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, [options])

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

The options object may contain the following:

• bracketedArray Boolean to specify whether array values are appended with []. By default this is true but there are some ini parsers that instead treat duplicate names as arrays.
• retainComments Boolean to specify whether comments should be retained and tracked. (NOTE: The sort option is not available when comments are retained)

parse(inistring, [options])

Alias for decode(inistring, [options])

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:

• align Boolean to specify whether to align the = characters for each section. This option will automatically enable whitespace. Defaults to false.
• section String which will be the first section in the encoded ini data. Defaults to none.
• sort Boolean to specify if all keys in each section, as well as all sections, will be alphabetically sorted. Defaults to false.
• 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. Defaults to false.
• newline Boolean to specify whether to put an additional newline after a section header. Some INI file parsers (for example the TOSHIBA FlashAir one) need this to parse the file successfully. By default, the additional newline is omitted.
• platform String to define which platform this INI file is expected to be used with: when platform is win32, line terminations are CR+LF, for other platforms line termination is LF. By default, the current platform name is used.
• bracketedArray Boolean to specify whether array values are appended with []. By default this is true but there are some ini parsers that instead treat duplicate names as arrays.
• retainComments Boolean to specify whether comments should be retained and tracked. (NOTE: The sort option is not available when comments are retained)

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

insertCommentBefore(comment, before, iniOrSection)

Inserts the string comment into before the provided before key for the given ini or section. (NOTE: This function returns a new object with the inserted comment at the correct place. For correct placement, ensure to use the returned object and not the original) Also note, this will only provide meaningfull output when combine with retainComments set to true on your options for encode/decode.