1Config::GitLike(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Config::GitLike(3)
2
6 Config::GitLike - git-compatible config file parsing
7
9 This module parses git-style config files, which look like this:
10 [core]
12 repositoryformatversion = 0
13 filemode = true
14 bare = false
15 logallrefupdates = true
16 [remote "origin"]
17 url = spang.cc:/srv/git/home.git
18 fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
19 [another-section "subsection"]
20 key = test
21 key = multiple values are OK
22 emptyvalue =
23 novalue
24 Code that uses this config module might look like:
26 use Config::GitLike;
28 # just load a specific file
30 my $data = Config::GitLike->load_file("~/.fooconf");
31 # or use the object interface to load /etc/config, ~/.config, and
33 # `pwd`/.config
34 my $c = Config::GitLike->new(confname => 'config');
35 $c->get( key => 'section.name' );
37 # make the return value a Perl true/false value
38 $c->get( key => 'core.filemode', as => 'bool' );
39 # replace the old value
41 $c->set(
42 key => 'section.name',
43 value => 'val1',
44 filename => '/home/user/.config',
45 );
46 # make this key have multiple values rather than replacing the
48 # old value
49 $c->set(
50 key => 'section.name',
51 value => 'val2',
52 filename => '/home/user/.config',
53 multiple => 1,
54 );
55 # replace all occurrences of the old value for section.name with a new one
57 $c->set(
58 key => 'section.name',
59 value => 'val3',
60 filename => '/home/user/.config',
61 multiple => 1,
62 replace_all => 1,
63 );
64 # make sure to reload the config files before reading if you've set
66 # any variables!
67 $c->load;
68 # get only the value of 'section.name' that matches '2'
70 $c->get( key => 'section.name', filter => '2' );
71 $c->get_all( key => 'section.name' );
72 # prefixing a search regexp with a ! negates it
73 $c->get_regexp( key => '!na' );
74 $c->rename_section(
76 from => 'section',
77 to => 'new-section',
78 filename => '/home/user/.config'
79 );
80 $c->remove_section(
82 section => 'section',
83 filename => '/home/user/.config'
84 );
85 # unsets all instances of the given key
87 $c->set( key => 'section.name', filename => '/home/user/.config' );
88 my %config_vals = $config->dump;
90 # string representation of config data
91 my $str = $config->dump;
92 # prints rather than returning
93 $config->dump;
94
96 This module handles interaction with configuration files of the style
97 used by the version control system Git. It can both parse and modify
98 these files, as well as create entirely new ones.
99 You only need to know a few things about the configuration format in
101 order to use this module. First, a configuration file is made up of
102 key/value pairs. Every key must be contained in a section. Sections can
103 have subsections, but they don't have to. For the purposes of setting
104 and getting configuration variables, we join the section name,
105 subsection name, and variable name together with dots to get a key name
106 that looks like "section.subsection.variable". These are the strings
107 that you'll be passing in to "key" arguments.
108 Configuration files inherit from each other. By default,
110 "Config::GitLike" loads data from a system-wide configuration file, a
111 per-user configuration file, and a per-directory configuration file,
112 but by subclassing and overriding methods you can obtain any
113 combination of configuration files. By default, configuration files
114 that don't exist are just skipped.
115 See
117 <http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-config.html#_configuration_file>
118 for details on the syntax of git configuration files. We won't waste
119 pixels on the nitty gritty here.
120 While the behavior of a couple of this module's methods differ slightly
122 from the "git config" equivalents, this module can read any config file
123 written by git. The converse is usually true, but only if you don't
124 take advantage of this module's increased permissiveness when it comes
125 to key names. (See "DIFFERENCES FROM GIT-CONFIG" for details.)
126 This is an object-oriented module using Moo. All subroutines are object
128 method calls.
129 A few methods have parameters that are always used for the same
131 purpose:
132 Filenames
134 All methods that change things in a configuration file require a
135 filename to write to, via the "filename" parameter. Since a
136 "Config::GitLike" object can be working with multiple config files that
137 inherit from each other, we don't try to figure out which one to write
138 to automatically and let you specify instead.
139 Casting
141 All get and set methods can make sure the values they're returning or
142 setting are valid values of a certain type: "bool", "int", "num", or
143 "bool-or-int" (or at least as close as Perl can get to having these
144 types). Do this by passing one of these types in via the "as"
145 parameter. The set method, if told to write bools, will always write
146 "true" or "false" (not anything else that "cast" considers a valid
147 bool).
148 Methods that are told to cast values will throw exceptions if the
150 values they're trying to cast aren't valid values of the given type.
151 See the "cast" method documentation for more on what is considered
153 valid for each type.
154 Filtering
156 All get and set methods can filter what values they return via their
157 "filter" parameter, which is expected to be a string that is a valid
158 regex. If you want to filter items OUT instead of IN, you can prefix
159 your regex with a ! and that will do the trick.
160 Now, on the the methods!
162
164 There are the methods you're likely to use the most.
165 new( confname => 'config', encoding => 'UTF-8' )
167 Create a new configuration object with the base config name "confname".
168 If you are interested simply in loading one specific file, and not in
169 automatically loading a global file, a per-user file, and a per-
170 directory file, see "load_file", below.
171 "confname" is used to construct the filenames that will be loaded; by
173 default, these are "/etc/confname" (global configuration file),
174 "~/.confname" (user configuration file), and "<Cwd"/.confname>
175 (directory configuration file).
176 You can override these defaults by subclassing "Config::GitLike" and
178 overriding the methods "global_file", "user_file", and "dir_file". (See
179 "METHODS YOU MAY WISH TO OVERRIDE" for details.)
180 If you wish to enforce only being able to read/write config files that
182 git can read or write, pass in "compatible => 1" to this constructor.
183 The default rules for some components of the config file are more
184 permissive than git's (see "DIFFERENCES FROM GIT-CONFIG").
185 If you know that your Git config files are encoded with a known
187 character encoding, pass in "encoding => $encoding" to specify the name
188 of the encoding. Config::GitLike will then properly serialize and
189 deserialize the files with that encoding. Note that configutation
190 files written with "git config" are usually, but are not required to
191 be, in UTF-8.
192 confname
194 The configuration filename that you passed in when you created the
195 "Config::GitLike" object. You can change it if you want by passing in a
196 new name (and then reloading via "load").
197 load
199 This method is usually called implicitly on the first "get", "get_all",
200 "get_regex", or "dump" call used, and is only necessary if you want to
201 explicitly reload the data.
202 Load the global, local, and directory configuration file with the
204 filename "confname"(if they exist). Configuration variables loaded
205 later override those loaded earlier, so variables from the directory
206 configuration file have the highest precedence.
207 Pass in an optional path, and it will be passed on to "load_dirs"
209 (which loads the directory configuration file(s)).
210 Returns a hash copy of all loaded configuration data stored in the
212 module after the files have been loaded, or a hashref to this hash in
213 scalar context.
214 config_files
216 An array reference containing the absolute filenames of all config
217 files that are currently loaded, in the order they were loaded.
218 get
220 Parameters:
221 key => 'sect.subsect.key'
223 as => 'int'
224 human => 1
225 filter => '!foo'
226 Return the config value associated with "key" cast as an "as".
228 The "key" option is required (will return undef if unspecified); the
230 "as" amd "human" options are not (see cast for their meaning). Sections
231 and subsections are specified in the key by separating them from the
232 key name with a "." character. Sections, subsections, and keys may all
233 be quoted (double or single quotes).
234 If "key" doesn't exist in the config, or has no values which match the
236 filter, undef is returned. Dies with the exception "Multiple values" if
237 the given key has more than one value associated with it which match
238 the filter. (Use "get_all" to retrieve multiple values.)
239 Calls "load" if it hasn't been done already. Note that if you've run
241 any "set" calls to the loaded configuration files since the last time
242 they were loaded, you MUST call "load" again before getting, or the
243 returned configuration data may not match the configuration variables
244 on-disk.
245 get_all
247 Parameters:
248 key => 'section.sub'
250 as => 'int'
251 human => 1
252 filter => 'regex'
253 Like "get" but does not fail if the number of values for the key is not
255 exactly one.
256 Returns a list of values (or an arrayref in scalar context).
258 get_regexp
260 Parameters:
261 key => 'regex'
263 as => 'bool'
264 human => 1
265 filter => 'regex'
266 Similar to "get_all" but searches for values based on a key regex.
268 Returns a hash of name/value pairs (or a hashref in scalar context).
270 dump
272 In scalar context, return a string containing all configuration data,
273 sorted in ASCII order, in the form:
274 section.key=value
276 section2.key=value
277 If called in void context, this string is printed instead.
279 In list context, returns a hash containing all the configuration data.
281 set
283 Parameters:
284 key => 'section.name'
286 value => 'bar'
287 filename => File::Spec->catfile(qw/home user/, '.'.$config->confname)
288 filter => 'regex'
289 as => 'bool'
290 multiple => 1
291 replace_all => 1
292 Set the key "foo" in the configuration section "section" to the value
294 "bar" in the given filename.
295 Replace "key"'s value if "key" already exists.
297 To unset a key, pass in "key" but not "value".
299 Returns true on success.
301 If you need to have a . character in your variable name, you can
303 surround the name with quotes (single or double): "key =>
304 'section."foo.bar.com"'" Don't do this unless you really have to.
305 multiple values
307 By default, set will replace the old value rather than giving a key
309 multiple values. To override this, pass in "multiple => 1". If you want
310 to replace all instances of a multiple-valued key with a new value, you
311 need to pass in "replace_all => 1" as well.
312 group_set( $filename, $array_ref )
314 Same as "set", but set a group of variables at the same time without
315 writing to disk separately for each.
316 $array_ref contains a list of hash references which are essentially
318 hashes of arguments to "set", excluding the $filename argument since
319 that is specified separately and the same file is used for all
320 variables to be set at once.
321 rename_section
323 Parameters:
324 from => 'name.subname'
326 to => 'new.subname'
327 filename => '/file/to/edit'
328 Rename the section existing in "filename" given by "from" to the
330 section given by "to".
331 Throws an exception "No such section" if the section in "from" doesn't
333 exist in "filename".
334 If no value is given for "to", the section is removed instead of
336 renamed.
337 Returns true on success, false if "filename" didn't exist and thus the
339 rename did nothing.
340 remove_section
342 Parameters:
343 section => 'section.subsection'
345 filename => '/file/to/edit'
346 Just a convenience wrapper around "rename_section" for readability's
348 sake. Removes the given section (which you can do by renaming to
349 nothing as well).
350 add_comment
352 Parameters:
353 comment => "Begin editing here\n and then stop",
355 filename => '/file/to/edit'
356 indented => 1,
357 semicolon => 0,
358 Add a comment to the specified configuration file. The "comment" and
360 "filename" parameters are required. Comments will be added to the file
361 with "# " at the begnning of each line of the comment. Pass a true
362 value to "semicolon" if you'd rather they start with "; ". If your
363 comments are indented with leading white space, and you want that white
364 space to appear in front of the comment character, rather than after,
365 pass a true value to "indented".
366 cascade( $bool )
368 Gets or sets if only the deepest configuration file in a directory tree
369 is loaded, or if all of them are loaded, shallowest to deepest.
370 Alternately, "cascade => 1" can be passed to "new".
371 origins
373 Returns a hash mapping each config key with the file it was loaded
374 from.
375
377 If your application's configuration layout is different from the
378 default, e.g. if its home directory config files are in a directory
379 within the home directory (like "~/.git/config") instead of just dot-
380 prefixed, override these methods to return the right directory names.
381 For fancier things like altering precedence, you'll need to override
382 "load" as well.
383 dir_file
385 Return a string containing the path to a configuration file with the
386 name "confname" in a directory. Called with no arguments, returns the
387 path for a generic directory; if called with a directory as an
388 argument, returns the path for that directory.
389 global_file
391 Return the string "/etc/confname", the absolute name of the system-wide
392 configuration file with name "confname".
393 user_file
395 Return a string containing the path to a configuration file in the
396 current user's home directory with filename "confname".
397 load_dirs
399 Parameters:
400 '/path/to/look/in/'
402 Load the configuration file with the filename "dir_file" in the current
404 working directory into the memory or, if there is no config matching
405 "dir_file" in the current working directory, walk up the directory tree
406 until one is found. (No error is thrown if none is found.) If an
407 optional path is passed in, that directory will be used as the base
408 directory instead of the working directory.
409 You'll want to use "load_file" to load config files from your
411 overridden version of this subroutine.
412 Returns nothing of note.
414
416 These are mostly used internally in other methods, but could be useful
417 anyway.
418 load_global
420 If a global configuration file with the absolute name given by
421 "global_file" exists, load its configuration variables into memory.
422 Returns the current contents of all the loaded configuration variables
424 after the file has been loaded, or undef if no global config file is
425 found.
426 load_user
428 If a configuration file with the absolute name given by "user_file"
429 exists, load its config variables into memory.
430 Returns the current contents of all the loaded configuration variables
432 after the file has been loaded, or undef if no user config file is
433 found.
434 load_file( $filename )
436 Takes a string containing the path to a file, opens it if it exists,
437 loads its config variables into memory, and returns the currently
438 loaded config variables (a hashref).
439 This method can also be called as a class method, which will die if the
441 file cannot be read. If called as an instance method, returns undef on
442 failure.
443 This method may also be passed additional key-value parameters which
445 control how the file is loaded:
446 silent
448 Defaults to off; if set, merely returns instead of die'ing if the
449 file cannot be found or read.
450 includes
452 Defaults to on; if passed a false value, ignores the "include"
453 directive.
454 force
456 Defaults to off; if set, will re-load a file even if it was
457 previously loaded.
458 parse_content
460 Parameters:
461 content => 'str'
463 callback => sub {}
464 error => sub {}
465 Parses the given content and runs callbacks as it finds valid
467 information.
468 Returns undef on success and error($content) (the original content) on
470 failure.
471 "callback" is called like:
473 callback(section => $str, offset => $num, length => $num, name => $str, value => $str)
475 "name" and "value" may be omitted if the callback is not being called
477 on a key/value pair, or if it is being called on a key with no value.
478 "error" is called like:
480 error( content => $content, offset => $offset )
482 Where "offset" is the point in the content where the parse error
484 occurred.
485 If you need to use this method, you might be interested in
487 "error_callback" as well.
488 error_callback
490 Parameters:
491 content => 'str'
493 offset => 45
494 filename => '/foo/bar/.baz'
495 Made especially for passing to "parse_content", passed through the
497 "error" parameter like this:
498 error => sub {
500 error_callback( @_, filename => '/file/you/were/parsing' )
501 }
502 It's used internally wherever "parse_content" is used and will throw an
504 exception with a useful message detailing the line number, position on
505 the line, and contents of the bad line; if you find the need to use
506 "parse_content" elsewhere, you may find it useful as well.
507 include ( $name )
509 When reading configuration files, Git versions 1.7.10 and later parse
510 the "include.path" key as a directive to include an additional
511 configuration file. This option controls the equivalent behavior;
512 setting it to a false value will disable inclusion, and any true value
513 will be taken as the name of the configuration parameter which controls
514 inclusion. Defaults to "include.path", as Git does.
515 set_multiple( $name )
517 Mark the key string $name as containing multiple values.
518 Returns nothing.
520 is_multiple( $name )
522 Return a true value if the key string $name contains multiple values;
523 false otherwise.
524 define
526 Parameters:
527 section => 'str'
529 name => 'str'
530 value => 'str'
531 Given a section, a key name, and a value, store this information in
533 memory in the config object.
534 Returns the value that was just defined on success, or undef if no name
536 and section were given and thus the key cannot be defined.
537 cast
539 Parameters:
540 value => 'foo'
542 as => 'int'
543 human => 1
544 Return "value" cast into the type specified by "as".
546 Valid values for "as" are "bool", "int", "num", or "bool-or-num". For
548 "bool", "true", "yes", "on", 1, and undef are translated into a true
549 value (for Perl); anything else is false. Specifying a true value for
550 the "human" argument will get you a human-readable 'true' or 'false'
551 rather than a value that plays along with Perl's definition of
552 truthiness (0 or 1).
553 For "int"s and "num"s, if "value" ends in "k", "m", or "g", it will be
555 multiplied by 1024, 1048576, and 1073741824, respectively, before being
556 returned. "int"s are truncated after being multiplied, if they have a
557 decimal portion.
558 "bool-or-int", as you might have guessed, gives you either a bool or an
560 int depending on which one applies.
561 If "as" is unspecified, "value" is returned unchanged.
563 format_section
565 Parameters:
566 section => 'section.subsection'
568 base => 1
569 Return a string containing the section/subsection header, formatted as
571 it should appear in a config file. If "bare" is true, the returned
572 value is not followed be a newline.
573 format_definition
575 Parameters:
576 key => 'str'
578 value => 'str'
579 bare => 1
580 Return a string containing the key/value pair as they should be printed
582 in the config file. If "bare" is true, the returned value is not tab-
583 indented nor followed by a newline.
584 canonical_case( $name )
586 Given a full key name, returns the canonical name of the key; this is
587 the key with the section and name lower-cased; the subsection is left
588 as-is.
589 original_key( $name )
591 Given a full key name, returns the key as it was last loaded from the
592 file, retaining what ever upper/lower case was used. Note that for
593 multiple-valued keys, this returns an array reference of key names, as
594 each definition may have been provided in a different choice of case.
595
597 This module does the following things differently from git-config:
598 We are much more permissive about valid key names and section names.
600 For variables, instead of limiting variable names to alphanumeric
601 characters and -, we allow any characters except for = and newlines,
602 including spaces as long as they are not leading or trailing, and . as
603 long as the key name is quoted. For sections, any characters but
604 whitespace, [], and " are allowed. You can enforce reading/writing
605 only git-compatible variable names and section headers by passing
606 "compatible => 1" to the constructor.
607 When replacing variable values and renaming sections, we merely use a
609 substring replacement rather than writing out new lines formatted in
610 the default manner for new lines. Git's replacement/renaming (as of
611 1.6.3.2) is currently buggy and loses trailing comments and variables
612 that are defined on the same line as a section being renamed. Our
613 method preserves original formatting and surrounding information.
614 We also allow the 'num' type for casting, since in many cases we might
616 want to be more lenient on numbers.
617 We truncate decimal numbers that are cast to "int"s, whereas Git just
619 rejects them.
620 We don't support NUL-terminating output (the --null flag to git-
622 config). Who needs it?
623 Git only supports reading UNIX- and DOS-style newlines ("\n" and
625 "\r\n"), and always uses "\n" when modifying files. We also support
626 reading Mac-style newlines ("\r"), and write updates to files using the
627 same newlines as they were read with.
628
630 If you find any bugs in this module, report them at:
631 http://rt.cpan.org/
633 Include the version of the module you're using and any relevant
635 problematic configuration files or code snippets.
636
638 <http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-config.html#_configuration_file>,
639 Config::GitLike::Git, <http://syncwith.us/> ("Config::GitLike" is used
640 in Prophet/SD and provides a working example)
641
643 This program is free software; you may modify and/or redistribute it
644 under the same terms as Perl itself.
645
647 Copyright 2010 Best Practical Solutions, LLC
648
650 Alex Vandiver <alexmv@bestpractical.com>, Christine Spang
651 <spang@bestpractical.com>
652perl v5.36.0 2023-01-20 Config::GitLike(3)