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<div class="refnamediv">
<h1 class="refname">parse_ini_file</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">parse_ini_file</span> — <span class="dc-title">Parse a configuration file</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.parse-ini-file-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">array</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>parse_ini_file</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">string</span> <code class="parameter">$filename</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">bool</span> <code class="parameter">$process_sections</code><span class="initializer"> = false</span></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">int</span> <code class="parameter">$scanner_mode</code><span class="initializer"> = INI_SCANNER_NORMAL</span></span>
]] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
<span class="function"><strong>parse_ini_file()</strong></span> loads in the
ini file specified in <em><code class="parameter">filename</code></em>,
and returns the settings in it in an associative array.
</p>
<p class="para">
The structure of the ini file is the same as the <var class="filename">php.ini</var>'s.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.parse-ini-file-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">filename</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
The filename of the ini file being parsed.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">process_sections</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
By setting the <em><code class="parameter">process_sections</code></em>
parameter to <strong><code>TRUE</code></strong>, you get a multidimensional array, with
the section names and settings included. The default
for <em><code class="parameter">process_sections</code></em> is <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">scanner_mode</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
Can either be <strong><code>INI_SCANNER_NORMAL</code></strong> (default) or
<strong><code>INI_SCANNER_RAW</code></strong>. If <strong><code>INI_SCANNER_RAW</code></strong>
is supplied, then option values will not be parsed.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.parse-ini-file-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
The settings are returned as an associative <span class="type"><a href="language.types.array.html" class="type array">array</a></span> on success,
and <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> on failure.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 changelog" id="refsect1-function.parse-ini-file-changelog">
<h3 class="title">Changelog</h3>
<p class="para">
<table class="doctable informaltable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr>
<td>5.3.0</td>
<td>
Added optional <em><code class="parameter">scanner_mode</code></em> parameter.
Single quotes may now be used around variable assignments.
Hash marks (<em>#</em>) may no longer be used as comments
and will throw a deprecation warning if used.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5.2.7</td>
<td>
On syntax error this function will return <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> rather than an empty
array.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5.2.4</td>
<td>
Keys and section names consisting of numbers are now evaluated as PHP
<a href="language.types.integer.html" class="link">integers</a> thus numbers
starting by 0 are evaluated as octals and numbers starting by 0x are
evaluated as hexadecimals.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5.0.0</td>
<td>
Values enclosed in double quotes can contain new lines.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4.2.1</td>
<td>
This function is now affected by <a href="ini.sect.safe-mode.html#ini.safe-mode" class="link">safe mode</a>
and <a href="ini.core.html#ini.open-basedir" class="link">open_basedir</a>.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.parse-ini-file-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-2414">
<p><strong>Example #1 Contents of <var class="filename">sample.ini</var></strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
; This is a sample configuration file
; Comments start with ';', as in php.ini
[first_section]
one = 1
five = 5
animal = BIRD
[second_section]
path = "/usr/local/bin"
URL = "http://www.example.com/~username"
[third_section]
phpversion[] = "5.0"
phpversion[] = "5.1"
phpversion[] = "5.2"
phpversion[] = "5.3"
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="example" id="example-2415">
<p><strong>Example #2 <span class="function"><strong>parse_ini_file()</strong></span> example</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents"><p>
<a href="language.constants.html" class="link">Constants</a> may also be parsed
in the ini file so if you define a constant as an ini value before
running <span class="function"><strong>parse_ini_file()</strong></span>, it will be integrated into
the results. Only ini values are evaluated. For example:
</p></div>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /><br />define</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'BIRD'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'Dodo bird'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Parse without sections<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ini_array </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">parse_ini_file</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"sample.ini"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">print_r</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ini_array</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Parse with sections<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ini_array </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">parse_ini_file</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"sample.ini"</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">true</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">print_r</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ini_array</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
<div class="example-contents"><p>The above example will output
something similar to:</p></div>
<div class="example-contents screen">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
Array
(
[one] => 1
[five] => 5
[animal] => Dodo bird
[path] => /usr/local/bin
[URL] => http://www.example.com/~username
[phpversion] => Array
(
[0] => 5.0
[1] => 5.1
[2] => 5.2
[3] => 5.3
)
)
Array
(
[first_section] => Array
(
[one] => 1
[five] => 5
[animal] => Dodo bird
)
[second_section] => Array
(
[path] => /usr/local/bin
[URL] => http://www.example.com/~username
)
[third_section] => Array
(
[phpversion] => Array
(
[0] => 5.0
[1] => 5.1
[2] => 5.2
[3] => 5.3
)
)
)
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-2416">
<p><strong>Example #3 <span class="function"><strong>parse_ini_file()</strong></span> parsing a php.ini file</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// A simple function used for comparing the results below<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">function </span><span style="color: #0000BB">yesno</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$expression</span><span style="color: #007700">)<br />{<br /> return(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$expression </span><span style="color: #007700">? </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'Yes' </span><span style="color: #007700">: </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'No'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br />}<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Get the path to php.ini using the php_ini_loaded_file() <br />// function available as of PHP 5.2.4<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ini_path </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">php_ini_loaded_file</span><span style="color: #007700">();<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Parse php.ini<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ini </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">parse_ini_file</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ini_path</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Print and compare the values, note that using get_cfg_var()<br />// will give the same results for parsed and loaded here<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'(parsed) magic_quotes_gpc = ' </span><span style="color: #007700">. </span><span style="color: #0000BB">yesno</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$ini</span><span style="color: #007700">[</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'magic_quotes_gpc'</span><span style="color: #007700">]) . </span><span style="color: #0000BB">PHP_EOL</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'(loaded) magic_quotes_gpc = ' </span><span style="color: #007700">. </span><span style="color: #0000BB">yesno</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">get_cfg_var</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'magic_quotes_gpc'</span><span style="color: #007700">)) . </span><span style="color: #0000BB">PHP_EOL</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
<div class="example-contents"><p>The above example will output
something similar to:</p></div>
<div class="example-contents screen">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
(parsed) magic_quotes_gpc = Yes
(loaded) magic_quotes_gpc = Yes
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-function.parse-ini-file-notes">
<h3 class="title">Notes</h3>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
This function has nothing to do with the
<var class="filename">php.ini</var> file. It is already processed by
the time you run your script. This function can be used to
read in your own application's configuration files.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
If a value in the ini file contains any non-alphanumeric
characters it needs to be enclosed in double-quotes (").
</p>
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<span class="simpara">
There are reserved words which must not be used as keys for
ini files. These include: null, yes, no, true, false, on, off, none.
Values null, no and false results in "", yes and true results in "1".
Characters <em>?{}|&~
