INI File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
File Extension .ini
MIME Type N/A
Format Type Text
Specification Simple key-value pair
Character Encoding ASCII, though UTF-8 is commonly supported
Sections Organized by square brackets [[Section]]
Key-Value Separator = or :
Comments Start with a semicolon ; or hash #
Multi-line Values Supported via line continuation (backslash )
Variables or Constants Not natively supported
Case Sensitivity Keys are case insensitive in Windows
File Usage Configuration settings for applications
Supporting Operating Systems Windows primarily, readable by any OS
Security Plain text (considered insecure for sensitive information)
Standard Library Support Supported by many programming languages through libraries
Editable With any text editor
Array Representation Not directly supported; custom formats exist
Embedding Other Files Not natively supported
Expansion of Environment Variables Specific to application implementation
Limitations Limited data types; primarily strings