copy of the configuration file. A temporary file (ending in .new) is written out and then renamed to the specified filename. Also see BUGS below.
Same as WriteConfig, but specifies that the original configuration file should be rewritten.
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.
tie
Here's an example:
use Config::IniFiles; my %ini tie %ini, 'Config::IniFiles', ( -file => "/path/configfile.ini" ); print "We have parm %ini{Section}{Parameter}." if %ini{'Section'}{'Parameter'};
Accessing and using the hash works just like accessing and using an object, except in the way you reference it. More information about using the hash interface is descibed below under the corresponding object methods.
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
tied( %ini )->WriteConfig( "/newpath/newconfig.ini" ) || die "Could not write settings to new file.";
Returns the value of $parameter in $section, through the hash tie interface.
Because of limitations in Perl's tie implementation, multiline values accessed through a hash will always be returned as a single value with each line joined by the default line separator ($\). To break them apart you can simple do this:
@lines = split( "$\", $ini{section}{multi_line_parameter} );
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.
%hash
Sets the value of $parameter in $section to value given. through the hash interface. If the parameter did not exist in the original file, it will be created.
To set a multiline or multivalue parameter use something like this:
$ini{$section}{$parameter} = [$value1, $value2, ...];
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.
%parameters
When tied to a hash, you can use the Perl delete function to completely remove a parameter from a section.
delete
The tied interface also allows you to delete an entire section from the ini file using the Perl delete function.
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 ReWriteFile on the object tied to the hash.
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.
keys
each
You can also use the Perl exists function to see if a parameter is defined in a given section.
exists
Note that none of these will return parameter names that are part if the default section (if set), although accessing and unknown parameter in the specified section will return a value from the default section if there is one.
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.
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.
The output from [Re]WriteConfig/OutputConfig might not be as pretty as it can be. Comments are tied to whatever was immediately below them.
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.
$iniconf->{cf} = "config_file_name" ->{EOT}{$sect}{$parm} = "end of text string" ->{firstload} = 0 ->{group}{$group} = \@group_members ->{nocase} = 0 ->{parms}{$section} = \@section_parms ->{pCMT}{$section}{$parm} = \@comment_lines ->{reloadwarn} = 0 ->{sCMT}{$section} = \@comment_lines ->{sects} = \@sections ->{v}{$section}{$parm} = $value OR \@values ->{startup_settings} = \%orginal_object_parameters
The original code was written by Scott Hutton. It has since been taken over by Rich Bowen, with many contributions from various other people.
Rich Bowen <rbowen@rcbowen.com> http://dev.rcbowen.com/iniconf/
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
To install Config::IniFiles, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm Config::IniFiles
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install Config::IniFiles
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.