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Config::IniFiles(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation Config::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 Röpke, 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 v5.38.2                       2024-08-02             Config::IniFiles(3pm)

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