Ini File Structure Information

For those who might be unfamiliar with the INI file origins and structure, this sections covers some basics of what INI files are and how they are constructed.

Note: Portions from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Definition

An initialization file, or INI file, is a configuration file that contains configuration data for Microsoft Windows based applications.

Starting with Windows 95, the INI file format was superseded but not entirely replaced by a registry database in Microsoft operating systems. Recently, XML became a popular choice for encoding configuration, as well as other kinds of data for many applications, but INI format is still in widespread use.

Although made popular by Windows, INI files can be used on any system thanks to its flexibility. It allows a program to store configuration data, which can then be easily parsed and changed.

File Format

A typical INI file might look like this:

[Section1]

; some comment on section1

var1=abc

var2=451

[Section2]

; another comment

var1=123

var2=dfg

Format

The elements of the INI file format:

•	Sections: Section declarations start with '[' and end with ']' as in [Section1] and [Section2] above.

•	Parameters: The "var1 = abc" above is an example of a parameter. Parameters are made up of a key ('var1'), equals sign ('='), and a value ('abc'). For this reason, they are also known as key/value pairs or simply items.

•	Comments: All the lines starting with a semicolon (';') are assumed to be comments, and are ignored. For additional information on comments and how dcsTools Ini Editor handles them, see the topic on Known Issues & Limitations.