PROPERTIES File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
File Extension .properties
Format Type Text
Usage Configuration settings for Java applications
Format Style Key-Value pairs
Character Encoding ISO 8859-1
Support for Unicode Characters Yes, with Escape Sequences
Comments Supported using # or !
MIME Type text/x-java-properties
Line Terminator New Line or Carriage Return
Key-Value Separator =, :, white space
Multi-Line Values Supported with backslash ()
Escaping Characters Backslash ()
Property Grouping Not natively supported
Standard API Support java.util.Properties
Data Types String only
File Purpose Configuration, Internationalization, Localization
Load Method load(InputStream inStream)
Store Method store(OutputStream out, String comments)
Default File Name Typically application.properties
Editable With Text Editor
Advantages Simple format, human-readable, easily editable
Disadvantages Limited data types, no hierarchy