parse_ini_file

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

parse_ini_file — 解析一个配置文件

说明

parse_ini_file ( string $filename [, bool $process_sections = false [, int $scanner_mode = INI_SCANNER_NORMAL ]] ) : array

parse_ini_file() 载入一个由 filename 指定的 ini 文件，并将其中的设置作为一个联合数组返回。

ini 文件的结构和 php.ini 的相似。

参数

filename

要解析的 ini 文件的文件名。

process_sections

如果将最后的 process_sections 参数设为 TRUE，将得到一个多维数组，包括了配置文件中每一节的名称和设置。process_sections 的默认值是 FALSE。

scanner_mode

Can either be INI_SCANNER_NORMAL (default) or INI_SCANNER_RAW. If INI_SCANNER_RAW is supplied, then option values will not be parsed.

返回值

成功时以关联数组 array 返回设置，失败时返回 FALSE。

更新日志

版本 说明
5.3.0 Added optional scanner_mode parameter. Single quotes may now be used around variable assignments. Hash marks (#) may no longer be used as comments and will throw a deprecation warning if used.
5.2.7 On syntax error this function will return FALSE rather than an empty array.
5.2.4 由数字组成的键名和小节名会被 PHP 当作整数来处理，因此以 0 开头的数字会被当作八进制而以 0x 开头的会被当作十六进制。
5.0.0 该函数也开始处理选项值内的新行。
4.2.1 本函数也开始受到安全模式和 open_basedir 的影响。

范例

Example #1 sample.ini 的内容

; This is a sample configuration file
; Comments start with ';', as in php.ini

[first_section]
one = 1
five = 5
animal = BIRD

[second_section]
path = "/usr/local/bin"
URL = "http://www.example.com/~username"

[third_section]
phpversion[] = "5.0"
phpversion[] = "5.1"
phpversion[] = "5.2"
phpversion[] = "5.3"

Example #2 parse_ini_file() 例子

常量也可以在 ini 文件中被解析，因此如果在运行 parse_ini_file() 之前定义了常量作为 ini 的值，将会被集成到结果中去。只有 ini 的值会被求值。例如：

<?php

define('BIRD', 'Dodo bird');

// Parse without sections
$ini_array = parse_ini_file("sample.ini");
print_r($ini_array);

// Parse with sections
$ini_array = parse_ini_file("sample.ini", true);
print_r($ini_array);

?>

以上例程的输出类似于：

Array
(
    [one] => 1
    [five] => 5
    [animal] => Dodo bird
    [path] => /usr/local/bin
    [URL] => http://www.example.com/~username
    [phpversion] => Array
        (
            [0] => 5.0
            [1] => 5.1
            [2] => 5.2
            [3] => 5.3
        )

)
Array
(
    [first_section] => Array
        (
            [one] => 1
            [five] => 5
            [animal] => Dodo bird
        )

    [second_section] => Array
        (
            [path] => /usr/local/bin
            [URL] => http://www.example.com/~username
        )

    [third_section] => Array
        (
            [phpversion] => Array
                (
                    [0] => 5.0
                    [1] => 5.1
                    [2] => 5.2
                    [3] => 5.3
                )

        )

)

Example #3 parse_ini_file() parsing a php.ini file

<?php
// A simple function used for comparing the results below
function yesno($expression)
{
    return($expression ? 'Yes' : 'No');
}

// Get the path to php.ini using the php_ini_loaded_file() 
// function available as of PHP 5.2.4
$ini_path = php_ini_loaded_file();

// Parse php.ini
$ini = parse_ini_file($ini_path);

// Print and compare the values, note that using get_cfg_var()
// will give the same results for parsed and loaded here
echo '(parsed) magic_quotes_gpc = ' . yesno($ini['magic_quotes_gpc']) . PHP_EOL;
echo '(loaded) magic_quotes_gpc = ' . yesno(get_cfg_var('magic_quotes_gpc')) . PHP_EOL;
?>

以上例程的输出类似于：

(parsed) magic_quotes_gpc = Yes
(loaded) magic_quotes_gpc = Yes

注释

Note:

本函数和 php.ini 文件没有关系，该文件在运行脚本时就已经处理过了。本函数可以用来读取你自己的应用程序的配置文件。

Note:

如果 ini 文件中的值包含任何非字母数字的字符，需要将其括在双引号中（"）。

Note: 有些保留字不能作为 ini 文件中的键名，包括：null，yes，no，true 和 false。值为 null，no 和 false 等效于 ""，值为 yes 和 true 等效于 "1"。字符 {}|&~![()" 也不能用在键名的任何地方，而且这些字符在选项值中有着特殊的意义。

参见

User Contributed Notes

Rubn Martnez 15-Jul-2018 01:06
The parse_ini_file function does have trouble loading valid Windows ini files like, for example, nternet shortcuts (.url files).

This is due to the function reading the URLs as a value, and failing when it finds that valid URL characters like '=' appear unescaped or the value unquoted as a whole. Since Windows does not escape them anyway, the solution is to scan it in raw mode, where it will read unparsed the value after the first '='. Since = only appears in URLs with parameters, this mistake may is not be obvious at a first glance.

An example

<?php

$links = array();

// ...

$files = scandir($directory);
foreach( $files as $filename )
{
    if (strToLower(pathinfo($filename, PATHINFO_EXTENSION)) === 'url')
    {
        $shortcut = parse_ini_file( $directory.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$filename, true,  INI_SCANNER_RAW);
        if ($shortcut === false) die('Syntax Error');
        $url = $shortcut['InternetShortcut']['URL'];
        $links []= $url;
    }
}

?>
info () gaj ! design 17-Dec-2016 06:05
Notes on INI files.

Unless the source code is freely available - and therefore the locations on INI files - there is no need to obfuscate or place INI files below DocumentRoot, as no one will know where they are. Otherwise, the .htaccess (or equivalent) to deny .ini files (or the config directory) is effective at preventing access.

And placing sensitive data in an INI file is just not a good idea in the first place. They are better off as defines (where, even if in a known location, can not seen):

<?php
define('DB_NAME','server_cms');
define('DB_USER','server_user');
define('DB_PASS','secretword');
?>

Writing an array as an INI file is not so simple, and just wrapping values in double quotes will not always work. Consider:

key1 = true
key2 = ${PATH}"/foo"
key2a = CONSTANT"/foo"

Also, "If a value in the ini file contains any non-alphanumeric characters it needs to be enclosed in double-quotes" does not always hold.

For this works:

key2b = ${PATH}/foo

This is valid but fails to convert the constant:

key2c = CONSTANT/foo

This does convert the constant, there is just a space after it:

key2d = CONSTANT /foo

These characters are OK:

key3 = ` $ * % # @ { } < > / \ : , . ? + - _

For example:

key4 = The # is 100% of <value>.

And most bitwise operator, negation, logical not and parenthesis characters are used to calculate values:

key5 = ~1 | (!1 & 3) ^ -1

Which can be combined with constants and variables:

key6 = ${SHLVL} | PHP_VERSION & ${display_errors}

So, only values containing ( ) ! ^ | & ~ - ; = within a string need to be quoted, with either double- or single-quotes. As will strings containing reserved words.

Also, the concatenation operation is built-in:

key7 = "foo" 'bar' PHP_VERSION ${OS}

That result will have spaces before the constant and variable but not between the two quoted words. This eliminates the spaces:

key7a = "foo" 'bar'PHP_VERSION${OS}

But, punctuation fools the parsing:

key7b = "foo" 'bar',PHP_VERSION-${OS}

That needs to be (with spaces):

key7c = "foo" 'bar', PHP_VERSION - ${OS}

Or (without spaces):

key7d = "foo" 'bar,'PHP_VERSION'-'${OS}

And, of course, leading and trailing spaces in values are trimmed.

All of those were tested on PHP 7.0.13 and 5.6.18.

It would be cool for PHP to support shift and arithmetic operators:

key8 = (${SHLVL} * 2) >> 1

And cooler still, all logical operators; perhaps also comparison operators and the execution operator.

And way cool would be array support:

key9 = [ 1, 2, 3 ]

And globals and superglobals:

key10 = ${_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]}

Many people make their own INI parsers - I have a few versions - I think I'll try supporting the operators and arrays...

BUT, a "post parser" can convert such values as key9's and these:

key8a = '(${SHLVL} * 2) >> 1'
key10a = '${_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]}'
key11 = 'date("Y-m-d")'

The key9, key10a and key11 values can be converted via eval():

<?php
eval("\$data['key9'] = {$data['key9']};");
eval("\$data['key10a'] = \"{$data['key10a']}\";");
eval("\$data['key11'] = {$data['key11']};");
// example only - the values would have to be "checked" for
// if/how they should be parsed
// only to be used for "admin" only INI files
?>

Values like key8's would be slightly trickier but hardly difficult.
info () gaj ! design 16-Dec-2016 02:26
Not mentioned in the documentation, this function acts like include:

"Files are included based on the file path given or, if none is given, the include_path specified. If the file isn't found in the include_path, include will finally check in the calling script's own directory and the current working directory before failing."

(At least for PHP 7; have not checked PHP 5.)
YAPs 03-Jul-2016 08:49
This function for save ini files

function array_to_ini($array,$out="")
{
    $t="";
    $q=false;
    foreach($array as $c=>$d)
    {
        if(is_array($d))$t.=array_to_ini($d,$c);
        else
        {
            if($c===intval($c))
            {
                if(!empty($out))
                {
                    $t.="\r\n".$out." = \"".$d."\"";
                    if($q!=2)$q=true;
                }
                else $t.="\r\n".$d;
            }
            else
            {   
                $t.="\r\n".$c." = \"".$d."\"";
                $q=2;
            }
        }
    }
    if($q!=true && !empty($out)) return "[".$out."]\r\n".$t;
    if(!empty($out)) return  $t;
    return trim($t);
}

function save_ini_file($array,$file)
{
    $a=array_to_ini($array);
    $ffl=fopen($file,"w");
    fwrite($ffl,$a);
    fclose($ffl);
}
dschnepper at box dot com 09-Mar-2016 09:21
The documentation states:
Characters ?{}|&~!()^" must not be used anywhere in the key and have a special meaning in the value.

Here's the results of my experiments on what they mean:

; | is used for bitwise OR
three = 2|3

; & is used for bitwise AND
four = 6&5

; ^ is used for bitwise XOR
five = 3^6

; ~ is used for bitwise negate
negative_two = ~1

; () is used for grouping
seven = (8|7)&(6|5)

; ${...} is used for grabbing values from the environment, or previously defined values.
path = ${PATH}
also = ${five}

; ? I have no guess for
; ! I have no guess for
jbricci at ya-right dot com 15-Oct-2015 06:39
This core function won't handle ini key[][] = value(s), (multidimensional arrays), so if you need to support that kind of setup you will need to write your own function. one way to do it is to convert all the key = value(s) to array string [key][][]=value(s), then use parse_str() to convert all those [key][][]=value(s) that way you just read the ini file line by line, instead of doing crazy foreach() loops to handle those (multidimensional arrays) in each section, example...

ini file...... config.php

<?php

; This is a sample configuration file
; Comments start with ';', as in php.ini

[first_section]
one = 1
five = 5
animal = BIRD

[second_section]
path = "/usr/local/bin"
URL = "http://www.example.com/~username"

[third_section]
phpversion[] = "5.0"
phpversion[] = "5.1"
phpversion[] = "5.2"
phpversion[] = "5.3"

urls[svn] = "http://svn.php.net"
urls[git] = "http://git.php.net"

[fourth_section]

a[][][] = b
a[][][][] = c
a[test_test][][] = d
test[one][two][three] = true

?>

echo parse_ini_file ( "C:\\services\\www\\docs\\config.php" );

results in...

// PHP Warning:  syntax error, unexpected TC_SECTION, expecting '=' line 27 -> a[][][] = b

Here it simple function that handles (multidimensional arrays) without looping each key[][]= value(s)

<?php

function getIni ( $file, $sections = FALSE )
{
    $return = array ();

    $keeper = array ();

    $config = fopen ( $file, 'r' );

    while ( ! feof ( $config ) )
    {
        $line = trim ( fgets ( $config, 1024 ) );

        $line = ( $line == '' ) ? ' ' : $line;

        switch ( $line{0} )
        {
            case ' ':
            case '#':
            case '/':
            case ';':
            case '<':
            case '?':

            break;

            case '[':

            if ( $sections )
            {
                $header = 'config[' . trim ( substr ( $line, 1, -1 ) ) . ']';
            }
            else
            {
                $header = 'config';
            }

            break;

            default:

            $kv = array_map ( 'trim', explode ( '=', $line ) );

            $kv[0] = str_replace ( ' ', '+', $kv[0] );

            $kv[1] = str_replace ( ' ', '+', $kv[1] );

            if ( ( $pos = strpos ( $kv[0], '[' ) ) !== FALSE )
            {
                $kv[0] = '[' . substr ( $kv[0], 0, $pos ) . ']' . substr ( $kv[0], $pos );
            }
            else
            {
                $kv[0] = '[' . $kv[0] . ']';
            }

            $bt = strtolower ( $kv[1] );

            if ( in_array ( $bt, array ( 'true', 'false', 'on', 'off' ) ) )
            {
                $kv[1] = ( $bt == 'true' || $bt == 'on' ) ? TRUE : FALSE;
            }

            $keeper[] = $header . $kv[0] . '=' . $kv[1];
        }
    }

    fclose ( $config );

    parse_str ( implode ( '&', $keeper ), $return );

    return $return['config'];
}

// usage...

$sections = TRUE;

print_r ( $config->getIni ( "C:\\services\\www\\docs\\config.php" ),  $sections );

?>
Rekam 13-Apr-2014 09:59
You may want, in some very special cases, to parse multi-dimensional array with N levels in your ini file. Something like setting[data][config][debug] = true will result in an error (expected "=").

Here's a little function to match this, using dots (customizable).
<?php
function parse_ini_file_multi($file, $process_sections = false, $scanner_mode = INI_SCANNER_NORMAL) {
    $explode_str = '.';
    $escape_char = "'";
    // load ini file the normal way
    $data = parse_ini_file($file, $process_sections, $scanner_mode);
    if (!$process_sections) {
        $data = array($data);
    }
    foreach ($data as $section_key => $section) {
        // loop inside the section
        foreach ($section as $key => $value) {
            if (strpos($key, $explode_str)) {
                if (substr($key, 0, 1) !== $escape_char) {
                    // key has a dot. Explode on it, then parse each subkeys
                    // and set value at the right place thanks to references
                    $sub_keys = explode($explode_str, $key);
                    $subs =& $data[$section_key];
                    foreach ($sub_keys as $sub_key) {
                        if (!isset($subs[$sub_key])) {
                            $subs[$sub_key] = [];
                        }
                        $subs =& $subs[$sub_key];
                    }
                    // set the value at the right place
                    $subs = $value;
                    // unset the dotted key, we don't need it anymore
                    unset($data[$section_key][$key]);
                }
                // we have escaped the key, so we keep dots as they are
                else {
                    $new_key = trim($key, $escape_char);
                    $data[$section_key][$new_key] = $value;
                    unset($data[$section_key][$key]);
                }
            }
        }
    }
    if (!$process_sections) {
        $data = $data[0];
    }
    return $data;
}
?>

The following file:
<?php
/*
[normal]
foo = bar
; use quotes to keep your key as it is
'foo.with.dots' = true

[array]
foo[] = 1
foo[] = 2

[dictionary]
foo[debug] = false
foo[path] = /some/path

[multi]
foo.data.config.debug = true
foo.data.password = 123456
*/
?>

will result in:
<?php
parse_ini_file_multi('file.ini', true);

Array
(
    [normal] => Array
        (
            [foo] => bar
            [foo.with.dots] => 1
        )
    [array] => Array
        (
            [foo] => Array
                (
                    [0] => 1
                    [1] => 2
                )
        )
    [dictionary] => Array
        (
            [foo] => Array
                (
                    [debug] =>
                    [path] => /some/path
                )
        )
    [multi] => Array
        (
            [foo] => Array
                (
                    [data] => Array
                        (
                            [config] => Array
                                (
                                    [debug] => 1
                                )
                            [password] => 123456
                        )
                )
        )
)
?>
mgcummings at yahoo dot SPAMNO dot com 10-Apr-2014 02:48
Not mentioned in docs about constants but 'magic' constants do NOT work. So for example:

// __DIR__ = /my/web/site/app
log_file = __DIR__"/app.log"

Gives you just "__DIR__/app.log" with NO replacement.

Make sense it should NOT work as there would be question if it should be set to path of PHP file making the call or the path of the 'ini' file. Though the last might be useful the first generally would NOT be if you parse the file several different places in your code etc.

Tested in PHP 5.4.26
yicktan 18-Jul-2013 01:45
This combo works best for me.

<?php

$inifile = "config.php";
$inivalue = get_parse_ini($inifile);
print_r($inivalue);
$inivalue['config']['length']=6;
put_ini_file("config.php", $inivalue, $i = 0);

function get_parse_ini($file)
{

    // if cannot open file, return false
    if (!is_file($file))
        return false;

    $ini = file($file);

    // to hold the categories, and within them the entries
    $cats = array();

    foreach ($ini as $i) {
        if (@preg_match('/\[(.+)\]/', $i, $matches)) {
            $last = $matches[1];
        } elseif (@preg_match('/(.+)=(.+)/', $i, $matches)) {
            $cats[$last][trim($matches[1])] = trim($matches[2]);
        }
    }

    return $cats;

}

function put_ini_file($file, $array, $i = 0){
  $str="";
  foreach ($array as $k => $v){
    if (is_array($v)){
      $str.=str_repeat(" ",$i*2)."[$k]\r\n";
      $str.=put_ini_file("",$v, $i+1);
    }else
      $str.=str_repeat(" ",$i*2)."$k = $v\r\n";
  }
 
  $phpstr = "<?PHP\r\n/*\r\n".$str."*/\r\n?>";
 
 if($file)
    return file_put_contents($file,$phpstr);
  else
    return $str;
}

?>

here is the config.php file
<?php
/*
;Commented line start with ';'
[config]
admin = root
pass = pass
email = social@facebook.com
length = 4
block = 4
seperation = -
*/
?>

Test it out yourself
michel 24-Jun-2013 11:41
note configuration files should be stored outside you www-root/htdocs folder
grant at rootcentral dot org 18-Jun-2013 07:46
Somewhere between versions 5.2.5 and 5.3.24, the parsing of unquoted multiword values (e.g. values with embedded spaces) changed.

In 5.3.24, a multiword value where one of the words is a reserved word (null, yes, no, true, false, on, off, none) will cause the function to return an error.

Adding double quotation marks around the value string will solve the problem.
simon dot riget at gmail dot com 21-Feb-2013 07:23
.ini files or JSON file format as it is also known as, are very useful format to store stuff in. Especially large arrays.

Strangely enough there is this nice function to read the file, but no function to write it.

So here is one.

Use it as:  put_ini_file(string $file, array $array)

<?php
function put_ini_file($file, $array, $i = 0){
  $str="";
  foreach ($array as $k => $v){
    if (is_array($v)){
      $str.=str_repeat(" ",$i*2)."[$k]".PHP_EOL;
      $str.=put_ini_file("",$v, $i+1);
    }else
      $str.=str_repeat(" ",$i*2)."$k = $v".PHP_EOL;
  }
 if($file)
    return file_put_contents($file,$str);
  else
    return $str;
}
?>
Johannes Schmidt 21-Apr-2012 07:11
#If you want to replace a Setting in the ini, use this code:
/// bool SetCMSSettings(string $Setting, string $replace, string $INI_PATH)
/// $Setting = The Setting, which you want to replace
/// $replace = the new value

public function SetCMSSettings($Setting, $replace, $INI_PATH)
        {           
            $ini = fopen($INI_PATH,"w+");           
           
               
            $i = 0;
            while($Content = fgets($ini))
            {
                if(preg_match("/".$Setting."/", $Content)) {
                    fwrite($ini, $Setting."=".$replace);
                    $i = 1;
                } else {
                    fwrite($ini, $Content);
                }               
            }
            // If, the setting wasnt replaced.
            if($i == 0) {
                fwrite($ini, $Setting."=".$replace);
            }
fclose($ini);
        }
jerikojerk 16-Aug-2011 02:51
Please note that despite the changelog telling nothing about it, the parse_ini_file() changed
-> the way it interprets the simple quote (not accepted on my 5.1 php)
-> array index. PHP 5.3 accepts the following but not php 5.1

[section]
param["index"]='value'
param["other index"]='other value'
Alex - webitoria.com 04-Feb-2011 03:56
Constants in ini files are not expanded if they are concatenated with strings quoted with single quotes, they must be in double quotes only to make constants expanded.

Example:

define ('APP_PATH', '/some/path');

mypath = APP_PATH '/config'
// Constant won't be expanded: [mypath] => APP_PATH '/config'

mypath = APP_PATH "/config"
// Constant will be expanded: [mypath] => /some/path/config

Note "." between constant and following string is not used.

Since Zend_Config_Ini is built on parse_ini_file, it inherits this behaviour.
Rolf 21-Sep-2010 02:27
As of PHP 5.3, you can escape a double quote like this:

description = "an \" example"

But strangely, this fails when you try to escape two consecutive double quotes:

description = "no \"\" good"

Unless there is something between them (in this example, there is a space character):

description = "this is \" \" ok"
uramihsayibok, gmail, com 16-Sep-2010 01:10
Undocumented feature!

Using ${...} as a value will look to
1) an INI setting, or
2) an environment variable

For example,

<?php

print_r(parse_ini_string('
php_ext_dir = ${extension_dir}
operating_system = ${OS}
'));

?>

Array
(
    [php_ext_dir] => ./ext/
    [operating_system] => Windows_NT
)

Present in PHP 5.3.2, likely in 5.x, maybe even earlier too.
Anonymous 11-Sep-2010 09:42
a ini lexer with regexp:

<?php

@header('Content-Type: text/plain');

$myini = <<<EOT
[examples]                                  ; this is a section
                                            ; this is a comment line
1 = intkey                                  ; this is a int key
nullvalue = null                            ; this is NULL
truebool = true                             ; this is boolean (TRUE)
falsebool = false                           ; this is boolean (FALSE)
intvalue = -1                               ; this is a integer (-1)
floatvalue = +1.4E-3                        ; this is a float (0.0014)
stringvalue = Hello World                   ; this is a unquoted string
quoted = "Hello World"                      ; this is a quoted string
apostrophed = 'Hello World'                 ; this is a apostrophed string
quoted escaped = "it work's \"fine\"!"      ; this is a quoted string with escaped quotes
apostrophed escaped = 'it work\'s "fine"!'  ; this is a apostrophed string with escaped apostrophes

    [[valid special cases]]                 ; this is a section with square brackets and whitespaces at the beginning
quoted multiline = "line1
line2
line3"                                      ; this is a quoted multiline string
apostrophed multiline = "line1
line2
line3"                                      ; this is a apostrophed multiline string
     spaces before key = is ok               ; this line has whitespaces at the beginning
no val =                                    ; this setting has no key
= no key                                    ; this setting has no value
=                                           ; this setting has no key and no value

[bad cases]                                 ; you should never do that but it works
notgood = unquoted"string                   ; this value has a single quote
notgood2 = unapostrophed'string             ; this value has a single apostrophe
bad = "unclosed quotes                      ; this value has unclosed quotes
bad2 = 'unclosed apostrophes                ; this value has unclosed apostrophes

[invalid
section]
invalid setting
EOT;

function get_tokens_from_ini_lexer($data, $verbose = FALSE)
{
    $regexp = '/
    (?<=^|\r\n|\r|\n)
    (?P<line>
        (?:
            (?(?![\t\x20]*;)
                (?P<left_space>[\t\x20]*)
                (?:
                    \[(?P<section>[^;\r\n]+)\]
                    |
                    (?P<setting>
                        (?P<key>
                            [^=;\r\n]+?
                        )?
                        (?P<left_equal_space>[\t\x20]*)
                        (?P<equal_sign>=)
                        (?P<right_equal_space>[\t\x20]*)
                        (?P<val>
                            \x22(?P<quoted>.*?)(?<!\x5C)\x22
                            |
                            \x27(?P<apostrophed>.*?)(?<!\x5C)\x27
                            |
                            (?P<null>null)
                            |
                            (?P<bool>true|false)
                            |
                            (?P<int>[+-]?(?:[1-9]\d{0,18}|0))
                            |
                            (?P<float>(?:[+-]?(?:[1-9]\d*|0))\.\d+(?:E[+-]\d+)?)
                            |
                            (?P<string>[^;\r\n]+?)
                        )?
                    )
                )
            )
            (?P<right_space>[\t\x20]*)
            (?:
                (?P<comment_seperator>;)
                (?P<comment_space>[\t\x20]*)
                (?P<comment>[^\r\n]+?)?
            )?
        )
        |
        (?P<error>
            [^\r\n]+?
        )
    )
    (?=\r\n|\r|\n|$)(?P<crlf>\r\n|\r|\n)?
    |
    (?<=\r\n|\r|\n)(?P<emptyline>\r\n|\r|\n)
    /xsi';

    if(!@is_int(preg_match_all($regexp, $data, $tokens, PREG_SET_ORDER)))
    {
        // parse error
    }
    else
    {
        foreach($tokens as $i => $token)
        {
            if(!$verbose)
            {
                unset($tokens[$i]['line']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['crlf']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['setting']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['equal_sign']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['val']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['left_space']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['left_equal_space']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['right_equal_space']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['right_space']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['comment_seperator']);
                unset($tokens[$i]['comment_space']);
            };

            foreach($token as $key => $val)
            {
                if(!@is_string($key) || !@strlen($val))
                {
                    unset($tokens[$i][$key]);
                };
            };
        };

        return($tokens);
    };
};

$verbose = FALSE;

print_r(get_tokens_from_ini_lexer($myini, $verbose));

?>
pd at frozen-bits dot de 19-Aug-2010 02:21
I use the following syntax to secure my config.ini.php file:

;<?php
;die(); // For further security
;/*

[category]
name="value"

;*/

;?>

Works like a charm and is both: A valid PHP File and a valid ini-File ;)
geggert at web dot de 23-Jul-2010 06:44
As quick an dirty way to gain the security of that *.ini.php-files you may alternatively use this as first line:

; <?php exit(); __halt_compiler();
// the closing tag is just to end up the syntax highlighting ...
// leave these comments and the closing tag away in your ini.php-file!
?>

You can use parse_ini_file() in the normal way and any criminal stranger will only see a ";" then ...
forcestudios.square7.de 15-Jun-2010 12:46
Tip: you cannot parse an ini-file with this safer structure:

<?php exit();
$data="

[section_one]
test = abc

[section_two]
and_so=on

";
?>

(strangers are not able to see this file because php closed the file previously by executing exit();)

But here is a very simple code to prevent this:
<?php

    class iniParser{
       
        private $IniFile;
        private $SafeFile;
        private $ParseClasses;
       
        public $KeysWithoutSections;
        public $KeysWithSections;
       
       
        public function __construct($FileName, $SafeFile = false){
           
            $this->IniFile = $FileName;
            $this->SafeFile = $SafeFile;
           
        }
       
        public function parseIni($SaveInClass = true){
           
            $FileHandle = file($this->IniFile);
           
            $CountLines = count($FileHandle);
            $Counter = 0;
           
            $NKeys = "";
           
            if ( $this->SafeFile ){
               
                $Counter += 2;
                $CountLines -= 2;
            }
           
            while ( $Counter < $CountLines ){
               
                $CurLine = $FileHandle[$Counter];
               
                $CurLineSplit = explode("=", $CurLine);
               
                $CurKey = $CurLineSplit[0];
                $CurValue = $CurLineSplit[1];
                if( $SaveInClass )
                    $this->Keys[trim($CurKey)] = trim($CurValue);
                   
                else
                    $NKeys[trim($CurKey)] = trim($CurValue);
               
                $Counter++;
            }
           
            if( $SaveInClass )
                return $this->KeysWithoutSections;
           
            else
                return $NKeys;
           
        }
       
        public function parseIniWithSections($SaveInClass = true){
       
            $FileHandle = file($this->IniFile);
           
            $CountLines = count($FileHandle);
            $Counter = 0;
           
            $LastSection = "";
           
            $NKeys = "";
           
            if ( $this->SafeFile ){
           
                $CountLines -= 2;
                $Counter += 2;
           
            }
           
            while ( $Counter < $CountLines ){
           
                $CurLine = $FileHandle[$Counter];
               
                if ( strpos($CurLine, "[") == 1 ){
               
                    $LastSection = $CurLine;
                    continue;
               
                }
               
                $Explosion = explode("=", $CurLine);
               
                $CurKey = trim($Explosion[0]);
                $CurValue = trim($Explosion[1]);
               
                if ( $SaveInClass )
                    $this->KeysWithSections[$LastSection][$CurKey] = $CurValue;
                   
                else
                    $NKeys[$LastSection][$CurKey] = $CurValue;
               
               
            }
           
            if ( $SaveInClass )
                return $this->KeysWithSections;
               
            else
                return $NKeys;
       
        }
       
    };

?>

To use this class just try this script here:

<?php

include "iniparser.php" // class above

$SafeIniParser = new iniParser("test.php", true); // file: test.php, safefile.

$Keys = $SafeIniParser->parseIniWithSections(false);

echo $Keys["section_one"]["test"];

?>

i used this file:
<?php exit();
$data="

[section_one]
test = abc

[section_two]
and_so=on

";
?>
Mauro Gabriel Titimoli 19-Jan-2010 03:14
I have recently finished an implementacion of a multiple configuration type class.

<?php
class Configuration {
    const AUTO = 0;
    const JSON = 2;
    const PHP_INI = 4;
    const XML = 16;

    static private $CONF_EXT_RELATION = array(
        'json' => 2, // JSON
        'ini' => 4,  // PHP_INI
        'xml' => 16  // XML
    );

    static private $instances;

    private $data;

    static public function objectToArray($obj) {
        $arr = (is_object($obj))?
            get_object_vars($obj) :
            $obj;

        foreach ($arr as $key => $val) {
            $arr[$key] = ((is_array($val)) || (is_object($val)))?
                self::objectToArray($val) :
                $val;
        }

        return $arr;
    }

    private function __construct($file, $type = Configuration::AUTO) {
        if ($type == self::AUTO) {
            $type = self::$CONF_EXT_RELATION[pathinfo($file, PATHINFO_EXTENSION)];
        }

        switch($type) {
            case self::JSON:
                $this->data = json_decode(file_get_contents($file), true);
                break;

            case self::PHP_INI:
                $this->data = parse_ini_file($file, true);
                break;

            case self::XML:
                $this->data = self::objectToArray(simplexml_load_file($file));
                break;
        }
    }

    static public function & getInstance($file, $type = Configuration::AUTO) {
        if(! isset(self::$instances[$file])) {
            self::$instances[$file] = new Configuration($file, $type);
        }

        return self::$instances[$file];
    }

    public function __get($section) {
        if ((is_array($this->data)) &&
                (array_key_exists($section, $this->data))) {
            return $this->data[$section];
        }
    }

    public function getAvailableSections() {
        return array_keys($this->data);
    }
}

$configuration = Configuration::getInstance(/*configuration filename*/);
foreach($configuration->getAvailableSections() as $pos => $sectionName) {
    var_dump($sectionName);
    var_dump($configuration->{$sectionName});
}
?>
freamer89 at gmail dot com 03-Nov-2009 08:38
Didn`t find the one,which suits my needs,so Here`s a small and easy write ini from array function... Maybe you`ll find it handy.
<?php
function write_php_ini($array, $file)
{
    $res = array();
    foreach($array as $key => $val)
    {
        if(is_array($val))
        {
            $res[] = "[$key]";
            foreach($val as $skey => $sval) $res[] = "$skey = ".(is_numeric($sval) ? $sval : '"'.$sval.'"');
        }
        else $res[] = "$key = ".(is_numeric($val) ? $val : '"'.$val.'"');
    }
    safefilerewrite($file, implode("\r\n", $res));
}
//////
function safefilerewrite($fileName, $dataToSave)
{    if ($fp = fopen($fileName, 'w'))
    {
        $startTime = microtime();
        do
        {            $canWrite = flock($fp, LOCK_EX);
           // If lock not obtained sleep for 0 - 100 milliseconds, to avoid collision and CPU load
           if(!$canWrite) usleep(round(rand(0, 100)*1000));
        } while ((!$canWrite)and((microtime()-$startTime) < 1000));

        //file was locked so now we can store information
        if ($canWrite)
        {            fwrite($fp, $dataToSave);
            flock($fp, LOCK_UN);
        }
        fclose($fp);
    }

}
?>
flacroix897 at hotmail dot com 25-Aug-2009 10:23
Make sure you use double-quotes when using spaces in a value as of 5.3.

Consider the following INI file:

   key = tested on php5

with the following code:

   $res = parse_ini_file('myini.ini');
   var_dump($res);

In 5.2, this will give you:

   array(1) {
     ["key"]=>
     string(14) "tested on php5"
   }

In 5.3, this will give you:

   Warning: syntax error, unexpected BOOL_TRUE in Unknown on line 1 in test.php on line 3
   bool(false)

This is because the 'on' word is a reserved keyword for boolean TRUE. The documentation now states that a string that contains any non-alphanumeric character should be enclosed in double-quotes (a space is not alphanumeric).
jeremygiberson at gmail dot com 30-Apr-2009 04:01
Here is a quick parse_ini_file wrapper to add extend support to save typing and redundancy.
<?php
    /**
     * Parses INI file adding extends functionality via ":base" postfix on namespace.
     *
     * @param string $filename
     * @return array
     */
    function parse_ini_file_extended($filename) {
        $p_ini = parse_ini_file($filename, true);
        $config = array();
        foreach($p_ini as $namespace => $properties){
            list($name, $extends) = explode(':', $namespace);
            $name = trim($name);
            $extends = trim($extends);
            // create namespace if necessary
            if(!isset($config[$name])) $config[$name] = array();
            // inherit base namespace
            if(isset($p_ini[$extends])){
                foreach($p_ini[$extends] as $prop => $val)
                    $config[$name][$prop] = $val;
            }
            // overwrite / set current namespace values
            foreach($properties as $prop => $val)
            $config[$name][$prop] = $val;
        }
        return $config;
    }
?>

Treats this ini:
<?php
/*
[base]
host=localhost
user=testuser
pass=testpass
database=default

[users:base]
database=users

[archive : base]
database=archive
*/
?>
As if it were like this:
<?php
/*
[base]
host=localhost
user=testuser
pass=testpass
database=default

[users:base]
host=localhost
user=testuser
pass=testpass
database=users

[archive : base]
host=localhost
user=testuser
pass=testpass
database=archive
*/
?>
pBakhuis at googles mail dot com (gmail) 12-Dec-2008 08:42
To those who were like me looking if this could be used to create an array out of commandline output I offer you the function below (I used it to parse mplayer output).

If you want it behave exactly the same as parse_ini_file you'll obviously have to add some code to feed the different sections to this one. Hope it's of help to someone!

<?php
/**
 * The return is very similar to that of parse_ini_file, but this works off files
 *
 * Below is an example of what it does, where the first
 * value is what you'd normally want to do, and the second and third things that might
 * happen and in case it does it's good to know what is going on.
 *
 * $anArray = array( 'default=theValue', 'setting=', 'something=value=value' );
 * explodeExplode( '=', $anArray );
 *
 * the return will be
 * array( 'default' => 'theValue', 'setting' => '', 'something' => 'value=value' );
 *
 * So the oddities here are, text after the second $string occurence dissapearing
 * and empty values resulting in an empty string.
 *
 * @return $returnArray array array( 'setting' => 'value' )
 * @param $string Object
 * @param $array Object
 */
function explodeExplode( $string, $array )
{
    $returnArray = array();
   
    foreach( $array as $arrayValue )
    {
        $tmpArray = explode( $string, $arrayValue );
       
        if( count( $tmpArray ) == 1 )
        {
            $returnArray[$tmpArray[0]] = '';
        }
        else if( count( $tmpArray ) == 2 )
        {
            $returnArray[$tmpArray[0]] = $tmpArray[1];
        }
        else if( count( $tmpArray ) > 2 )
        {
            $implodeBack = array();
            $firstLoop      = true;
            foreach( $tmpArray as $tmpValue )
            {
                if( $firstLoop )
                {
                    $firstLoop = false;
                }
                else
                {
                    $implodeBack[] = $tmpValue;
                }
            }
            print_r( $implodeBack );
            $returnArray[$tmpArray[0]] = implode( '=', $implodeBack );
        }
    }
   
    return $returnArray;
}
?>
Bill Brown - macnimble.com 16-Oct-2008 07:47
Working on a project for a client recently, I needed a way to set a default configuration INI file, but also wanted to allow the client to override the settings through the use of a custom INI file.

I thought array_merge or array_merge_recursive would do the trick for me, but it fails to override settings in the way that I wanted. I wrote my own function to do what I wanted. It's nothing spectacular, but thought I'd post it here in case it saved someone else some time.

<?php
function ini_merge ($config_ini, $custom_ini) {
  foreach ($custom_ini AS $k => $v):
    if (is_array($v)):
      $config_ini[$k] = ini_merge($config_ini[$k], $custom_ini[$k]);
    else:
      $config_ini[$k] = $v;
    endif;
  endforeach;
  return $config_ini;
};
$CONFIG_INI = parse_ini_file('../config.ini', TRUE);
$CUSTOM_INI = parse_ini_file('ini/custom.ini', TRUE);
$INI = ini_merge($CONFIG_INI, $CUSTOM_INI);
?>

This allowed me to put the default INI file above the web root with information that requires extra security (database connection info, etc.) and a writable INI file within the structure of the site without affecting the default settings of the default config.ini file.

Anyway, hope it helps.
juampii_4 at hotmail dot com 09-Jul-2008 08:24
class.parseini.php
<?php
##By juan pablo tosso
class Parser
{

    public function printini($file, $sector, $var)
    {
        $file=$file.".ini";
        $is=array();
        $is= parse_ini_file($file, true);
        trim($is);
        if(is_array($is) && file_exists($file))
        {
            return $is[$sector][$var];
        }else{
            return "error";
        }
       
    }
   
   
}

?>

Ini.ini:
[test]
foo=bar

[test2]
foo1=bar1
foo2=bar2
foo bar=something else

just in another file write:

include("class.parseini.php");
$new= new Parser();
echo $new->printini("ini", "test2", "foo1");
goulven.ch AT gmail DOT com 29-Oct-2007 06:33
Warning: parse_ini_files cannot cope with values containing the equal sign (=).

The following function supports sections, comments, arrays, and key-value pairs outside of any section.
Beware that similar keys will overwrite one another (unless in different sections).

<?php
function parse_ini ( $filepath ) {
    $ini = file( $filepath );
    if ( count( $ini ) == 0 ) { return array(); }
    $sections = array();
    $values = array();
    $globals = array();
    $i = 0;
    foreach( $ini as $line ){
        $line = trim( $line );
        // Comments
        if ( $line == '' || $line{0} == ';' ) { continue; }
        // Sections
        if ( $line{0} == '[' ) {
            $sections[] = substr( $line, 1, -1 );
            $i++;
            continue;
        }
        // Key-value pair
        list( $key, $value ) = explode( '=', $line, 2 );
        $key = trim( $key );
        $value = trim( $value );
        if ( $i == 0 ) {
            // Array values
            if ( substr( $line, -1, 2 ) == '[]' ) {
                $globals[ $key ][] = $value;
            } else {
                $globals[ $key ] = $value;
            }
        } else {
            // Array values
            if ( substr( $line, -1, 2 ) == '[]' ) {
                $values[ $i - 1 ][ $key ][] = $value;
            } else {
                $values[ $i - 1 ][ $key ] = $value;
            }
        }
    }
    for( $j=0; $j<$i; $j++ ) {
        $result[ $sections[ $j ] ] = $values[ $j ];
    }
    return $result + $globals;
}
?>

Example usage:
<?php
$stores = parse_ini('stores.ini');
print_r( $stores );
?>

An example ini file:
<?php
/*
;Commented line start with ';'
global_value1 = a string value
global_value1 = another string value

; empty lines are discarded
[Section1]
key = value
; whitespace around keys and values is discarded too
otherkey=other value
otherkey=yet another value
; this key-value pair will overwrite the former.
*/
?>
www.onphp5.com 24-Oct-2007 01:26
Looks like in PHP 5.3.0 special characters like \n are extrapolated into real newlines. Gotta use \\n.
arnapou 03-Oct-2007 06:51
I didn't find a simple ini class so I wrote that class to read and write ini files.
I hope it could help you.

Read file : $ini = INI::read('myfile.ini');
Write file : INI::write('myfile.ini', $ini);

Features :
- support [] syntax for arrays
- support . in keys like bar.foo.something = value
- true and false string are automatically converted in booleans
- integers strings are automatically converted in integers
- keys are sorted when writing
- constants are replaced but they should be written in the ini file between braces : {MYCONSTANT}

<?php

class INI {
    /**
     *  WRITE
     */
    static function write($filename, $ini) {
        $string = '';
        foreach(array_keys($ini) as $key) {
            $string .= '['.$key."]\n";
            $string .= INI::write_get_string($ini[$key], '')."\n";
        }
        file_put_contents($filename, $string);
    }
    /**
     *  write get string
     */
    static function write_get_string(& $ini, $prefix) {
        $string = '';
        ksort($ini);
        foreach($ini as $key => $val) {
            if (is_array($val)) {
                $string .= INI::write_get_string($ini[$key], $prefix.$key.'.');
            } else {
                $string .= $prefix.$key.' = '.str_replace("\n", "\\\n", INI::set_value($val))."\n";
            }
        }
        return $string;
    }
    /**
     *  manage keys
     */
    static function set_value($val) {
        if ($val === true) { return 'true'; }
        else if ($val === false) { return 'false'; }
        return $val;
    }
    /**
     *  READ
     */
    static function read($filename) {
        $ini = array();
        $lines = file($filename);
        $section = 'default';
        $multi = '';
        foreach($lines as $line) {
            if (substr($line, 0, 1) !== ';') {
                $line = str_replace("\r", "", str_replace("\n", "", $line));
                if (preg_match('/^\[(.*)\]/', $line, $m)) {
                    $section = $m[1];
                } else if ($multi === '' && preg_match('/^([a-z0-9_.\[\]-]+)\s*=\s*(.*)$/i', $line, $m)) {
                    $key = $m[1];
                    $val = $m[2];
                    if (substr($val, -1) !== "\\") {
                        $val = trim($val);
                        INI::manage_keys($ini[$section], $key, $val);
                        $multi = '';
                    } else {
                        $multi = substr($val, 0, -1)."\n";
                    }
                } else if ($multi !== '') {
                    if (substr($line, -1) === "\\") {
                        $multi .= substr($line, 0, -1)."\n";
                    } else {
                        INI::manage_keys($ini[$section], $key, $multi.$line);
                        $multi = '';
                    }
                }
            }
        }
       
        $buf = get_defined_constants(true);
        $consts = array();
        foreach($buf['user'] as $key => $val) {
            $consts['{'.$key.'}'] = $val;
        }
        array_walk_recursive($ini, array('INI', 'replace_consts'), $consts);
        return $ini;
    }
    /**
     *  manage keys
     */
    static function get_value($val) {
        if (preg_match('/^-?[0-9]$/i', $val)) { return intval($val); }
        else if (strtolower($val) === 'true') { return true; }
        else if (strtolower($val) === 'false') { return false; }
        else if (preg_match('/^"(.*)"$/i', $val, $m)) { return $m[1]; }
        else if (preg_match('/^\'(.*)\'$/i', $val, $m)) { return $m[1]; }
        return $val;
    }
    /**
     *  manage keys
     */
    static function get_key($val) {
        if (preg_match('/^[0-9]$/i', $val)) { return intval($val); }
        return $val;
    }
    /**
     *  manage keys
     */
    static function manage_keys(& $ini, $key, $val) {
        if (preg_match('/^([a-z0-9_-]+)\.(.*)$/i', $key, $m)) {
            INI::manage_keys($ini[$m[1]], $m[2], $val);
        } else if (preg_match('/^([a-z0-9_-]+)\[(.*)\]$/i', $key, $m)) {
            if ($m[2] !== '') {
                $ini[$m[1]][INI::get_key($m[2])] = INI::get_value($val);
            } else {
                $ini[$m[1]][] = INI::get_value($val);
            }
        } else {
            $ini[INI::get_key($key)] = INI::get_value($val);
        }
    }
    /**
     *  replace utility
     */
    static function replace_consts(& $item, $key, $consts) {
        if (is_string($item)) {
            $item = strtr($item, $consts);
        }
    }
}

?>
yarco dot w at gmail dot com 29-Jun-2007 01:46
parse_ini_file can't deal with const which cancate a string. For example, if test.ini file is

classPath = ROOT/lib

If you:
<?php
define('ROOT', dirname(__FILE__));

$buf = parse_ini_file('test.ini');
?>

const ROOT would't be parsed.

But my version could work find.

<?php
// array parse_ini_file ( string $filename [, bool $process_sections] )
function parse_ini($filename, $process_sections = false)
{
  function replace_process(& $item, $key, $consts)
  {
    $item = str_replace(array_keys($consts), array_values($consts), $item);
  }

  $buf = get_defined_constants(true); // PHP version > 5.0
  $consts = $buf['user'];
  $ini = parse_ini_file($filename, $process_sections);

  array_walk_recursive($ini, 'replace_process', $consts);
  return $ini;
}

define('ROOT', '/test');
print_r(parse_ini(dirname(__FILE__).'/test.ini'));

?>
Adam 25-Jun-2007 10:45
Arrays can be defined in the ini file by adding '[]' at the end of a key name. For example:

value1 = 17
value2 = 13

value3[] = a
value3[] = b
value3[] = c

Will return:
Array
(
    [value1] => 17
    [value2] => 13
    [value3] => Array
        (
            [0] => a
            [1] => b
            [2] => c
        )
)
mark at hostcobalt dot com 27-Mar-2007 12:39
or to prevent the file being viewed you can just use a .htaccess file and add this line

<files *.ini>
order deny,allow
deny from all
</files>

i use a similar thing to prevent my config files being accessed
Justin Hall 31-Oct-2006 11:46
This is a simple (but slightly hackish) way of avoiding the character limitations (in values):

<?php
define('QUOTE', '"');
$test = parse_ini_file('test.ini');

echo "<pre>";
print_r($test);
?>

contents of test.ini:

park yesterday = "I (walked) | {to} " QUOTE"the"QUOTE " park yesterday & saw ~three~ dogs!"

output:

<?php
Array
(
    [park yesterday] => I (walked) | {to} "the" park yesterday & saw ~three~ dogs!
)
?>
nbraczek at bsds dot de 15-Feb-2006 04:29
Beside the mentioned reserved words 'null', 'yes', 'no', 'true', and 'false', also 'none' seems to be a reserved word. Parsing an ini file stops at a key named 'none'.
mauder[remove] at [remove]gmail[remove] dot com 14-Feb-2006 04:31
Be careful if you put any .ini file in your readable directories, if somebody would know the name (e.g. if your application is widely used), the webserver might return it as plain text.

For example : your database username and password could be exposed, if it is stored in that file !

To prevent this from happening :
- give the file .php extension :  "my.ini.php"
- put ';<?php' (without quotes and without X between X and php) on first line
- put ';?>' on last line

The server would run the ini file as being PHP-code, but will do nothing due to bad syntax, preventing the content from being exosed.
On the other hand, it is still a valid .ini file...

HTH !
dimk at pisem dot net 13-Jul-2005 09:33
Class to access ini values at format "section_name.property", for example $myconf->get("system.name") returns a property "name" in section "system":

<?php
class Settings {

var $properties = array();

    function Settings() {
        $this->properties = parse_ini_file(_SETTINGS_FILE, true);
    }

    function get($name) {
        if(strpos($name, ".")) {
            list($section_name, $property) = explode(".", $name);
            $section =& $this->properties[$section_name];
            $name = $property;
        } else {
            $section =& $properties;
        }

        if(is_array($section) && isset($section[$name])) {
            return $section[$name];
        }
        return false;
    }

}
?>
waikeatNOSPAM at archerlogic dot com 09-Nov-2003 06:37
I found that this function will not work on remote files.
I tried

$someArray = parse_ini_file("http://www.example.com/setting.ini");

and it reports

Cannot Open 'http://www.example.com/setting.ini' for reading ...
rus dot grafx at usa dot net 10-Oct-2003 06:15
Instead of using parse_ini_file() function I would recommend to use PEAR's Config package which is MUCH more flexible (assuming that you don't mind using PEAR and OOP). Have a closer look at http://pear.php.net/package/Config
dshearin at excite dot com 19-Jun-2003 08:47
I found another pitfall to watch out for. The key (to the left of the equal sign) can't be the same as one of the predefined values, like yes, no, on, off, etc. I was working on a script that read in an ini file that matched the country codes of top level domains to the full name of the country. I kept getting a parse error everytime it got to the entry for Norway ("no"). I fixed the problem by sticking a dot in front of each of the country codes.
10-May-2003 04:05
If your configuration file holds any sensitive information (such as database login details), remember NOT to place it within your document root folder! A common mistake is to replace config.inc.php files, which are formatted in PHP:
<?php
$database['host'] = 'localhost';
// etc...
?>

With config.ini files which are written in plain text:
[database]
host = localhost

The file config.ini can be read by anyone who knows where it's located, if it's under your document root folder. Remember to place it above!
kieran dot huggins at rogers dot com 07-Jan-2003 10:24
Just a quick note for all those running into trouble escaping double quotes:

I got around this by "base64_encode()"-ing my content on the way in to the ini file, and "base64_decode()"-ing on the way out.

Because base64 uses the "=" sign, you will have to encapsulate the entire value in double quotes so the line looks like this:

    varname = "TmlhZ2FyYSBGYWxscywgT04="

When base64'd, your strings will retain all \n, \t...etc...  URL's retain everything perfectly :-)

I hope some of you find this useful!

Cheers, Kieran
fbeyer at clickhand dot de 29-Nov-2002 09:37
Besides the features mentioned above (eg. core constants, booleans), you can also access user-defined constants in ini files! This is handy if you want to create a bit-field, for example:

<?php
// Define pizza toppings
define('PIZZA_HAM',           1);
define('PIZZA_PINEAPPLE',     2);
define('PIZZA_ONION',         4);
define('PIZZA_MOZARELLA',     8);
define('PIZZA_GARLIC',        16);

// Read predefined pizzas
$pizzas = parse_ini_file('pizzas.ini');

if ($pizzas[$user_pizza] & PIZZA_ONION) {
    // Add onions to the pizza
}
?>

[pizzas]

; Define pizzas
hawaii = PIZZA_HAM | PIZZA_PINEAPPLE
stinky = PIZZA_ONION | PIZZA_GARLIC
bob at kludgebox dot com 26-Mar-2002 10:27
And for the extra-paranoid like myself, add a rule into your httpd.conf file so that *.ini (or *.inc) in my case can't be sent to a browser:

<Files *.inc> 
    Order deny,allow
    Deny from all
</Files>