summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Doc/library/configparser.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/library/configparser.rst')
-rw-r--r--Doc/library/configparser.rst361
1 files changed, 361 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/library/configparser.rst b/Doc/library/configparser.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd91d59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Doc/library/configparser.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,361 @@
+
+:mod:`ConfigParser` --- Configuration file parser
+=================================================
+
+.. module:: ConfigParser
+ :synopsis: Configuration file parser.
+.. moduleauthor:: Ken Manheimer <klm@zope.com>
+.. moduleauthor:: Barry Warsaw <bwarsaw@python.org>
+.. moduleauthor:: Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>
+.. sectionauthor:: Christopher G. Petrilli <petrilli@amber.org>
+
+
+.. index::
+ pair: .ini; file
+ pair: configuration; file
+ single: ini file
+ single: Windows ini file
+
+This module defines the class :class:`ConfigParser`. The :class:`ConfigParser`
+class implements a basic configuration file parser language which provides a
+structure similar to what you would find on Microsoft Windows INI files. You
+can use this to write Python programs which can be customized by end users
+easily.
+
+.. warning::
+
+ This library does *not* interpret or write the value-type prefixes used in the
+ Windows Registry extended version of INI syntax.
+
+The configuration file consists of sections, led by a ``[section]`` header and
+followed by ``name: value`` entries, with continuations in the style of
+:rfc:`822`; ``name=value`` is also accepted. Note that leading whitespace is
+removed from values. The optional values can contain format strings which refer
+to other values in the same section, or values in a special ``DEFAULT`` section.
+Additional defaults can be provided on initialization and retrieval. Lines
+beginning with ``'#'`` or ``';'`` are ignored and may be used to provide
+comments.
+
+For example::
+
+ [My Section]
+ foodir: %(dir)s/whatever
+ dir=frob
+
+would resolve the ``%(dir)s`` to the value of ``dir`` (``frob`` in this case).
+All reference expansions are done on demand.
+
+Default values can be specified by passing them into the :class:`ConfigParser`
+constructor as a dictionary. Additional defaults may be passed into the
+:meth:`get` method which will override all others.
+
+Sections are normally stored in a builtin dictionary. An alternative dictionary
+type can be passed to the :class:`ConfigParser` constructor. For example, if a
+dictionary type is passed that sorts its keys, the sections will be sorted on
+write-back, as will be the keys within each section.
+
+
+.. class:: RawConfigParser([defaults[, dict_type]])
+
+ The basic configuration object. When *defaults* is given, it is initialized
+ into the dictionary of intrinsic defaults. When *dict_type* is given, it will
+ be used to create the dictionary objects for the list of sections, for the
+ options within a section, and for the default values. This class does not
+ support the magical interpolation behavior.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 2.3
+
+ .. versionchanged:: 2.6
+ *dict_type* was added.
+
+
+.. class:: ConfigParser([defaults])
+
+ Derived class of :class:`RawConfigParser` that implements the magical
+ interpolation feature and adds optional arguments to the :meth:`get` and
+ :meth:`items` methods. The values in *defaults* must be appropriate for the
+ ``%()s`` string interpolation. Note that *__name__* is an intrinsic default;
+ its value is the section name, and will override any value provided in
+ *defaults*.
+
+ All option names used in interpolation will be passed through the
+ :meth:`optionxform` method just like any other option name reference. For
+ example, using the default implementation of :meth:`optionxform` (which converts
+ option names to lower case), the values ``foo %(bar)s`` and ``foo %(BAR)s`` are
+ equivalent.
+
+
+.. class:: SafeConfigParser([defaults])
+
+ Derived class of :class:`ConfigParser` that implements a more-sane variant of
+ the magical interpolation feature. This implementation is more predictable as
+ well. New applications should prefer this version if they don't need to be
+ compatible with older versions of Python.
+
+ .. % XXX Need to explain what's safer/more predictable about it.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 2.3
+
+
+.. exception:: NoSectionError
+
+ Exception raised when a specified section is not found.
+
+
+.. exception:: DuplicateSectionError
+
+ Exception raised if :meth:`add_section` is called with the name of a section
+ that is already present.
+
+
+.. exception:: NoOptionError
+
+ Exception raised when a specified option is not found in the specified section.
+
+
+.. exception:: InterpolationError
+
+ Base class for exceptions raised when problems occur performing string
+ interpolation.
+
+
+.. exception:: InterpolationDepthError
+
+ Exception raised when string interpolation cannot be completed because the
+ number of iterations exceeds :const:`MAX_INTERPOLATION_DEPTH`. Subclass of
+ :exc:`InterpolationError`.
+
+
+.. exception:: InterpolationMissingOptionError
+
+ Exception raised when an option referenced from a value does not exist. Subclass
+ of :exc:`InterpolationError`.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 2.3
+
+
+.. exception:: InterpolationSyntaxError
+
+ Exception raised when the source text into which substitutions are made does not
+ conform to the required syntax. Subclass of :exc:`InterpolationError`.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 2.3
+
+
+.. exception:: MissingSectionHeaderError
+
+ Exception raised when attempting to parse a file which has no section headers.
+
+
+.. exception:: ParsingError
+
+ Exception raised when errors occur attempting to parse a file.
+
+
+.. data:: MAX_INTERPOLATION_DEPTH
+
+ The maximum depth for recursive interpolation for :meth:`get` when the *raw*
+ parameter is false. This is relevant only for the :class:`ConfigParser` class.
+
+
+.. seealso::
+
+ Module :mod:`shlex`
+ Support for a creating Unix shell-like mini-languages which can be used as an
+ alternate format for application configuration files.
+
+
+.. _rawconfigparser-objects:
+
+RawConfigParser Objects
+-----------------------
+
+:class:`RawConfigParser` instances have the following methods:
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.defaults()
+
+ Return a dictionary containing the instance-wide defaults.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.sections()
+
+ Return a list of the sections available; ``DEFAULT`` is not included in the
+ list.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.add_section(section)
+
+ Add a section named *section* to the instance. If a section by the given name
+ already exists, :exc:`DuplicateSectionError` is raised.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.has_section(section)
+
+ Indicates whether the named section is present in the configuration. The
+ ``DEFAULT`` section is not acknowledged.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.options(section)
+
+ Returns a list of options available in the specified *section*.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.has_option(section, option)
+
+ If the given section exists, and contains the given option, return
+ :const:`True`; otherwise return :const:`False`.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 1.6
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.read(filenames)
+
+ Attempt to read and parse a list of filenames, returning a list of filenames
+ which were successfully parsed. If *filenames* is a string or Unicode string,
+ it is treated as a single filename. If a file named in *filenames* cannot be
+ opened, that file will be ignored. This is designed so that you can specify a
+ list of potential configuration file locations (for example, the current
+ directory, the user's home directory, and some system-wide directory), and all
+ existing configuration files in the list will be read. If none of the named
+ files exist, the :class:`ConfigParser` instance will contain an empty dataset.
+ An application which requires initial values to be loaded from a file should
+ load the required file or files using :meth:`readfp` before calling :meth:`read`
+ for any optional files::
+
+ import ConfigParser, os
+
+ config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
+ config.readfp(open('defaults.cfg'))
+ config.read(['site.cfg', os.path.expanduser('~/.myapp.cfg')])
+
+ .. versionchanged:: 2.4
+ Returns list of successfully parsed filenames.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.readfp(fp[, filename])
+
+ Read and parse configuration data from the file or file-like object in *fp*
+ (only the :meth:`readline` method is used). If *filename* is omitted and *fp*
+ has a :attr:`name` attribute, that is used for *filename*; the default is
+ ``<???>``.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.get(section, option)
+
+ Get an *option* value for the named *section*.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.getint(section, option)
+
+ A convenience method which coerces the *option* in the specified *section* to an
+ integer.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.getfloat(section, option)
+
+ A convenience method which coerces the *option* in the specified *section* to a
+ floating point number.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.getboolean(section, option)
+
+ A convenience method which coerces the *option* in the specified *section* to a
+ Boolean value. Note that the accepted values for the option are ``"1"``,
+ ``"yes"``, ``"true"``, and ``"on"``, which cause this method to return ``True``,
+ and ``"0"``, ``"no"``, ``"false"``, and ``"off"``, which cause it to return
+ ``False``. These string values are checked in a case-insensitive manner. Any
+ other value will cause it to raise :exc:`ValueError`.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.items(section)
+
+ Return a list of ``(name, value)`` pairs for each option in the given *section*.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.set(section, option, value)
+
+ If the given section exists, set the given option to the specified value;
+ otherwise raise :exc:`NoSectionError`. While it is possible to use
+ :class:`RawConfigParser` (or :class:`ConfigParser` with *raw* parameters set to
+ true) for *internal* storage of non-string values, full functionality (including
+ interpolation and output to files) can only be achieved using string values.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 1.6
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.write(fileobject)
+
+ Write a representation of the configuration to the specified file object. This
+ representation can be parsed by a future :meth:`read` call.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 1.6
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.remove_option(section, option)
+
+ Remove the specified *option* from the specified *section*. If the section does
+ not exist, raise :exc:`NoSectionError`. If the option existed to be removed,
+ return :const:`True`; otherwise return :const:`False`.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 1.6
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.remove_section(section)
+
+ Remove the specified *section* from the configuration. If the section in fact
+ existed, return ``True``. Otherwise return ``False``.
+
+
+.. method:: RawConfigParser.optionxform(option)
+
+ Transforms the option name *option* as found in an input file or as passed in by
+ client code to the form that should be used in the internal structures. The
+ default implementation returns a lower-case version of *option*; subclasses may
+ override this or client code can set an attribute of this name on instances to
+ affect this behavior. Setting this to :func:`str`, for example, would make
+ option names case sensitive.
+
+
+.. _configparser-objects:
+
+ConfigParser Objects
+--------------------
+
+The :class:`ConfigParser` class extends some methods of the
+:class:`RawConfigParser` interface, adding some optional arguments.
+
+
+.. method:: ConfigParser.get(section, option[, raw[, vars]])
+
+ Get an *option* value for the named *section*. All the ``'%'`` interpolations
+ are expanded in the return values, based on the defaults passed into the
+ constructor, as well as the options *vars* provided, unless the *raw* argument
+ is true.
+
+
+.. method:: ConfigParser.items(section[, raw[, vars]])
+
+ Return a list of ``(name, value)`` pairs for each option in the given *section*.
+ Optional arguments have the same meaning as for the :meth:`get` method.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 2.3
+
+
+.. _safeconfigparser-objects:
+
+SafeConfigParser Objects
+------------------------
+
+The :class:`SafeConfigParser` class implements the same extended interface as
+:class:`ConfigParser`, with the following addition:
+
+
+.. method:: SafeConfigParser.set(section, option, value)
+
+ If the given section exists, set the given option to the specified value;
+ otherwise raise :exc:`NoSectionError`. *value* must be a string (:class:`str`
+ or :class:`unicode`); if not, :exc:`TypeError` is raised.
+
+ .. versionadded:: 2.4
+