ini

What is ini?

The ini npm package is used for parsing .ini files and converting objects to .ini format. It provides a simple interface for working with INI configuration files, which are often used for storing settings in a structured yet readable format. This package allows for easy reading, writing, and manipulation of INI files.

What are ini's main functionalities?

Parse INI string

This feature allows you to parse a string in INI format and convert it into a JavaScript object. The example demonstrates parsing a simple INI formatted string.

"const ini = require('ini');\nconst config = ini.parse('[section]\na=1\nb=2');\nconsole.log(config); // { section: { a: '1', b: '2' } }"

Stringify an object to INI format

This feature converts a JavaScript object into a string in INI format. The example shows how to convert an object with nested properties into an INI formatted string.

"const ini = require('ini');\nconst obj = { section: { a: '1', b: '2' } };\nconst str = ini.stringify(obj);\nconsole.log(str); // '[section]\na=1\nb=2'"

Other packages similar to ini

dotenv

dotenv is a package that loads environment variables from a .env file into process.env. While it serves a different purpose by focusing on environment variables, it shares the concept of managing configuration through a file. Unlike ini, dotenv does not support sections or nested properties.

rc

rc is a configuration package that reads properties from multiple sources, including INI files, environment variables, and command-line arguments. It offers more flexibility in configuration management compared to ini by aggregating settings from various sources, but it might be more complex to use for simple INI file parsing and writing.

config

config is a more comprehensive configuration management solution that supports multiple file formats, including JSON, YAML, and JavaScript. It is designed for organizing hierarchical configurations for app deployments. While it provides more features and supports more formats than ini, it might be overkill for simple INI file tasks.

README

An ini format parser and serializer for node.

Sections are treated as nested objects. Items before the first heading are saved on the object directly.

Usage

Consider an ini-file config.ini that looks like this:

; 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, manipulate and write the ini-file like so:

var fs = require('fs')
  , ini = require('ini')

var config = ini.parse(fs.readFileSync('./config.ini', 'utf-8'))

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')

fs.writeFileSync('./config_modified.ini', ini.stringify(config, { section: 'section' }))

This will result in a file called config_modified.ini being written to the filesystem with the following content:

[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

decode(inistring)

Decode the ini-style formatted inistring into a nested object.

parse(inistring)

Alias for decode(inistring)

encode(object, [options])

Encode the object object into an ini-style formatted string. If the optional parameter section is given, then all top-level properties of the object are put into this section and the section-string is prepended to all sub-sections, see the usage example above.

The options object may contain the following:

• section A string which will be the first section in the encoded ini data. Defaults to none.
• whitespace Boolean to specify whether to put whitespace around the = character. By default, whitespace is omitted, to be friendly to some persnickety old parsers that don't tolerate it well. But some find that it's more human-readable and pretty with the whitespace.

For backwards compatibility reasons, if a string options is passed in, then it is assumed to be the section value.

stringify(object, [options])

Alias for encode(object, [options])

safe(val)

Escapes the string val such that it is safe to be used as a key or value in an ini-file. Basically escapes quotes. For example

ini.safe('"unsafe string"')

would result in

"\"unsafe string\""

unsafe(val)

Unescapes the string val