QSettings - where is the location of the ini file?

Question

I'm using QSettings to store some data as ini file in Windows. I want to see the ini file, but I don't know what is the location of the ini file.

This is my code:

QSettings *set = new QSettings(QSettings::IniFormat, QSettings::UserScope, "bbb", "aaa");
set->setValue("size", size());
set->setValue("pos", pos());

Where do I have to look? Or may be I miss the code which write it to the file? When does the QSettings write its values?

Answer 1

To print out the exact location of your settings file use method fileName method of QSettings class.

QSettings settings("folderName", "fileName");
qDebug() << settings.fileName();

Console output looks then like:

/home/user/.config/folderName/fileName.conf

Answer 2

I think you'll find everything you're looking for here : http://doc.qt.io/archives/qt-4.7/qsettings.html

It's plateform specific, see under :

Platform-Specific Notes Locations Where Application Settings Are Stored

You can store Settings in files as well :

QSettings settings("/home/petra/misc/myapp.ini",
                QSettings::IniFormat);

Answer 3

QSettings save location changes to the QSettings.Scope enum. QSettings save to the Local scope by default. On Linux, I found my local settings in:

~/.config/CompanyName/ApplicationName.conf

Answer 4

If you create a QSettings without giving any specific path, the ini file will be located in the application path.

QSettings Settings("myapp.ini", QSettings::IniFormat);
Settings.setValue("Test", "data");

//...
qDebug() << QApplication::applicationDirPath();

Be careful though : the application path might change : for instance, if you are developping your app with Qt Creator, in debug mode, the application path is in the /debug subfolder.

If you are running it in release mode, the application path is in the /release subfolder.

And when your application is deployed, by default, the application path is in the same folder as the executable (at least for Windows).

Answer 5

Check out the QStandardPaths class, it links to multiple standard paths including configuration on all supported platforms. https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qstandardpaths.html

QT >= 5.5:

QString path = QStandardPaths::writableLocation(QStandardPaths::AppConfigLocation);

QT < 5.5:

QString path = QStandardPaths::writableLocation(QStandardPaths::ConfigLocation);

There are paths for config files in shared config directories, application data directories, and more.

Answer 6

On Mac OSX, I found the file under at ~/Library/Preferences

The QSettings class provides persistent platform-independent application settings. Users normally expect an application to remember its settings (window sizes and positions, options, etc.) across sessions. This information is often stored in the system registry on Windows, and in XML preferences files on Mac OS X. On Unix systems, in the absence of a standard, many applications (including the KDE applications) use INI text files

http://doc.qt.io/archives/qt-4.7/qsettings.html

Answer 7

in windows path is like below: C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Roaming\bbb