Python Library Reference

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5.15 ConfigParser -- Configuration file parser

This module defines the class ConfigParser. The ConfigParser class implements a basic configuration file parser language which provides a structure similar to what you would find on Microsoft Windows INI files. You can use this to write Python programs which can be customized by end users easily.

The configuration file consists of sections, led by a "[section]" header and followed by "name: value" entries, with continuations in the style of RFC 822; "name=value" is also accepted. Note that leading whitespace is removed from values. The optional values can contain format strings which refer to other values in the same section, or values in a special DEFAULT section. Additional defaults can be provided on initialization and retrieval. Lines beginning with "#" or ";" are ignored and may be used to provide comments.

For example:

[My Section]
foodir: %(dir)s/whatever
dir=frob

would resolve the "%(dir)s" to the value of "dir" ("frob" in this case). All reference expansions are done on demand.

Default values can be specified by passing them into the ConfigParser constructor as a dictionary. Additional defaults may be passed into the get() method which will override all others.

class RawConfigParser(

[defaults])

The basic configuration object. When defaults is given, it is initialized into the dictionary of intrinsic defaults. This class does not support the magical interpolation behavior. New in version 2.3.

class ConfigParser(

[defaults])

Derived class of RawConfigParser that implements the magical interpolation feature and adds optional arguments to the get() and items() methods. The values in defaults must be appropriate for the "%()s" string interpolation. Note that __name__ is an intrinsic default; its value is the section name, and will override any value provided in defaults.

class SafeConfigParser(

[defaults])

Derived class of ConfigParser that implements a more-sane variant of the magical interpolation feature. This implementation is more predictable as well. New applications should prefer this version if they don't need to be compatible with older versions of Python. New in version 2.3.

exception NoSectionError

Exception raised when a specified section is not found.

exception DuplicateSectionError

Exception raised when multiple sections with the same name are found, or if add_section() is called with the name of a section that is already present.

exception NoOptionError

Exception raised when a specified option is not found in the specified section.

exception InterpolationError

Base class for exceptions raised when problems occur performing string interpolation.

exception InterpolationDepthError

Exception raised when string interpolation cannot be completed because the number of iterations exceeds MAX_INTERPOLATION_DEPTH. Subclass of InterpolationError.

exception InterpolationMissingOptionError

Exception raised when an option referenced from a value does not exist. Subclass of InterpolationError. New in version 2.3.

exception InterpolationSyntaxError

Exception raised when the source text into which substitutions are made does not conform to the required syntax. Subclass of InterpolationError. New in version 2.3.

exception MissingSectionHeaderError

Exception raised when attempting to parse a file which has no section headers.

exception ParsingError

Exception raised when errors occur attempting to parse a file.

MAX_INTERPOLATION_DEPTH

The maximum depth for recursive interpolation for get() when the raw parameter is false. This is relevant only for the ConfigParser class.

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Python Library Reference

Previous: 5.14.2 Examples Up: 5. Miscellaneous Services Next: 5.15.1 RawConfigParser Objects

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Release 2.3.3, documentation updated on December 19, 2003.