Reading/writing an INI file

Question

Is there any class in the .NET framework that can read/write standard .ini files:

[Section]
=
...

Delphi has th

Answer 1

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.

/// 

/// Loads .ini file into dictionary.
/// 
public static Dictionary> loadIni(String file)
{
    Dictionary> d = new Dictionary>();

    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 lines = new Dictionary();

        // 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;
}