Reading writing an INI file

Question

Is there any class in the  NET framework that can read write standard  ini files    Section   lt keyname gt   lt value gt        Delphi has the TIniFile component and I want to know if there is anything similar for C

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There is an Ini Parser available in CommonLibrary NET  This has various very convenient overloads for getting sections values and is very light weight

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PeanutButter INI is a Nuget-packaged class for INI files manipulation  It supports read write  including comments     your comments are preserved on write  It appears to be reasonably popular  is tested and easy to use  It s also totally free and open-source   Disclaimer  I am the author of PeanutButter INI

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I m late to join the party  but I had the same issue today and I ve written the following implementation   using System Text RegularExpressions   static bool match this string str  string pat  out Match m    gt       m   Regex Match str  pat  RegexOptions IgnoreCase   Success   static void Main         Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  ini   new Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt         string section            foreach  string line in File ReadAllLines                read from file               string ln    line Contains        line Remove line IndexOf         line  Trim             if  ln match       t       lt sec gt   w -        out Match m               section   m Groups  sec   ToString            else if  ln match       t     lt prop gt   w -        lt val gt       out m                         if   ini ContainsKey section                   ini section    new Dictionary lt string  string gt                  ini section  m Groups  prop   ToString      m Groups  val   ToString                             access the ini file as follows      string content   ini  section    property        It must be noted  that this implementation does not handle sections or properties which are not found  To achieve this  you should extend the Dictionary lt   gt -class to handle unfound keys     To serialize an instance of Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  to an  ini-file  I use the following code   string targetpath              Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  ini             StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder     foreach  string section in ini Keys        sb AppendLine     section           foreach  string property in ini section  Keys          sb AppendLine    property   ini section  property        File WriteAllText targetpath  sb ToString

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Preface Firstly  read this MSDN blog post on the limitations of INI files  If it suits your needs  read on  This is a concise implementation I wrote  utilising the original Windows P Invoke  so it is supported by all versions of Windows with  NET installed   i e  Windows 98 - Windows 10   I hereby release it into the public domain - you re free to use it commercially without attribution  The tiny class Add a new class called IniFile cs to your project  using System IO  using System Reflection  using System Runtime InteropServices  using System Text      Change this to match your program s normal namespace namespace MyProg       class IniFile      revision 11               string Path          string EXE   Assembly GetExecutingAssembly   GetName   Name            DllImport  quot kernel32 quot   CharSet   CharSet Unicode           static extern long WritePrivateProfileString string Section  string Key  string Value  string FilePath             DllImport  quot kernel32 quot   CharSet   CharSet Unicode           static extern int GetPrivateProfileString string Section  string Key  string Default  StringBuilder RetVal  int Size  string FilePath            public IniFile string IniPath   null                        Path   new FileInfo IniPath    EXE    quot  ini quot   FullName                     public string Read string Key  string Section   null                        var RetVal   new StringBuilder 255               GetPrivateProfileString Section    EXE  Key   quot  quot   RetVal  255  Path               return RetVal ToString                       public void Write string Key  string Value  string Section   null                        WritePrivateProfileString Section    EXE  Key  Value  Path                      public void DeleteKey string Key  string Section   null                        Write Key  null  Section    EXE                      public void DeleteSection string Section   null                        Write null  null  Section    EXE                      public bool KeyExists string Key  string Section   null                        return Read Key  Section  Length  gt  0                     How to use it Open the INI file in one of the 3 following ways     Creates or loads an INI file in the same directory as your executable    named EXE ini  where EXE is the name of your executable  var MyIni   new IniFile        Or specify a specific name in the current dir var MyIni   new IniFile  quot Settings ini quot        Or specify a specific name in a specific dir var MyIni   new IniFile   quot C  Settings ini quot     You can write some values like so  MyIni Write  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot 100 quot    MyIni Write  quot HomePage quot    quot http   www google com quot     To create a file like this   MyProg  DefaultVolume 100 HomePage http   www google com  To read the values out of the INI file  var DefaultVolume   MyIni Read  quot DefaultVolume quot    var HomePage   MyIni Read  quot HomePage quot     Optionally  you can set  Section  s  MyIni Write  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot 100 quot    quot Audio quot    MyIni Write  quot HomePage quot    quot http   www google com quot    quot Web quot     To create a file like this   Audio  DefaultVolume 100   Web  HomePage http   www google com  You can also check for the existence of a key like so  if  MyIni KeyExists  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot Audio quot          MyIni Write  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot 100 quot    quot Audio quot       You can delete a key like so  MyIni DeleteKey  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot Audio quot     You can also delete a whole section  including all keys  like so  MyIni DeleteSection  quot Web quot     Please feel free to comment with any improvements

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This article on CodeProject  An INI file handling class using C   should help   The author created a C  class  Ini  which exposes two functions from KERNEL32 dll  These functions are   WritePrivateProfileString and GetPrivateProfileString  You will need two namespaces  System Runtime InteropServices and System Text   Steps to use the Ini class  In your project namespace definition add   using INI    Create a INIFile like this  INIFile ini   new INIFile  C   test ini      Use IniWriteValue to write a new value to a specific key in a section or use IniReadValue to read a value FROM a key in a specific Section   Note  if you re beginning from scratch  you could read this MSDN article  How to  Add Application Configuration Files to C  Projects  It s a better way for configuring your application

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Try this method   public static Dictionary lt string  string gt  ParseIniDataWithSections string   iniData        var dict   new Dictionary lt string  string gt         var rows   iniData Where t   gt            String IsNullOrEmpty t Trim     amp  amp   t StartsWith       amp  amp   t Contains         t Contains             if  rows    null    rows Count      0  return dict      string section           foreach  string row in rows                string rw   row TrimStart            if  rw StartsWith                   section   rw TrimStart      TrimEnd               else                       int index   rw IndexOf                   dict section    -    rw Substring 0  index  Trim      rw Substring index 1  Trim   Trim                           return dict      It creates the dictionary where the key is  -   You can load it like this   var dict   ParseIniDataWithSections File ReadAllLines fileName

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Usually  when you create applications using C  and the  NET framework  you will not use INI files  It is more common to store settings in an XML-based configuration file or in the registry   However  if your software shares settings with a legacy application it may be easier to use its configuration file  rather than duplicating the information elsewhere   The  NET framework does not support the use of INI files directly  However  you can use Windows API functions with Platform Invocation Services  P Invoke  to write to and read from the files  In this link we create a class that represents INI files and uses Windows API functions to manipulate them   Please go through the following link   Reading and Writing INI Files

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The creators of the  NET framework want you to use XML-based config files  rather than INI files  So no  there is no built-in mechanism for reading them   There are third party solutions available  though    INI handlers can be obtained as NuGet packages  such as INI Parser  You can write your own INI handler  which is the old-school  laborious way  It gives you more control over the implementation  which you can use for bad or good  See e g  an INI file handling class using C   P Invoke and Win32

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The code in joerage s answer is inspiring   Unfortunately  it changes the character casing of the keys and does not handle comments  So I wrote something that should be robust enough to read  only  very dirty INI files and allows to retrieve keys as they are   It uses some LINQ  a nested case insensitive string dictionary to store sections  keys and values  and read the file in one go   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System IO  using System Linq   class IniReader       Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  ini   new Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  StringComparer InvariantCultureIgnoreCase        public IniReader string file                var txt   File ReadAllText file            Dictionary lt string  string gt  currentSection   new Dictionary lt string  string gt  StringComparer InvariantCultureIgnoreCase            ini       currentSection           foreach var line in txt Split new     n    StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries                                  Where t   gt   string IsNullOrWhiteSpace t                                   Select t   gt  t Trim                           if  line StartsWith                       continue               if  line StartsWith       amp  amp  line EndsWith                                     currentSection   new Dictionary lt string  string gt  StringComparer InvariantCultureIgnoreCase                   ini line Substring 1  line LastIndexOf      - 1     currentSection                  continue                             var idx   line IndexOf                   if  idx    -1                  currentSection line                    else                 currentSection line Substring 0  idx     line Substring idx   1                        public string GetValue string key                return GetValue key                      public string GetValue string key  string section                return GetValue key  section                  public string GetValue string key  string section  string  default                if   ini ContainsKey section               return  default           if   ini section  ContainsKey key               return  default           return ini section  key              public string   GetKeys string section                if   ini ContainsKey section               return new string 0            return ini section  Keys ToArray               public string   GetSections                 return ini Keys Where t   gt  t        ToArray

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I m late to join the party  but I had the same issue today and I ve written the following implementation   using System Text RegularExpressions   static bool match this string str  string pat  out Match m    gt       m   Regex Match str  pat  RegexOptions IgnoreCase   Success   static void Main         Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  ini   new Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt         string section            foreach  string line in File ReadAllLines                read from file               string ln    line Contains        line Remove line IndexOf         line  Trim             if  ln match       t       lt sec gt   w -        out Match m               section   m Groups  sec   ToString            else if  ln match       t     lt prop gt   w -        lt val gt       out m                         if   ini ContainsKey section                   ini section    new Dictionary lt string  string gt                  ini section  m Groups  prop   ToString      m Groups  val   ToString                             access the ini file as follows      string content   ini  section    property        It must be noted  that this implementation does not handle sections or properties which are not found  To achieve this  you should extend the Dictionary lt   gt -class to handle unfound keys     To serialize an instance of Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  to an  ini-file  I use the following code   string targetpath              Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  ini             StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder     foreach  string section in ini Keys        sb AppendLine     section           foreach  string property in ini section  Keys          sb AppendLine    property   ini section  property        File WriteAllText targetpath  sb ToString

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The creators of the  NET framework want you to use XML-based config files  rather than INI files  So no  there is no built-in mechanism for reading them   There are third party solutions available  though    INI handlers can be obtained as NuGet packages  such as INI Parser  You can write your own INI handler  which is the old-school  laborious way  It gives you more control over the implementation  which you can use for bad or good  See e g  an INI file handling class using C   P Invoke and Win32

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This article on CodeProject  An INI file handling class using C   should help   The author created a C  class  Ini  which exposes two functions from KERNEL32 dll  These functions are   WritePrivateProfileString and GetPrivateProfileString  You will need two namespaces  System Runtime InteropServices and System Text   Steps to use the Ini class  In your project namespace definition add   using INI    Create a INIFile like this  INIFile ini   new INIFile  C   test ini      Use IniWriteValue to write a new value to a specific key in a section or use IniReadValue to read a value FROM a key in a specific Section   Note  if you re beginning from scratch  you could read this MSDN article  How to  Add Application Configuration Files to C  Projects  It s a better way for configuring your application

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This article on CodeProject  An INI file handling class using C   should help   The author created a C  class  Ini  which exposes two functions from KERNEL32 dll  These functions are   WritePrivateProfileString and GetPrivateProfileString  You will need two namespaces  System Runtime InteropServices and System Text   Steps to use the Ini class  In your project namespace definition add   using INI    Create a INIFile like this  INIFile ini   new INIFile  C   test ini      Use IniWriteValue to write a new value to a specific key in a section or use IniReadValue to read a value FROM a key in a specific Section   Note  if you re beginning from scratch  you could read this MSDN article  How to  Add Application Configuration Files to C  Projects  It s a better way for configuring your application

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I found this simple implementation   http   bytes com topic net insights 797169-reading-parsing-ini-file-c  Works well for what I need   Here is how you use it   public class TestParser       public static void Main                 IniParser parser   new IniParser   C  test ini             String newMessage           newMessage   parser GetSetting  appsettings    msgpart1            newMessage    parser GetSetting  appsettings    msgpart2            newMessage    parser GetSetting  punctuation    ex               Returns  Hello World           Console WriteLine newMessage           Console ReadLine              Here is the code   using System  using System IO  using System Collections   public class IniParser       private Hashtable keyPairs   new Hashtable        private String iniFilePath       private struct SectionPair               public String Section          public String Key                  lt summary gt          Opens the INI file at the given path and enumerates the values in the IniParser           lt  summary gt           lt param name  iniPath  gt Full path to INI file  lt  param gt      public IniParser String iniPath                TextReader iniFile   null          String strLine   null          String currentRoot   null          String   keyPair   null           iniFilePath   iniPath           if  File Exists iniPath                         try                               iniFile   new StreamReader iniPath                    strLine   iniFile ReadLine                     while  strLine    null                                        strLine   strLine Trim   ToUpper                         if  strLine                                                      if  strLine StartsWith       amp  amp  strLine EndsWith                                                             currentRoot   strLine Substring 1  strLine Length - 2                                                     else                                                       keyPair   strLine Split new char            2                                SectionPair sectionPair                              String value   null                               if  currentRoot    null                                  currentRoot    ROOT                                sectionPair Section   currentRoot                              sectionPair Key   keyPair 0                                if  keyPair Length  gt  1                                  value   keyPair 1                                keyPairs Add sectionPair  value                                                                        strLine   iniFile ReadLine                                                 catch  Exception ex                                throw ex                            finally                               if  iniFile    null                      iniFile Close                                    else             throw new FileNotFoundException  Unable to locate     iniPath                    lt summary gt          Returns the value for the given section  key pair           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section name  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingName  gt Key name  lt  param gt      public String GetSetting String sectionName  String settingName                SectionPair sectionPair          sectionPair Section   sectionName ToUpper            sectionPair Key   settingName ToUpper             return  String keyPairs sectionPair                   lt summary gt          Enumerates all lines for given section           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section to enum  lt  param gt      public String   EnumSection String sectionName                ArrayList tmpArray   new ArrayList             foreach  SectionPair pair in keyPairs Keys                        if  pair Section    sectionName ToUpper                    tmpArray Add pair Key                      return  String   tmpArray ToArray typeof String                    lt summary gt          Adds or replaces a setting to the table to be saved           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section to add under  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingName  gt Key name to add  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingValue  gt Value of key  lt  param gt      public void AddSetting String sectionName  String settingName  String settingValue                SectionPair sectionPair          sectionPair Section   sectionName ToUpper            sectionPair Key   settingName ToUpper             if  keyPairs ContainsKey sectionPair               keyPairs Remove sectionPair            keyPairs Add sectionPair  settingValue                   lt summary gt          Adds or replaces a setting to the table to be saved with a null value           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section to add under  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingName  gt Key name to add  lt  param gt      public void AddSetting String sectionName  String settingName                AddSetting sectionName  settingName  null                   lt summary gt          Remove a setting           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section to add under  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingName  gt Key name to add  lt  param gt      public void DeleteSetting String sectionName  String settingName                SectionPair sectionPair          sectionPair Section   sectionName ToUpper            sectionPair Key   settingName ToUpper             if  keyPairs ContainsKey sectionPair               keyPairs Remove sectionPair                   lt summary gt          Save settings to new file           lt  summary gt           lt param name  newFilePath  gt New file path  lt  param gt      public void SaveSettings String newFilePath                ArrayList sections   new ArrayList            String tmpValue               String strToSave                foreach  SectionPair sectionPair in keyPairs Keys                        if   sections Contains sectionPair Section                   sections Add sectionPair Section                      foreach  String section in sections                        strToSave           section      r n                 foreach  SectionPair sectionPair in keyPairs Keys                                if  sectionPair Section    section                                        tmpValue    String keyPairs sectionPair                        if  tmpValue    null                          tmpValue         tmpValue                       strToSave     sectionPair Key   tmpValue     r n                                                 strToSave      r n                      try                       TextWriter tw   new StreamWriter newFilePath               tw Write strToSave               tw Close                      catch  Exception ex                        throw ex                            lt summary gt          Save settings back to ini file           lt  summary gt      public void SaveSettings                 SaveSettings iniFilePath

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Here is my own version  using regular expressions  This code assumes that each section name is unique - if however this is not true - it makes sense to replace Dictionary with List  This function supports  ini file commenting  starting from     character  Section starts normally  section   and key value pairs also comes normally  key   value   Same assumption as for sections - key name is unique        lt summary gt      Loads  ini file into dictionary       lt  summary gt  public static Dictionary lt String  Dictionary lt String  String gt  gt  loadIni String file        Dictionary lt String  Dictionary lt String  String gt  gt  d   new Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt          String ini   File ReadAllText file           Remove comments  preserve linefeeds  if end-user needs to count line number      ini   Regex Replace ini      s            RegexOptions Multiline           Pick up all lines from first section to another section     foreach  Match m in Regex Matches ini        r n         r n        r n               r n        r n        RegexOptions Singleline                 String sectionName   m Groups 2  Value          Dictionary lt String  String gt  lines   new Dictionary lt String  String gt                 Pick up  key   value  kind of syntax          foreach  Match l in Regex Matches ini      s       s   s       s     RegexOptions Multiline                         String key   l Groups 1  Value              String value   l Groups 2  Value                  Open up quotation if any              value   Regex Replace value                  1                 if   lines ContainsKey key                   lines key    value                     if   d ContainsKey sectionName               d sectionName    lines             return d

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I want to introduce an IniParser library I ve created completely in c   so it contains no dependencies in any OS  which makes it Mono compatible  Open Source with MIT license -so it can be used in any code   You can check out the source in GitHub  and it is also available as a NuGet package  It s heavily configurable  and really simple to use   Sorry for the shameless plug but I hope it can be of help of anyone revisiting this answer

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This article on CodeProject  An INI file handling class using C   should help   The author created a C  class  Ini  which exposes two functions from KERNEL32 dll  These functions are   WritePrivateProfileString and GetPrivateProfileString  You will need two namespaces  System Runtime InteropServices and System Text   Steps to use the Ini class  In your project namespace definition add   using INI    Create a INIFile like this  INIFile ini   new INIFile  C   test ini      Use IniWriteValue to write a new value to a specific key in a section or use IniReadValue to read a value FROM a key in a specific Section   Note  if you re beginning from scratch  you could read this MSDN article  How to  Add Application Configuration Files to C  Projects  It s a better way for configuring your application

User · Answer

Usually  when you create applications using C  and the  NET framework  you will not use INI files  It is more common to store settings in an XML-based configuration file or in the registry   However  if your software shares settings with a legacy application it may be easier to use its configuration file  rather than duplicating the information elsewhere   The  NET framework does not support the use of INI files directly  However  you can use Windows API functions with Platform Invocation Services  P Invoke  to write to and read from the files  In this link we create a class that represents INI files and uses Windows API functions to manipulate them   Please go through the following link   Reading and Writing INI Files

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PeanutButter INI is a Nuget-packaged class for INI files manipulation  It supports read write  including comments     your comments are preserved on write  It appears to be reasonably popular  is tested and easy to use  It s also totally free and open-source   Disclaimer  I am the author of PeanutButter INI

User · Answer

The creators of the  NET framework want you to use XML-based config files  rather than INI files  So no  there is no built-in mechanism for reading them   There are third party solutions available  though    INI handlers can be obtained as NuGet packages  such as INI Parser  You can write your own INI handler  which is the old-school  laborious way  It gives you more control over the implementation  which you can use for bad or good  See e g  an INI file handling class using C   P Invoke and Win32

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If you only need read access and not write access and you are using the Microsoft Extensions Confiuration  comes bundled in by default with ASP NET Core but works with regular programs too  you can use the NuGet package Microsoft Extensions Configuration Ini to import ini files in to your configuration settings   public Startup IHostingEnvironment env        var builder   new ConfigurationBuilder            SetBasePath env ContentRootPath           AddIniFile  SomeConfig ini   optional  false       Configuration   builder Build

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I want to introduce an IniParser library I ve created completely in c   so it contains no dependencies in any OS  which makes it Mono compatible  Open Source with MIT license -so it can be used in any code   You can check out the source in GitHub  and it is also available as a NuGet package  It s heavily configurable  and really simple to use   Sorry for the shameless plug but I hope it can be of help of anyone revisiting this answer

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You should read and write data from xml files since you can save a whole object to xml and also you can populate a object from a saved xml  It is better an easy to manipulate objects   Here is how to do it  Write Object Data to an XML File  https   msdn microsoft com en-us library ms172873 aspx Read Object Data from an XML File  https   msdn microsoft com en-us library ms172872 aspx

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If you only need read access and not write access and you are using the Microsoft Extensions Confiuration  comes bundled in by default with ASP NET Core but works with regular programs too  you can use the NuGet package Microsoft Extensions Configuration Ini to import ini files in to your configuration settings   public Startup IHostingEnvironment env        var builder   new ConfigurationBuilder            SetBasePath env ContentRootPath           AddIniFile  SomeConfig ini   optional  false       Configuration   builder Build

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Here is my own version  using regular expressions  This code assumes that each section name is unique - if however this is not true - it makes sense to replace Dictionary with List  This function supports  ini file commenting  starting from     character  Section starts normally  section   and key value pairs also comes normally  key   value   Same assumption as for sections - key name is unique        lt summary gt      Loads  ini file into dictionary       lt  summary gt  public static Dictionary lt String  Dictionary lt String  String gt  gt  loadIni String file        Dictionary lt String  Dictionary lt String  String gt  gt  d   new Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt          String ini   File ReadAllText file           Remove comments  preserve linefeeds  if end-user needs to count line number      ini   Regex Replace ini      s            RegexOptions Multiline           Pick up all lines from first section to another section     foreach  Match m in Regex Matches ini        r n         r n        r n               r n        r n        RegexOptions Singleline                 String sectionName   m Groups 2  Value          Dictionary lt String  String gt  lines   new Dictionary lt String  String gt                 Pick up  key   value  kind of syntax          foreach  Match l in Regex Matches ini      s       s   s       s     RegexOptions Multiline                         String key   l Groups 1  Value              String value   l Groups 2  Value                  Open up quotation if any              value   Regex Replace value                  1                 if   lines ContainsKey key                   lines key    value                     if   d ContainsKey sectionName               d sectionName    lines             return d

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If you want just a simple reader without sections and any other dlls here is simple solution   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System IO  using System Linq  using System Text  using System Threading Tasks   namespace Tool       public class Config               Dictionary  lt string  string gt  values          public Config  string path                        values   File ReadLines path               Where line   gt    String IsNullOrWhiteSpace line   amp  amp   line StartsWith                     Select line   gt  line Split new char            2  0                ToDictionary parts   gt  parts 0  Trim    parts   gt  parts Length gt 1 parts 1  Trim   null                     public string Value  string name  string value null                        if  values  null  amp  amp  values ContainsKey name                                 return values name                             return value                      Usage sample       file   new Tool Config  Path GetDirectoryName System Reflection Assembly GetExecutingAssembly   Location       config ini        command   file Value   command        action   file Value   action        string value        second parameter is default value if no key found with this name     value   file Value  debug   true        this debug    value ToLower     true     value    1        value   file Value  plain    false        this plain    value ToLower       true     value     1      Config file content meanwhile  as you see supports   symbol for line comment     command to run command   php   default script action   index php   debug mode  debug   true   plain text mode  plain   false   icon   favico ico

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You should read and write data from xml files since you can save a whole object to xml and also you can populate a object from a saved xml  It is better an easy to manipulate objects   Here is how to do it  Write Object Data to an XML File  https   msdn microsoft com en-us library ms172873 aspx Read Object Data from an XML File  https   msdn microsoft com en-us library ms172872 aspx

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Here is my class  works like a charm    public static class IniFileManager          DllImport  kernel32        private static extern long WritePrivateProfileString string section          string key  string val  string filePath        DllImport  kernel32        private static extern int GetPrivateProfileString string section               string key  string def  StringBuilder retVal          int size  string filePath        DllImport  kernel32 dll        private static extern int GetPrivateProfileSection string lpAppName               byte   lpszReturnBuffer  int nSize  string lpFileName              lt summary gt          Write Data to the INI File          lt  summary gt           lt PARAM name  Section  gt  lt  PARAM gt          Section name          lt PARAM name  Key  gt  lt  PARAM gt          Key Name          lt PARAM name  Value  gt  lt  PARAM gt          Value Name     public static void IniWriteValue string sPath string Section  string Key  string Value                WritePrivateProfileString Section  Key  Value  sPath                   lt summary gt          Read Data Value From the Ini File          lt  summary gt           lt PARAM name  Section  gt  lt  PARAM gt           lt PARAM name  Key  gt  lt  PARAM gt           lt PARAM name  Path  gt  lt  PARAM gt           lt returns gt  lt  returns gt      public static string IniReadValue string sPath string Section  string Key                StringBuilder temp   new StringBuilder 255           int i   GetPrivateProfileString Section  Key      temp                                          255  sPath           return temp ToString                The use is obviouse since its a static class  just call IniFileManager IniWriteValue for readsing a section or IniFileManager IniReadValue for reading a section

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If you want just a simple reader without sections and any other dlls here is simple solution   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System IO  using System Linq  using System Text  using System Threading Tasks   namespace Tool       public class Config               Dictionary  lt string  string gt  values          public Config  string path                        values   File ReadLines path               Where line   gt    String IsNullOrWhiteSpace line   amp  amp   line StartsWith                     Select line   gt  line Split new char            2  0                ToDictionary parts   gt  parts 0  Trim    parts   gt  parts Length gt 1 parts 1  Trim   null                     public string Value  string name  string value null                        if  values  null  amp  amp  values ContainsKey name                                 return values name                             return value                      Usage sample       file   new Tool Config  Path GetDirectoryName System Reflection Assembly GetExecutingAssembly   Location       config ini        command   file Value   command        action   file Value   action        string value        second parameter is default value if no key found with this name     value   file Value  debug   true        this debug    value ToLower     true     value    1        value   file Value  plain    false        this plain    value ToLower       true     value     1      Config file content meanwhile  as you see supports   symbol for line comment     command to run command   php   default script action   index php   debug mode  debug   true   plain text mode  plain   false   icon   favico ico

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Preface Firstly  read this MSDN blog post on the limitations of INI files  If it suits your needs  read on  This is a concise implementation I wrote  utilising the original Windows P Invoke  so it is supported by all versions of Windows with  NET installed   i e  Windows 98 - Windows 10   I hereby release it into the public domain - you re free to use it commercially without attribution  The tiny class Add a new class called IniFile cs to your project  using System IO  using System Reflection  using System Runtime InteropServices  using System Text      Change this to match your program s normal namespace namespace MyProg       class IniFile      revision 11               string Path          string EXE   Assembly GetExecutingAssembly   GetName   Name            DllImport  quot kernel32 quot   CharSet   CharSet Unicode           static extern long WritePrivateProfileString string Section  string Key  string Value  string FilePath             DllImport  quot kernel32 quot   CharSet   CharSet Unicode           static extern int GetPrivateProfileString string Section  string Key  string Default  StringBuilder RetVal  int Size  string FilePath            public IniFile string IniPath   null                        Path   new FileInfo IniPath    EXE    quot  ini quot   FullName                     public string Read string Key  string Section   null                        var RetVal   new StringBuilder 255               GetPrivateProfileString Section    EXE  Key   quot  quot   RetVal  255  Path               return RetVal ToString                       public void Write string Key  string Value  string Section   null                        WritePrivateProfileString Section    EXE  Key  Value  Path                      public void DeleteKey string Key  string Section   null                        Write Key  null  Section    EXE                      public void DeleteSection string Section   null                        Write null  null  Section    EXE                      public bool KeyExists string Key  string Section   null                        return Read Key  Section  Length  gt  0                     How to use it Open the INI file in one of the 3 following ways     Creates or loads an INI file in the same directory as your executable    named EXE ini  where EXE is the name of your executable  var MyIni   new IniFile        Or specify a specific name in the current dir var MyIni   new IniFile  quot Settings ini quot        Or specify a specific name in a specific dir var MyIni   new IniFile   quot C  Settings ini quot     You can write some values like so  MyIni Write  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot 100 quot    MyIni Write  quot HomePage quot    quot http   www google com quot     To create a file like this   MyProg  DefaultVolume 100 HomePage http   www google com  To read the values out of the INI file  var DefaultVolume   MyIni Read  quot DefaultVolume quot    var HomePage   MyIni Read  quot HomePage quot     Optionally  you can set  Section  s  MyIni Write  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot 100 quot    quot Audio quot    MyIni Write  quot HomePage quot    quot http   www google com quot    quot Web quot     To create a file like this   Audio  DefaultVolume 100   Web  HomePage http   www google com  You can also check for the existence of a key like so  if  MyIni KeyExists  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot Audio quot          MyIni Write  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot 100 quot    quot Audio quot       You can delete a key like so  MyIni DeleteKey  quot DefaultVolume quot    quot Audio quot     You can also delete a whole section  including all keys  like so  MyIni DeleteSection  quot Web quot     Please feel free to comment with any improvements

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The code in joerage s answer is inspiring   Unfortunately  it changes the character casing of the keys and does not handle comments  So I wrote something that should be robust enough to read  only  very dirty INI files and allows to retrieve keys as they are   It uses some LINQ  a nested case insensitive string dictionary to store sections  keys and values  and read the file in one go   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System IO  using System Linq   class IniReader       Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  ini   new Dictionary lt string  Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt  StringComparer InvariantCultureIgnoreCase        public IniReader string file                var txt   File ReadAllText file            Dictionary lt string  string gt  currentSection   new Dictionary lt string  string gt  StringComparer InvariantCultureIgnoreCase            ini       currentSection           foreach var line in txt Split new     n    StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries                                  Where t   gt   string IsNullOrWhiteSpace t                                   Select t   gt  t Trim                           if  line StartsWith                       continue               if  line StartsWith       amp  amp  line EndsWith                                     currentSection   new Dictionary lt string  string gt  StringComparer InvariantCultureIgnoreCase                   ini line Substring 1  line LastIndexOf      - 1     currentSection                  continue                             var idx   line IndexOf                   if  idx    -1                  currentSection line                    else                 currentSection line Substring 0  idx     line Substring idx   1                        public string GetValue string key                return GetValue key                      public string GetValue string key  string section                return GetValue key  section                  public string GetValue string key  string section  string  default                if   ini ContainsKey section               return  default           if   ini section  ContainsKey key               return  default           return ini section  key              public string   GetKeys string section                if   ini ContainsKey section               return new string 0            return ini section  Keys ToArray               public string   GetSections                 return ini Keys Where t   gt  t        ToArray

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I found this simple implementation   http   bytes com topic net insights 797169-reading-parsing-ini-file-c  Works well for what I need   Here is how you use it   public class TestParser       public static void Main                 IniParser parser   new IniParser   C  test ini             String newMessage           newMessage   parser GetSetting  appsettings    msgpart1            newMessage    parser GetSetting  appsettings    msgpart2            newMessage    parser GetSetting  punctuation    ex               Returns  Hello World           Console WriteLine newMessage           Console ReadLine              Here is the code   using System  using System IO  using System Collections   public class IniParser       private Hashtable keyPairs   new Hashtable        private String iniFilePath       private struct SectionPair               public String Section          public String Key                  lt summary gt          Opens the INI file at the given path and enumerates the values in the IniParser           lt  summary gt           lt param name  iniPath  gt Full path to INI file  lt  param gt      public IniParser String iniPath                TextReader iniFile   null          String strLine   null          String currentRoot   null          String   keyPair   null           iniFilePath   iniPath           if  File Exists iniPath                         try                               iniFile   new StreamReader iniPath                    strLine   iniFile ReadLine                     while  strLine    null                                        strLine   strLine Trim   ToUpper                         if  strLine                                                      if  strLine StartsWith       amp  amp  strLine EndsWith                                                             currentRoot   strLine Substring 1  strLine Length - 2                                                     else                                                       keyPair   strLine Split new char            2                                SectionPair sectionPair                              String value   null                               if  currentRoot    null                                  currentRoot    ROOT                                sectionPair Section   currentRoot                              sectionPair Key   keyPair 0                                if  keyPair Length  gt  1                                  value   keyPair 1                                keyPairs Add sectionPair  value                                                                        strLine   iniFile ReadLine                                                 catch  Exception ex                                throw ex                            finally                               if  iniFile    null                      iniFile Close                                    else             throw new FileNotFoundException  Unable to locate     iniPath                    lt summary gt          Returns the value for the given section  key pair           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section name  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingName  gt Key name  lt  param gt      public String GetSetting String sectionName  String settingName                SectionPair sectionPair          sectionPair Section   sectionName ToUpper            sectionPair Key   settingName ToUpper             return  String keyPairs sectionPair                   lt summary gt          Enumerates all lines for given section           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section to enum  lt  param gt      public String   EnumSection String sectionName                ArrayList tmpArray   new ArrayList             foreach  SectionPair pair in keyPairs Keys                        if  pair Section    sectionName ToUpper                    tmpArray Add pair Key                      return  String   tmpArray ToArray typeof String                    lt summary gt          Adds or replaces a setting to the table to be saved           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section to add under  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingName  gt Key name to add  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingValue  gt Value of key  lt  param gt      public void AddSetting String sectionName  String settingName  String settingValue                SectionPair sectionPair          sectionPair Section   sectionName ToUpper            sectionPair Key   settingName ToUpper             if  keyPairs ContainsKey sectionPair               keyPairs Remove sectionPair            keyPairs Add sectionPair  settingValue                   lt summary gt          Adds or replaces a setting to the table to be saved with a null value           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section to add under  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingName  gt Key name to add  lt  param gt      public void AddSetting String sectionName  String settingName                AddSetting sectionName  settingName  null                   lt summary gt          Remove a setting           lt  summary gt           lt param name  sectionName  gt Section to add under  lt  param gt           lt param name  settingName  gt Key name to add  lt  param gt      public void DeleteSetting String sectionName  String settingName                SectionPair sectionPair          sectionPair Section   sectionName ToUpper            sectionPair Key   settingName ToUpper             if  keyPairs ContainsKey sectionPair               keyPairs Remove sectionPair                   lt summary gt          Save settings to new file           lt  summary gt           lt param name  newFilePath  gt New file path  lt  param gt      public void SaveSettings String newFilePath                ArrayList sections   new ArrayList            String tmpValue               String strToSave                foreach  SectionPair sectionPair in keyPairs Keys                        if   sections Contains sectionPair Section                   sections Add sectionPair Section                      foreach  String section in sections                        strToSave           section      r n                 foreach  SectionPair sectionPair in keyPairs Keys                                if  sectionPair Section    section                                        tmpValue    String keyPairs sectionPair                        if  tmpValue    null                          tmpValue         tmpValue                       strToSave     sectionPair Key   tmpValue     r n                                                 strToSave      r n                      try                       TextWriter tw   new StreamWriter newFilePath               tw Write strToSave               tw Close                      catch  Exception ex                        throw ex                            lt summary gt          Save settings back to ini file           lt  summary gt      public void SaveSettings                 SaveSettings iniFilePath

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Here is my class  works like a charm    public static class IniFileManager          DllImport  kernel32        private static extern long WritePrivateProfileString string section          string key  string val  string filePath        DllImport  kernel32        private static extern int GetPrivateProfileString string section               string key  string def  StringBuilder retVal          int size  string filePath        DllImport  kernel32 dll        private static extern int GetPrivateProfileSection string lpAppName               byte   lpszReturnBuffer  int nSize  string lpFileName              lt summary gt          Write Data to the INI File          lt  summary gt           lt PARAM name  Section  gt  lt  PARAM gt          Section name          lt PARAM name  Key  gt  lt  PARAM gt          Key Name          lt PARAM name  Value  gt  lt  PARAM gt          Value Name     public static void IniWriteValue string sPath string Section  string Key  string Value                WritePrivateProfileString Section  Key  Value  sPath                   lt summary gt          Read Data Value From the Ini File          lt  summary gt           lt PARAM name  Section  gt  lt  PARAM gt           lt PARAM name  Key  gt  lt  PARAM gt           lt PARAM name  Path  gt  lt  PARAM gt           lt returns gt  lt  returns gt      public static string IniReadValue string sPath string Section  string Key                StringBuilder temp   new StringBuilder 255           int i   GetPrivateProfileString Section  Key      temp                                          255  sPath           return temp ToString                The use is obviouse since its a static class  just call IniFileManager IniWriteValue for readsing a section or IniFileManager IniReadValue for reading a section

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The creators of the  NET framework want you to use XML-based config files  rather than INI files  So no  there is no built-in mechanism for reading them   There are third party solutions available  though    INI handlers can be obtained as NuGet packages  such as INI Parser  You can write your own INI handler  which is the old-school  laborious way  It gives you more control over the implementation  which you can use for bad or good  See e g  an INI file handling class using C   P Invoke and Win32

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Try this method   public static Dictionary lt string  string gt  ParseIniDataWithSections string   iniData        var dict   new Dictionary lt string  string gt         var rows   iniData Where t   gt            String IsNullOrEmpty t Trim     amp  amp   t StartsWith       amp  amp   t Contains         t Contains             if  rows    null    rows Count      0  return dict      string section           foreach  string row in rows                string rw   row TrimStart            if  rw StartsWith                   section   rw TrimStart      TrimEnd               else                       int index   rw IndexOf                   dict section    -    rw Substring 0  index  Trim      rw Substring index 1  Trim   Trim                           return dict      It creates the dictionary where the key is  -   You can load it like this   var dict   ParseIniDataWithSections File ReadAllLines fileName

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There is an Ini Parser available in CommonLibrary NET  This has various very convenient overloads for getting sections values and is very light weight

[c#] Reading/writing an INI file

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