ini

An INI format parser & serializer.

Note

• Sections are treated as nested objects.

• Section-less items are treated as globals.

Usage

Consider an INI file such as the following:

; This comment is being ignored
scope = global

[database]
user = dbuser
password = dbpassword
database = use_this_database

[paths.default]
datadir = /var/lib/data
array[] = first value
array[] = second value
array[] = third value

You can read, modify and write it like so:

import { writeFile , readFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
import { stringify , parse } from 'ini'

//  Read INI file as text

let text = await readFile(`./Original.ini`,{
    encoding : 'utf-8'
})

//  Parse text data to object

const config = parse(text)

//  Modify data object

config.scope = 'local'
config.database.database = 'use_another_database'
config.paths.default.tmpdir = '/tmp'
delete config.paths.default.datadir
config.paths.default.array.push('fourth value')

//  Stringify data object

text = stringify(config,{ 
    section : 'section' 
})

//  Write INI file as text

await writeFile(`./Modified.ini`,text)

The written file will contain the following:

[section]
scope=local
[section.database]
user=dbuser
password=dbpassword
database=use_another_database
[section.paths.default]
tmpdir=/tmp
array[]=first value
array[]=second value
array[]=third value
array[]=fourth value

API

Parse

Attempts to turn the given INI string into a nested data object.

// You can also use `decode`
const object = parse(`<INI Text>`) 

Stringify

Encodes the given data object as an INI formatted string.

// You can also use `encode`
stringify(object,{

    /**
     *  Whether to insert spaces before & after `=`
     * 
     *  Disabled by default to have better 
     *  compatibility with old picky parsers.
     */

    whitespace : false ,

    /**
     *  Whether to align the `=` character for each section.
     *  -> Also enables the `whitespace` option
     */

    align : false ,

    /**
     *  Identifier to use for global items 
     *  and to prepend to all other sections.
     */

    section ,

    /**
     *  Whether to sort all sections & their keys alphabetically.
     */

    sort : false ,

    /**
     *  Whether to insert a newline after each section header.
     * 
     *  The TOSHIBA & FlashAir parser require this format. 
     */

    newline : false ,

    /**
     *  Which platforms line-endings should be used.
     * 
     *  win32 -> CR+LF
     *  other -> LF
     * 
     *  Default is the current platform
     */

    platform ,

    /**
     *  Whether to append `[]` to array keys.
     * 
     *  Some parsers treat duplicate names by themselves as arrays
     */

    bracketedArray : true

})

For backwards compatibility any string passed as the
options parameter is treated as the section option.

stringify(object,'section')

Un / Escape

Turn the given string into a safe to
use key or value in your INI file.

safe(`"unsafe string"`) // -> \"unsafe string\"

Or reverse the process with:

unsafe(`\\"safe string\\"`) // -> "safe string"