INIformatted

INIformatted describes data stored in INI format, a simple and widely used configuration file standard. INIformatted files are plain text and designed to be easy for humans to read and edit. The format has historically been associated with Windows applications, but it remains popular in cross-platform projects and open-source tools. Because it is lightweight and forgiving, INIformatted data is commonly used for application settings, feature flags, and environment overrides.

Structure: an INIformatted file is divided into sections, each introduced by a name in square brackets, like [Network]. Inside a section are key=value pairs that define configuration properties. Some lines may be comments, typically starting with a semicolon or a hash. Many implementations trim whitespace around keys and values, and some support continuations or escaping, but these features vary by parser.

Data types: values are usually strings. Some parsers provide conveniences to interpret values as integers, booleans, or lists, but there is no universal typing standard in INIformatted files.

Interoperability and limitations: Because there is no single formal standard for INI, behavior can differ across platforms and libraries. This can affect case sensitivity, handling of duplicate keys, and multiline values. INIformatted files are best suited for simple configurations but are less expressive than formats such as JSON, YAML, or TOML.

Usage and ecosystem: Many programming languages offer libraries to read and write INIformatted data, including Python's configparser and numerous third‑party parsers. Windows uses INI‑esque files in some legacy software, and numerous applications provide templates in INI format to ease manual edits.