The Project Structure

Throughout this example we will assume the project structure:

|my_project_folder
|---|python-ini-main.zip
    |my_project
    |---__init__.py
    |---write.py

All commands will be executed from the my_project_folder directory. The content of the files will be presented and explained as we go.

Installation

Make sure the PyPI version of python-ini is not installed. Otherwise it will override the local GitHub version. However, apg-py must be installed.

pip uninstall python-ini

pip install apg-py

Install the GitHub version of python-ini.

unzip python-ini-main.zip

cp -r python-ini-main/python_ini .

Create, Print and Write an INI file

The code , write.py could look somthing like this.

import sys
import os
sys.path.append(os.getcwd()) # required to find python_ini
from python_ini.ini_file import IniFile
from python_ini.ini_writer import IniWriter
w = IniWriter()
 
# set all configurable values
w.delimiters('#', ':', ',')
w.booleans('TRUE', 'OFF', 'void')
w.comment_tab(30)
 
# global keys
w.comment()
w.comment('global keys')
w.key('Unicode', 'a\U0010ffffb', 'max Unicode character')
w.key('flags', [True, False, None], 'all "booleans"')
 
# section keys
w.comment()
w.comment('first section')
w.section('__SECTION__', 'this is a section')
w.key('section_key', [1, 2, 3])
w.key(
    'long-key',
    ['abc\xffdef\ue000ghi\U0010ffffjkl'],
    'hex and Unicode string characters')
 
# print the formatted INI file
print(w.to_string())
 
# write the formatted INI file, parse it and remove it
fname = 'output.ini'
w.write(fname)
ini = IniFile('m')
ini.parse(fname)
if(ini.errors):
    print('parsing errors in file ' + fname)
    print(ini.display_errors())
else:
    print('INI file ' + fname + ' parsed without errors')
os.remove(fname)
print('INI file ' + fname + ' removed')

Execute the command:

python3 my_project/write.py

You should see the results:

# global keys
Unicode: 'a\U0010ffffb'       # max Unicode character
flags: TRUE, OFF, void        # all "booleans"
 
# first section
[__SECTION__]                 # this is a section
section_key: 1, 2, 3
long-value: 'abc\xffdef\ue000ghi\U0010ffffjkl'
                              # hex and Unicode string characters
 
INI file output.ini parsed without errors
INI file output.ini removed