Basics
Guides
API Reference
Basics
Guides
API Reference
[76:7] extends: object
GKeyFile parses .ini-like config files. GKeyFile lets you parse, edit or
create files containing groups of key-value pairs, which we call ‘key files’
for lack of a better name. Several freedesktop.org specifications use key
files. For example, the Desktop Entry
Specification
and the Icon Theme
Specification.
The syntax of key files is described in detail in the Desktop Entry
Specification,
here is a quick summary: Key files consists of groups of key-value pairs,
interspersed with comments. txt # this is just an example # there can be comments before the first group [First Group] Name=Key File Example\tthis value shows\nescaping # localized strings are stored in multiple key-value pairs Welcome=Hello Welcome[de]=Hallo Welcome[fr_FR]=Bonjour Welcome[it]=Ciao [Another Group] Numbers=2;20;-200;0 Booleans=true;false;true;true Lines
beginning with a # and blank lines are considered comments. Groups are
started by a header line containing the group name enclosed in [ and ],
and ended implicitly by the start of the next group or the end of the file.
Each key-value pair must be contained in a group. Key-value pairs generally
have the form key=value, with the exception of localized strings, which
have the form key[locale]=value, with a locale identifier of the form
lang_COUNTRY@MODIFIER where COUNTRY and MODIFIER are optional. As a
special case, the locale C is associated with the untranslated pair
key=value (since GLib 2.84). Space before and after the = character is
ignored. Newline, tab, carriage return and backslash characters in value are
escaped as \n, \t, \r, and \\\\, respectively. To preserve leading
spaces in values, these can also be escaped as \s. Key files can store
strings (possibly with localized variants), integers, booleans and lists of
these. Lists are separated by a separator character, typically ; or ,. To
use the list separator character in a value in a list, it has to be escaped
by prefixing it with a backslash. This syntax is obviously inspired by the
.ini files commonly met on Windows, but there are some important differences:
; character to begin comments, key files use the #
character. - Key files do not allow for ungrouped keys meaning only comments
can precede the first group. - Key files are always encoded in UTF-8. - Key
and Group names are case-sensitive. For example, a group called [GROUP] is
a different from [group]. - .ini files don’t have a strongly typed boolean
entry type, they only have GetProfileInt(). In key files, only true and
false (in lower case) are allowed. Note that in contrast to the Desktop
Entry
Specification,
groups in key files may contain the same key multiple times; the last entry
wins. Key files may also contain multiple groups with the same name; they are
merged together. Another difference is that keys and group names in key files
are not restricted to ASCII characters. Here is an example of loading a key
file and reading a value: c g_autoptr(GError) error = NULL; g_autoptr(GKeyFile) key_file = g_key_file_new (); if (!g_key_file_load_from_file (key_file, "key-file.ini", flags, &error)) { if (!g_error_matches (error, G_FILE_ERROR, G_FILE_ERROR_NOENT)) g_warning ("Error loading key file: %s", error->message); return; } g_autofree gchar *val = g_key_file_get_string (key_file, "Group Name", "SomeKey", &error); if (val == NULL && !g_error_matches (error, G_KEY_FILE_ERROR, G_KEY_FILE_ERROR_KEY_NOT_FOUND)) { g_warning ("Error finding key in key file: %s", error->message); return; } else if (val == NULL) { // Fall back to a default value. val = g_strdup ("default-value"); } Here is an example of
creating and saving a key file: c g_autoptr(GKeyFile) key_file = g_key_file_new (); const gchar *val = …; g_autoptr(GError) error = NULL; g_key_file_set_string (key_file, "Group Name", "SomeKey", val); // Save as a file. if (!g_key_file_save_to_file (key_file, "key-file.ini", &error)) { g_warning ("Error saving key file: %s", error->message); return; } // Or store to a GBytes for use elsewhere. gsize data_len; g_autofree guint8 *data = (guint8 *) g_key_file_to_data (key_file, &data_len, &error); if (data == NULL) { g_warning ("Error saving key file: %s", error->message); return; } g_autoptr(GBytes) bytes = g_bytes_new_take (g_steal_pointer (&data), data_len); KeyFile (Handle = null)
Creates a new
KeyFileby wrapping a native handle or another wrapper.
Handle is the native handle or another wrapper whose handle to adopt.toNativeHandle (Source)
Normalizes a constructor argument into a raw pointer carrier. Accepts a raw NativeHandle, a raw NativeBuffer returned from
fn.call(...), another generated wrapper exposinghandle(), or null. Returns null when the argument carries no pointer.
Source is the raw handle, raw buffer, wrapper, or null.A raw pointer carrier or null when no pointer is present.getLib ()
Returns the opened native library for this generated wrapper.
The opened native library.handle ()
Returns the wrapped NativeHandle.
The wrapped NativeHandle.isNull ()
Returns true when the wrapped handle is null.
A bool.describe ()
Returns a small string for debugging generated wrappers.
A string.
Aussom
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Copyright 2026 Austin Lehman. All rights reserved.