INIstyle

INIstyle is a term used in software development to describe a set of conventions for formatting and organizing configuration files written in the INI format. It emphasizes readability, consistency, and portability across parsers that support the INI syntax.

Origin and scope: INI is a simple, human-readable configuration format that uses sections, keys, and values. INIstyle is not a formal standard; rather, it describes practical conventions such as how sections are ordered, how keys are named, alignment, and comments. It is used by developers to facilitate version control diffs and collaborative editing.

Format details: INI-style files contain sections enclosed in square brackets, with key=value lines. Whitespace around the delimiter is typically trimmed; keys are often case-sensitive or case-insensitive depending on the parser. Comments usually begin with semicolons or hash marks and can appear on their own lines or at the end of a line. Multiline values and quoting rules vary by parser.

Portability and variants: Because INI support differs among libraries, INIstyle practice often includes documenting parser expectations, avoiding unsupported features, and keeping duplicates to a minimum. Indentation is typically for readability, not syntax.

See also: INI file, configuration file, parser.