pyconfigreader

A configuration file handler for the most basic stuff in ini files that will get you up and running in no time.

pyconfigreader's ConfigReader uses Python's ConfigParser to parse config files.

PS: This is just to get you working on other stuff and not focus on config files. If you need advanced features head to Python's ConfigParser or read pyconfigreader's documentation.

Usage

Installation

$ pip install pyconfigreader

Setting Values

ConfigReader creates a default main section in which key-value pairs are inserted if no section is specified.

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
config.set('version', '2')  # Saved to section `main`
config.set('Key', 'Value', section='Section')   # Creates a section `Section` on-the-fly
config.set('name', 'main')
config.close(save=True)  # Save on close
# Or explicitly call
# config.save()
# config.close()

By default, changes are not immediately written to the file on disk but are kept in memory. commit=True writes the changes to the file on disk.

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
config.set('okay', 'True', commit=True)

Getting values

Getting values only requires specifying the key. If the key does not exist then None is returned. No exception is raised.

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
name = config.get('name')
okay = config.get('okay')
section = config.get('Key', section='Section')  # Get from the section `Section`

agency = config.get('agency')  # Raises NoOptionError

print(config.sections)  # Get a list of sections

key, value, section = config.search('config')   # Search for the parameters of a value. Returns a tuple

help(config)
config.close()  # Don't forget to close the file object

Sometimes, if a key is not available a return value may be added using the default argument

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
name = config.get('country', default='Kenya')   # Returns Kenya since key was not available in config file
config.close()

The return value, by default, is not saved to file but this can be enabled by setting default_commit=True

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
name = config.get('name', default='Kenya', default_commit=True)
config.close()

Any call to commit saves all the in-memory changes to the file on disk.

Options

Options can be remove permanently

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
config.remove_option('reader')  # the reader option is always set by default
# or config.remove_key('reader')
config.set('name', 'first', section='Details')
config.remove_option('name', section='Details')
config.close(save=True)

Sections

Sections are created when keys and values are added to them.

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
config.set('name', 'first', section='Details')  # Save key `name` with value `first` in section `Details`
config.close()

Sections can be removed explicitly.

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
config.set('name', 'first', section='Details') # Creates section `Details`
config.remove_section('Details')    # Removes section `Details` plus all the keys and values
config.close(save=True)

Section items can be acquired as dictionary values

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
config.set('name', 'first', section='Details')

config.get_items('Details')
# OrderedDict([('name', 'first')])
config.close()  # Or config.close(save=True)

Environment Variables

Configuration values can be save to the environment (os.environ)

import os
from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
config.set('name', 'first', section='Details')
config.to_env()
os.environ['DETAILS_NAME']
# first
os.environ['MAIN_READER']
# configreader
config.close()

The environment keys are formed from the section name and the key name.

Saving

Changes are not written to disk unless commit is set to True.

Another alternative is calling to_file

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
config = ConfigReader(filename='config.ini')
config.set('name', 'first', section='Details')
config.save()
config.close()

As a context, the changes are saved when the object is closed.

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
with ConfigReader(filename='config.ini') as config:
    config.set('name', 'first', section='Details')

The contents of the config file can also be dumped to a JSON file.

from pyconfigreader import ConfigReader
reader = ConfigReader()
reader.set('name', 'first', section='Details')
with open('config.json', 'w') as f:
    reader.to_json(f)
    
reader.close()

A lot more on help(config)

More

See pyconfigreader documentation.

License

Distributed under MIT