configParser
Get Started¶
Following is an example of .ini file:
[DEFAULT]
ServerAliveInterval = 45
Compression = yes
CompressionLevel = 9
ForwardX11 = yes
[bitbucket.org]
User = hg
[topsecret.server.com]
Port = 50022
ForwardX11 = no
Create and save a configuration file above by ConfigParser. It's treated much like a dictionary.
import configparser
config = configparser.ConfigParser()
# write
config['DEFAULT'] = {
'ServerAliveInterval': '45',
'Compression': 'yes',
'CompressionLevel': '9'
}
config['bitbucket.org'] = {}
config['bitbucket.org']['User'] = 'hg'
config['topsecret.server.com'] = {}
topsecret = config['topsecret.server.com']
topsecret['Port'] = '50022' # mutates the parser
topsecret['ForwardX11'] = 'no' # same here
config['DEFAULT']['ForwardX11'] = 'yes'
with open('example.ini', 'w') as configfile:
config.write(configfile)
Then read it back.
import configparser
config = configparser.ConfigParser()
config.sections() # []
config.read('example.ini')
config.sections() # ['bitbucket.org', 'topsecret.server.com']
print('bitbucket.org' in config) # True
user = config['bitbucket.org']['User'] # 'hg'
compression = config['DEFAULT']['Compression'] # 'yes'
topsecret = config['topsecret.server.com']
for key in config['bitbucket.org']:
print(key)
# user
# compressionlevel
# serveraliveinterval
# compression
# forwardx11
Notes: all values in the configuration file are stored as strings. Convert types with given getter methods or customized methods.
import configparser
config = configparser.ConfigParser()
config['DEFAULT'].getint('ServerAliveInterval') # 45
.INI File¶
A configuration file consists of sections, each led by a [section] header, followed by key/value entries separated by a specific string ('=' or ':').
ConfigParser supports interpolation. This means values can be preprocessed before returning them from get() calls.
from configparser import ConfigParser, BasicInterpolation
config = ConfigParser(interpolation=BasicInterpolation)
BasicInterpolation enables values to contain format strings which refer to other values in the same section, or values in the special default section.
[Paths]
home_dir: /Users
my_dir: %(home_dir)s/lumberjack
my_pictures: %(my_dir)s/Pictures
[Escape]
gain: 80%% # use a %% to escape the % sign (% is the only character that needs to be escaped)
ExtendedInterpolation uses ${section:option} to denote a value from a foreign section. If the section: part is omitted, interpolation defaults to the current section (and possibly the default values from the special section).