[−][src]Crate configparser

This crate provides the Ini struct which implements a basic configuration language which provides a structure similar to what’s found in Windows' ini files. You can use this to write Rust programs which can be customized by end users easily.

This is a simple configuration parsing utility with no dependencies built on Rust. It is inspired by Python's configparser.

The current release is experimental, this means that future releases will be swift until we reach stable (1.0.0). The codebase is thus subject to change for now.

Quick Start

A basic ini-syntax file (we say ini-syntax files because the files don't need to be necessarily *.ini) looks like this:

[DEFAULT]
key1 = value1
pizzatime = yes
cost = 9

[topsecrets]
nuclear launch codes = topsecret

[github.com]
User = QEDK

Essentially, the syntax consists of sections, each of which can which contains keys with values. The Ini struct can read and write such values to strings as well as files.

Supported datatypes

configparser does not guess the datatype of values in configuration files and stores everything as strings. However, some datatypes are so common that it's a safe bet that some values need to be parsed in other types. For this, the Ini struct provides easy functions like getint(), getuint(), getfloat() and getbool(). The only bit of extra magic involved is that the getbool() function will treat boolean values case-insensitively (so true is the same as True just like TRUE). The crate also provides a stronger getboolcoerce() function that parses more values (such as T, yes and 0, all case-insensitively), the function's documentation will give you the exact details.

use configparser::ini::Ini;

let mut config = Ini::new();
config.read(String::from(
  "[somesection]
  someintvalue = 5"));
let my_value = config.getint("somesection", "someintvalue").unwrap().unwrap();
assert_eq!(my_value, 5); // value accessible!

//You can ofcourse just choose to parse the values yourself:
let my_string = String::from("1984");
let my_int = my_string.parse::<i32>().unwrap();

Supported `ini` file structure

A configuration file can consist of sections, each led by a [section-name] header, followed by key-value entries separated by a =. By default, section names and key names are case-insensitive. All leading and trailing whitespace is removed from stored keys, values and section names. Key values can be omitted, in which case the key-value delimiter (=) may also be left out (but this is different from putting a delimiter, we'll explain it later). You can use comment symbols (; and # to denote comments). This can be configured with the set_comment_symbols() method in the API. Keep in mind that key-value pairs or section headers cannot span multiple lines. Owing to how ini files usually are, this means that [, ], =, ';' and # are special symbols (this crate will allow you to use ] sparingly).

Let's take for example:

[section headers are case-insensitive]
[   section headers are case-insensitive    ]
are the section headers above same? = yes
sectionheaders_and_keysarestored_in_lowercase? = yes
keys_are_also_case_insensitive = Values are case sensitive
;anything after a comment symbol is ignored
#this is also a comment
spaces in keys=allowed ;and everything before this is still valid!
spaces in values=allowed as well
spaces around the delimiter = also OK


[All values are strings]
values like this= 0000
or this= 0.999
are they treated as numbers? = no
integers, floats and booleans are held as= strings

[value-less?]
a_valueless_key_has_None
this key has an empty string value has Some("") =

    [indented sections]
        can_values_be_as_well = True
        purpose = formatting for readability
        is_this_same     =        yes
            is_this_same=yes

An important thing to note is that values with the same keys will get updated, this means that the last inserted key (whether that's a section header or property key) is the one that remains in the HashMap. The only bit of magic the API does is the section-less properties are put in a section called "default". You can configure this variable via the API. Keep in mind that a section named "default" is also treated as sectionless so the output files remains consistent with no section header.

Usage

Let's take another simple ini file and talk about working with it:

[topsecret]
KFC = the secret herb is orega-

[values]
Uint = 31415

If you read the above sections carefully, you'll know that 1) all the keys are stored in lowercase, 2) get() can make access in a case-insensitive manner and 3) we can use getint() to parse the Int value into an i64. Let's see that in action.

use configparser::ini::Ini;
use std::error::Error;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
  let mut config = Ini::new();

  // You can easily load a file to get a clone of the map:
  let map = config.load("tests/test.ini")?;
  println!("{:?}", map);
  // You can also safely not store the reference and access it later with get_map_ref() or get a clone with get_map()

  // If you want to access the value, then you can simply do:
  let val = config.get("TOPSECRET", "KFC").unwrap();
  // Notice how get() can access indexes case-insensitively.

  assert_eq!(val, "the secret herb is orega-"); // value accessible!

  // What if you want remove KFC's secret recipe? Just use set():
  config.set("topsecret", "kfc", None);

  assert_eq!(config.get("TOPSECRET", "KFC"), None); // as expected!

  // What if you want to get an unsigned integer?
  let my_number = config.getuint("values", "Uint")?.unwrap();
  assert_eq!(my_number, 31415); // and we got it!
  // The Ini struct provides more getters for primitive datatypes.

  // You can also access it like a normal hashmap:
  let innermap = map["topsecret"].clone();
  // Remember that all indexes are stored in lowercase!

  // You can easily write the currently stored configuration to a file like:
  config.write("output.ini");

  // If you want to simply mutate the stored hashmap, you can use get_mut_map()
  let map = config.get_mut_map();
  // You can then use normal HashMap functions on this map at your convenience.
  // Remember that functions which rely on standard formatting might stop working
  // if it's mutated differently.

  Ok(())
}

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