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[Utility & Helpers](/categories/utility) 4. / 5. me-io/php-ini-parser ActiveLibrary[Utility & Helpers](/categories/utility) me-io/php-ini-parser ==================== A Zend\_Config\_Ini like parser for .ini files. 1.0.2(8y ago)85211MITPHPPHP >=7.0 Since Feb 15Pushed 7y ago5 watchersCompare [ Source](https://github.com/me-io/php-ini-parser)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/me-io/php-ini-parser)[ RSS](/packages/me-io-php-ini-parser/feed)WikiDiscussions master Synced 3w ago READMEChangelogDependencies (4)Versions (6)Used By (0) PHP .ini parser ================= [](#--php-ini-parser) Ini Parser is a simple parser for complex INI files, providing a number of extra syntactic features to the built-in INI parsing functions, including section inheritance, property nesting, and array literals. --- [![Build 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install ``` Example ------- [](#example) Standard INI files look like this: ``` key = value another_key = another value [section_name] a_sub_key = yet another value ``` And when parsed with PHP's built-in `parse_ini_string()` or `parse_ini_file()`, looks like: ``` [ 'key' => 'value', 'another_key' => 'another value', 'section_name' => [ 'a_sub_key' => 'yet another value' ] ] ``` This is great when you just want a simple configuration file, but here is a super-charged INI file that you might find in the wild: ``` environment = testing [testing] debug = true database.connection = "mysql:host=127.0.0.1" database.name = test database.username = database.password = secrets = [1,2,3] [staging : testing] database.name = stage database.username = staging database.password = 12345 [production : staging] debug = false; database.name = production database.username = root ``` And when parsed with \\Ini\\Parser: ``` $parser = new \Ini\Parser('sample.ini'); $config = $parser->parse(); ``` You get the following structure: ``` [ 'environment' => 'testing', 'testing' => [ 'debug' => '1', 'database' => [ 'connection' => 'mysql:host=127.0.0.1', 'name' => 'test', 'username' => '', 'password' => '' ], 'secrets' => ['1','2','3'] ], 'staging' => [ 'debug' => '1', 'database' => [ 'connection' => 'mysql:host=127.0.0.1', 'name' => 'stage', 'username' => 'staging', 'password' => '12345' ], 'secrets' => ['1','2','3'] ], 'production' => [ 'debug' => '', 'database' => [ 'connection' => 'mysql:host=127.0.0.1', 'name' => 'production', 'username' => 'root', 'password' => '12345' ], 'secrets' => ['1','2','3'] ] ] ``` Supported Features ------------------ [](#supported-features) ### Array Literals [](#array-literals) You can directly create arrays using the syntax `[a, b, c]` on the right hand side of an assignment. For example: ``` colors = [blue, green, red] ``` **NOTE:** At the moment, quoted strings inside array literals have undefined behavior. ### Dictionaries and complex structures [](#dictionaries-and-complex-structures) Besides arrays, you can create dictionaries and more complex structures using JSON syntax. For example, you can use: ``` people = '{ "boss": { "name": "John", "age": 42 }, "staff": [ { "name": "Mark", "age": 35 }, { "name": "Bill", "age": 44 } ] }' ``` This turns into an array like: ``` [ 'boss' => [ 'name' => 'John', 'age' => 42 ], 'staff' => [ [ 'name' => 'Mark', 'age' => 35, ], [ 'name' => 'Bill', 'age' => 44, ], ], ] ``` > **NOTE:** Remember to wrap the JSON strings in single quotes for a correct analysis. The JSON names must be enclosed in double quotes and trailing commas are not allowed. ### Property Nesting [](#property-nesting) Ini Parser allows you to treat properties as associative arrays: ``` person.age = 42 person.name.first = John person.name.last = Doe ``` This turns into an array like: ``` [ 'person' => [ 'age' => 42, 'name' => [ 'first' => 'John', 'last' => 'Doe' ] ] ] ``` ### Section Inheritance [](#section-inheritance) Keeping to the DRY principle, Ini Parser allows you to "inherit" from other sections (similar to OOP inheritance), meaning you don't have to continually re-define the same properties over and over again. As you can see in the example above, "production" inherits from "staging", which in turn inherits from "testing". You can even inherit from multiple parents, as in `[child : p1 : p2 : p3]`. The properties of each parent are merged into the child from left to right, so that the properties in `p1` are overridden by those in `p2`, then by `p3`, then by those in `child` on top of that. During the inheritance process, if a key ends in a `+`, the merge behavior changes from overwriting the parent value to prepending the parent value (or appending the child value - same thing). So the example file ``` [parent] arr = [a,b,c] val = foo [child : parent] arr += [x,y,z] val += bar ``` would be parsed into the following: ``` [ 'parent' => [ 'arr' => ['a','b','c'], 'val' => 'foo' ], 'child' => [ 'arr' => ['a','b','c','x','y','z'], 'val' => 'foobar' ] ] ``` > *If you can think of a more useful operation than concatenation for non-array types, please open an issue* Finally, it is possible to inherit from the special `^` section, representing the top-level or global properties: ``` foo = bar [sect : ^] ``` Parses to: ``` [ 'foo' => 'bar', 'sect' => [ 'foo' => 'bar' ] ] ``` ### ArrayObject [](#arrayobject) As an added bonus, Ini Parser also allows you to access the values OO-style: ``` echo $config->production->database->connection; // output: mysql:host=127.0.0.1 echo $config->staging->debug; // output: 1 ``` Contributors ------------ [](#contributors) A huge thanks to all of our contributors: [![](https://avatars0.githubusercontent.com/u/45731?v=3) **Mohamed Meabed**](https://github.com/Meabed) [💻](https://github.com//php-ini-parser/commits?author=Meabed "Code") [📢](#talk-Meabed "Talks")[![](https://avatars2.githubusercontent.com/u/16267321?v=3) **Zeeshan Ahmad**](https://github.com/ziishaned) [💻](https://github.com//php-ini-parser/commits?author=ziishaned "Code") [🐛](https://github.com//php-ini-parser/issues?q=author%3Aziishaned "Bug reports") [⚠️](https://github.com//php-ini-parser/commits?author=ziishaned "Tests") [📖](https://github.com//php-ini-parser/commits?author=ziishaned "Documentation")License ------- [](#license) The code is available under the [MIT license](LICENSE.md). ### Health Score 32 — LowBetter than 69% of packages Maintenance20 Infrequent updates — may be unmaintained Popularity20 Limited adoption so far Community17 Small or concentrated contributor base Maturity62 Established project with proven stability Bus Factor2 2 contributors hold 50%+ of commits How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window. **Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores. **Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement. **Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability. ### Release Activity Cadence Every ~44 days Total 3 Last Release 2961d ago ### Community Maintainers ![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/e0688fa386c5dbcbb27c78b325cf9a957ddf8b07c3bf53271060e2a32aa91975?d=identicon)[meabed](/maintainers/meabed) --- Top Contributors [![till](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/27003?v=4)](https://github.com/till "till (42 commits)")[![austinhyde](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/694995?v=4)](https://github.com/austinhyde "austinhyde (36 commits)")[![nilbuild](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/4921183?v=4)](https://github.com/nilbuild "nilbuild (19 commits)")[![meabed](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/45731?v=4)](https://github.com/meabed "meabed (19 commits)")[![javiermarinros](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/840412?v=4)](https://github.com/javiermarinros "javiermarinros (16 commits)")[![ziishaned](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/16267321?v=4)](https://github.com/ziishaned "ziishaned (12 commits)")[![peter279k](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/9021747?v=4)](https://github.com/peter279k "peter279k (1 commits)")[![fredpe](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1382320?v=4)](https://github.com/fredpe "fredpe (1 commits)") --- Tags iniiniparserphp-configurationphp-iniphp-parserconfigurationini ### Code Quality TestsPHPUnit Code StylePHP\_CodeSniffer ### Embed Badge ![Health badge](/badges/me-io-php-ini-parser/health.svg) ``` [![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/me-io-php-ini-parser/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/me-io-php-ini-parser) ``` ### Alternatives [symfony/options-resolver Provides an improved replacement for the array\_replace PHP function 3.2k514.6M1.9k](/packages/symfony-options-resolver)[league/config Define configuration arrays with strict schemas and access values with dot notation 565323.7M35](/packages/league-config)[josegonzalez/dotenv dotenv file parsing for PHP 27810.2M156](/packages/josegonzalez-dotenv)[chillerlan/php-settings-container A container class for immutable settings objects. 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