Config::Tiny - Read/Write .ini style files with as little code as possible
# In your configuration file
rootproperty=blah
[section]
one=twp
three= four
Foo =Bar
empty=
# In your program
use Config::Tiny;
# Create an empty config
my $Config = Config::Tiny->new;
# Create a config with data
my $config = Config::Tiny->new({
_ => { rootproperty => "Bar" },
section => { one => "value", Foo => 42 } });
# Open the config
$Config = Config::Tiny->read( 'file.conf' );
$Config = Config::Tiny->read( 'file.conf', 'utf8' ); # Neither ':' nor '<:' prefix!
$Config = Config::Tiny->read( 'file.conf', 'encoding(iso-8859-1)');
# Reading properties
my $rootproperty = $Config->{_}->{rootproperty};
my $one = $Config->{section}->{one};
my $Foo = $Config->{section}->{Foo};
# Changing data
$Config->{newsection} = { this => 'that' }; # Add a section
$Config->{section}->{Foo} = 'Not Bar!'; # Change a value
delete $Config->{_}; # Delete a value or section
# Save a config
$Config->write( 'file.conf' );
$Config->write( 'file.conf', 'utf8' ); # Neither ':' nor '>:' prefix!
# Shortcuts
my($rootproperty) = $$Config{_}{rootproperty};
my($config) = Config::Tiny -> read_string('alpha=bet');
my($value) = $$config{_}{alpha}; # $value is 'bet'.
my($config) = Config::Tiny -> read_string("[init]\nalpha=bet");
my($value) = $$config{init}{alpha}; # $value is 'bet'.
Config::Tiny is a Perl class to read and write .ini style configuration
files with as little code as possible, reducing load time and memory overhead.
Most of the time it is accepted that Perl applications use a lot of memory and modules.
The *::Tiny family of modules is specifically intended to provide an ultralight alternative
to the standard modules.
This module is primarily for reading human written files, and anything we write shouldn't need to
have documentation/comments. If you need something with more power move up to the Config::Simple manpage,
the Config::General manpage or one of the many other Config::* modules.
Lastly, the Config::Tiny manpage does not preserve your comments, whitespace, or the order of your config
file.
See the Config::Tiny::Ordered manpage (and possibly others) for the preservation of the order of the entries
in the file.
Files are the same format as for MS Windows *.ini files. For example:
[section]
var1=value1
var2=value2
If a property is outside of a section at the beginning of a file, it will
be assigned to the "root section", available at $Config->{_}.
Lines starting with '#' or ';' are considered comments and ignored,
as are blank lines.
When writing back to the config file, all comments, custom whitespace,
and the ordering of your config file elements are discarded. If you need
to keep the human elements of a config when writing back, upgrade to
something better, this module is not for you.
Returns a string representing the most recent error, or the empty string.
You can also retrieve the error message from the $Config::Tiny::errstr variable.
Here, the [] indicate an optional parameter.
The constructor new creates and returns a Config::Tiny object.
This will normally be a new, empty configuration, but you may also pass a
hashref here which will be turned into an object of this class. This hashref
should have a structure suitable for a configuration file, that is, a hash of
hashes where the key _ is treated specially as the root section.
Here, the [] indicate an optional parameter.
The read constructor reads a config file, $filename, and returns a new
Config::Tiny object containing the properties in the file.
$encoding may be used to indicate the encoding of the file, e.g. 'utf8' or 'encoding(iso-8859-1)'.
Do not add a prefix to $encoding, such as '<' or '<:'.
Returns the object on success, or undef on error.
When read fails, Config::Tiny sets an error message internally
you can recover via Config::Tiny->errstr. Although in some
cases a failed read will also set the operating system error
variable $!, not all errors do and you should not rely on using
the $! variable.
See t/04.utf8.t and t/04.utf8.txt.
The read_string method takes as argument the contents of a config file
as a string and returns the Config::Tiny object for it.
Here, the [] indicate an optional parameter.
The write method generates the file content for the properties, and
writes it to disk to the filename specified.
$encoding may be used to indicate the encoding of the file, e.g. 'utf8' or 'encoding(iso-8859-1)'.
Do not add a prefix to $encoding, such as '>' or '>:'.
Returns true on success or undef on error.
See t/04.utf8.t and t/04.utf8.txt.
Generates the file content for the object and returns it as a string.
The last value is retained, overwriting any previous values.
See t/06.repeat.key.t.
- o The # char is only introduces a comment when it's at the start of a line.
-
So a line like:
key=value # A comment
Sets key to 'value # A comment', which, presumably, you did not intend.
This conforms to the syntax discussed in CONFIGURATION FILE SYNTAX.
- o Comments matching /\s\;\s.+$//g; are ignored.
-
This means you can't preserve the suffix using:
key = Prefix ; Suffix
Result: key is now 'Prefix'.
But you can do this:
key = Prefix;Suffix
Result: key is now 'Prefix;Suffix'.
Or this:
key = Prefix; Suffix
Result: key is now 'Prefix; Suffix'.
See t/07.trailing.comment.t.
E.g.:
[Things]
my =
list =
of =
things =
Instead of:
[Things]
my
list
of
things
Because the use of '=' signs is a type of mandatory documentation. It indicates that that section
contains 4 items, and not 1 odd item split over 4 lines.
This question comes from RT#85386.
Yes, the syntax may seem odd, but you don't have to call both new() and read_string().
Try:
perl -MData::Dumper -MConfig::Tiny -E 'my $c=Config::Tiny->read_string("one=s"); say Dumper $c'
Or:
my($config) = Config::Tiny -> read_string('alpha=bet');
my($value) = $$config{_}{alpha}; # $value is 'bet'.
Or even, a bit ridiculously:
my($value) = ${Config::Tiny -> read_string('alpha=bet')}{_}{alpha}; # $value is 'bet'.
Yes. See t/05.zero.t (test code) and t/0 (test data).
Some edge cases in section headers are not supported, and additionally may not
be detected when writing the config file.
Specifically, section headers with leading whitespace, trailing whitespace,
or newlines anywhere in the section header, will not be written correctly
to the file and may cause file corruption.
https://github.com/ronsavage/Config-Tiny.git
Bugs should be reported via the CPAN bug tracker at
https://github.com/ronsavage/Config-Tiny/issues
For other issues, or commercial enhancement or support, contact the author.
Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>
Maintanence from V 2.15: Ron Savage http://savage.net.au/.
Thanks to Sherzod Ruzmetov <sherzodr@cpan.org> for
the Config::Simple manpage, which inspired this module by being not quite
``simple'' enough for me :).
See, amongst many: the Config::Simple manpage and the Config::General manpage.
See the Config::Tiny::Ordered manpage (and possibly others) for the preservation of the order of the entries
in the file.
IOD. Ini On Drugs.
the IOD::Examples manpage
the App::IODUtils manpage
the Config::IOD::Reader manpage
the Config::Perl::V manpage. Config data from Perl itself.
the Config::Onion manpage
the Config::IniFiles manpage
the Config::INIPlus manpage
the Config::Hash manpage. Allows nested data.
the Config::MVP manpage. Author: RJBS. Uses Moose. Extremely complex.
the Config::TOML manpage. See next few lines:
https://github.com/dlc/toml
https://github.com/alexkalderimis/config-toml.pl. 1 Star rating.
https://github.com/toml-lang/toml
Copyright 2002 - 2011 Adam Kennedy.
This program is free software; you can redistribute
it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
The full text of the license can be found in the
LICENSE file included with this module.
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