Bash INI Parser

A robust shell script library for parsing and manipulating INI configuration files in Bash.

Try It Online

You can try the Bash INI Parser directly in your browser through our interactive web demo. The demo provides a terminal environment with pre-loaded example files so you can test the library without installation.

Try Bash INI Parser Online

Features

• Read and write values from/to INI files
• List sections and keys in INI files
• Add, update, and remove sections and keys
• Supports complex values including quotes, spaces, and special characters
• Array support for storing multiple values
• Import/export functionality between files and environment variables
• Extensive error handling with detailed error messages
• Debug mode for troubleshooting
• Configurable behavior through environment variables
• Backwards compatible with previous versions

Installation

Simply include the lib_ini.sh script in your project and source it in your shell scripts:

source /path/to/lib_ini.sh

Basic Usage

#!/bin/bash
source ./lib_ini.sh

# Create a new INI file with sections and keys
CONFIG_FILE="config.ini"
ini_add_section "$CONFIG_FILE" "app"
ini_write "$CONFIG_FILE" "app" "name" "My Application"
ini_write "$CONFIG_FILE" "app" "version" "1.0.0"

# Read values
app_name=$(ini_read "$CONFIG_FILE" "app" "name")
echo "App name: $app_name"

# List sections and keys
echo "Available sections:"
ini_list_sections "$CONFIG_FILE" | while read section; do
    echo "- $section"
    echo "  Keys:"
    ini_list_keys "$CONFIG_FILE" "$section" | while read key; do
        value=$(ini_read "$CONFIG_FILE" "$section" "$key")
        echo "  - $key = $value"
    done
done

# Remove a key
ini_remove_key "$CONFIG_FILE" "app" "name"

# Remove a section
ini_remove_section "$CONFIG_FILE" "app"

Advanced Features

Array Support

# Write array values
ini_write_array "$CONFIG_FILE" "app" "supported_formats" "jpg" "png" "gif"

# Read array values
formats=$(ini_read_array "$CONFIG_FILE" "app" "supported_formats")
for format in $formats; do
    echo "Format: $format"
done

Default Values

# Get a value or use a default if not found
timeout=$(ini_get_or_default "$CONFIG_FILE" "app" "timeout" "30")

Environment Variables Export

# Export all INI values to environment variables with a prefix
ini_to_env "$CONFIG_FILE" "CFG"
echo "App name from env: $CFG_app_name"

# Export only one section
ini_to_env "$CONFIG_FILE" "CFG" "database"

File Import

# Import all values from one INI file to another
ini_import "defaults.ini" "config.ini"

# Import only specific sections
ini_import "defaults.ini" "config.ini" "section1" "section2"

Key Existence Check

if ini_key_exists "config.ini" "app" "version"; then
    echo "The key exists"
fi

Configuration Options

The library's behavior can be customized by setting these variables either directly in your script after sourcing the library or as environment variables before sourcing the library:

# Method 1: Set in your script after sourcing
source ./lib_ini.sh
INI_DEBUG=1

# Method 2: Set as environment variables before sourcing
export INI_DEBUG=1
source ./lib_ini.sh

Available configuration options:

# Enable debug mode to see detailed operations
INI_DEBUG=1

# Enable strict validation of section and key names
INI_STRICT=1

# Allow empty values
INI_ALLOW_EMPTY_VALUES=1

# Allow spaces in section and key names
INI_ALLOW_SPACES_IN_NAMES=1

Library Enhancements

Security Improvements

• Input validation for all parameters
• Secure regex handling with proper escaping of special characters
• Temporary file security to prevent data corruption
• File permission checks to ensure proper access rights
• Automatic directory creation when needed

Core Function Enhancements

File Operations

• ini_check_file automatically creates directories and verifies permissions
• Atomic write operations to prevent file corruption during updates

Reading and Writing

• Support for quoted values and special characters
• Better handling of complex strings
• Robust error detection and reporting

Utility Functions

• ini_debug - Displays debug messages when debug mode is enabled
• ini_error - Standardized error message format
• ini_validate_section_name and ini_validate_key_name - Validate input data
• ini_create_temp_file - Creates temporary files securely
• ini_trim - Removes whitespace from strings
• ini_escape_for_regex - Properly escapes special characters

Advanced Usage Examples

Working with Multiple Files

# Import default settings, then override with user settings
ini_import "defaults.ini" "config.ini"
ini_import "user_prefs.ini" "config.ini"

# Copy specific sections between files
ini_import "source.ini" "target.ini" "section1" "section2"

Integration with Database Scripts

# Load database configuration into environment variables
ini_to_env "database.ini" "DB"

# Use in database commands
mysql -h "$DB_mysql_host" -u "$DB_mysql_user" -p"$DB_mysql_password" "$DB_mysql_database"

Array Manipulation

# Store a list of roles in an array
ini_write_array "config.ini" "permissions" "roles" "admin" "user" "guest"

# Read and process array values
roles=$(ini_read_array "config.ini" "permissions" "roles")
for role in $roles; do
    echo "Processing role: $role"
    # Additional processing...
done

Examples

Check the examples directory for complete usage examples:

• basic_usage.sh: Demonstrates core functionality
• advanced_usage.sh: Shows advanced features

License

This project is licensed under the BSD License, a permissive free software license with minimal restrictions on the use and distribution of covered software.

Author

• Leandro Ferreira
• Website: leandrosf.com

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.