js-ini

A Node.js package for encoding/decoding ini-like strings.

Installation

npm install js-ini --save
yarn add js-ini

Examples

Example of parsing:

configs.ini

option = 2
useDatabase= true
password type = string

[Database settings]
nodes=5
user = admin
; some comment
password = some very*difficult=password:
database-name =my-project-db

[User settings]
param*1  = 2.5
param*2= struct

Javascript version

const ini = require('js-ini');
const fs = require('fs').promises;
fs.readFile('configs.ini', 'utf-8').then((txt) => {
  console.log(ini.parse(txt));
});

TypeScript version

import { parse } from 'js-ini';
import { promises as fs } from 'fs';
fs.readFile('configs.ini', 'utf-8').then((txt: string) => {
  console.log(parse(txt));
});

Output:

{
  'option': 2,
  'useDatabase': true,
  'password type': 'string',
  'Database settings': {
    'node': 5,
    'user': 'admin',
    'password': 'some very*difficult=password:'
  },
  'User settings': {
    'param*1': 2.5,
    'param*2': 'struct'
  }
}

API

parse(data: string, params?: IParseConfig): IIniObject

Alias: decode

data

Type: string

String with ini-like data

params

Type: IParseConfig

Decoding params

name	type	defaut value	description
comment	string or string[]	;	String for start of comment
delimiter	string	=	Delimiter between key and value
nothrow	boolean	false	Use field Symbol('Errors of parsing') instead throw
autoTyping	boolean or function	true	Try to auto translate strings to another values (translation map below)
keyMergeStrategy	string or function	true	Strategy that will be used for equal keys
dataSections	string[]	[]	Section will be marked as dataSection and will be parsed like a array of string
protoSymbol	boolean	false	no throw on __proto__ section and use symbol Symbol(__proto__) instead

Data section sample:

option = 2
useDatabase= true
password type = string

[some strings]
a82cfac96d9b71248bf5faa2b22d7cf7
0c420a02dc13656d15aefe71e5b06ecf

[User settings]
param*1  = 2.5
param*2= struct

import { parse } from 'js-ini';
import { promises as fs } from 'fs';
fs.readFile('configs.ini', 'utf-8').then((txt: string) => {
  console.log(parse(txt, { dataSections: ['some strings'] }));
});

Output:

{
  'option': 2,
  'useDatabase': true,
  'password type': "string",
  'some strings':
    'a82cfac96d9b71248bf5faa2b22d7cf7',
    '0c420a02dc13656d15aefe71e5b06ecf'
  ],
  'User settings': {
    'param*1': 2.5,
    'param*2': 'struct'
  }
}

stringify(data: IIniObject, params?: IStringifyConfig): string

Alias: encode

data

Type: object

object to encode to ini-string

params

Type: IStringifyConfig

Encoding params

name	type	default value	description
delimiter	string	=	Delimiter between key and value
blankLine	boolean	true	Add blank lines between sections
spaceBefore	boolean	true	Add space between key and delimiter
spaceAfter	boolean	false	Add space between value and delimiter
skipUndefined	boolean	false	Don't print keys with undefined value

$Errors

It is Symbol('Errors of parsing') for nothrow option

Example:

configs.ini

[scope with trash]
ok = value
trash
[scope with only trash]
only trash
[normal scope]
ok = value

const ini = require('js-ini');
const fs = require('fs').promises;
fs.readFile('configs.ini', 'utf-8').then((txt) => {
  console.log(ini.parse(txt));
});

Output:

{
  'scope with trash': {
    'ok': 'value',
  },
  'empty scope': {},
  'normal scope': {
    ok: 'value',
  },
  Symbol('Errors of parsing'): [
    new ParsingError('trash', 3),
    new ParsingError('only trash', 7),
  ]
}

$Proto

It is Symbol(__proto__) for protoSymbol option

Ini-like files

With this library you can parse/generate for different ini-like strings. e.g. with : as separator and # as comment. Example of unusual syntax

const iniLike = `[data]
password:qwnfjfwqknjslfmbn
name:John Doe
# usual comment
`;
console.log(parse(ini, {
  comment: '#',
  delimiter: ':'
}));
/*
    {
      data: {
        password: 'qwnfjfwqknjslfmbn',
        name: 'John Doe'
      }
    }
*/

Translation map for autoType

value	to
true/false	true/false
0/5.5/nan	0/5.5/NaN
blank value	undefined
null	null
12.4abc	'12.4abc'
0xFF66AA	16737962

• Translating is case-insensitive
• Other values will be translated to padded strings

custom autoType

You can provide your own "auto typer". It's possible to change your parsing logic depends on current section and key

interface ICustomTyping {
  (val: string, section: string | symbol, key: string): any
}

argument	value
val	string for parsing
section	section object
key	section key

Example:

const ini = `
license=MIT
[config]
version=24
date=12.04.2017`;

const customParser = (val: string, section: string, key: string) => {
    if (section !== 'config') {
        return val
    }
    if (key === 'date') {
        return new Date(key)
    }
    return Number(val)
};
console.log(parse(ini, { autoTyping: customParser }));
/*
    {
      license: "MIT",
      config: {
        version: 24
        date: Mon Dec 04 2017...
      }
    }
*/

Key Merge Strategies

There are 3 ways of resolving equal keys conflict:

strategy name	const or type	description
KeyMergeStrategies.OVERRIDE	'override'	result value will be equal to the last value
KeyMergeStrategies.JOIN_TO_ARRAY	'join-to-array'	result will be equal to array with all values
custom function	KeyMergeStrategyFunction	your own conflict resolver (example will be below)

const ini = `[test]
value = 1
value = 2
value = 3
second = 1
second = 2
another = 1`;

console.log(parse(ini, { keyMergeStrategy: KeyMergeStrategies.OVERRIDE }));
/*
    {
      test: {
        value: 3,
        second: 2,
        another: 1
      }
    }
*/

console.log(parse(ini, { keyMergeStrategy: KeyMergeStrategies.JOIN_TO_ARRAY }));
/*
    {
      test: {
        value: [1, 2, 3],
        second: [1, 2],
        another: 1
      }
    }
*/

// section - section object for merging
// name - section key name
// val - value for merging
const customMergeStrategy = (section: IIniObjectSection, name: string, val: any) => {
  section[name] = name in section ? `${section[name]}|${val.toString()}` : val.toString();
};
console.log(parse(ini, { keyMergeStrategy: customMergeStrategy }));
/*
    {
      test: {
        value: '1|2|3',
        second: '1|2',
        another: '1'
      }
    }
*/

Additional tools

The library is provided with simple helpers that should help decrease size of boilerplate. Tools are divided into separated files which are not included to the default export.

readIniFile(path: string, params?: IParseConfig): Promise<IIniObject>

readIniFile reads path file and parses it

Usage

import { readIniFile } from 'js-ini/tools/read-ini'

await readIniFile('./mydir/example.ini', { nothrow: true })

writeIniFile(path: string, params?: IParseConfig): Promise<IIniObject>

writeIniFile translate ini object to ini-like string

Usage

import { writeIniFile } from 'js-ini/tools/write-ini'

await writeIniFile('./mydir/example.ini', {
  server: {
    IP: '127.0.0.1',
    user: 'Smith'
  }
}, { nothrow: true })

Test

npm run test

License

MIT