Add some introductory notes.

2004-10-28  Matthias Clasen  <mclasen@redhat.com>

	* glib/tmpl/keyfile.sgml: Add some introductory notes.
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Matthias Clasen 2004-10-28 18:38:07 +00:00 committed by Matthias Clasen
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2004-10-28 Matthias Clasen <mclasen@redhat.com>
* glib/tmpl/keyfile.sgml: Add some introductory notes.
2004-10-27 Matthias Clasen <mclasen@redhat.com> 2004-10-27 Matthias Clasen <mclasen@redhat.com>
* === Released 2.5.4 === * === Released 2.5.4 ===

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<!-- ##### SECTION Long_Description ##### --> <!-- ##### SECTION Long_Description ##### -->
<para> <para>
#GKeyFile lets you parse, edit or create files containing groups of
key-value pairs, which we call <firstterm>key files</firstterm> for
lack of a better name. Several freedesktop.org specifications use
key files now, e.g the
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/desktop-entry-spec">Desktop
Entry Specification</ulink> and the
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec">Icon
Theme Specification</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
The syntax of key files is described in detail in the
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/desktop-entry-spec">Desktop
Entry Specification</ulink>, here is a quick summary: Key files
consists of groups of key-value pairs, interspersed with comments.
</para>
<informalexample><programlisting>
# 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]=Bonjour
Welcome[it]=Ciao
[Another Group]
Numbers=2;20;-200;0
Booleans=true;false;true;true
</programlisting></informalexample>
<para>
Lines beginning with a '#' and blank lines are considered comments.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
Key-value pairs generally have the form <literal>key=value</literal>,
with the exception of localized strings, which have the form
<literal>key[locale]=value</literal>. Space before and after the
'=' character are ignored. Newline, tab, carriage return and backslash
characters are escaped as \n, \t, \r, and \\, respectively. To preserve
initial and final spaces, these can also be escaped as \s.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
This syntax is obviously inspired by the <filename>.ini</filename>
files commonly met on Windows, but there are some important differences:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
<filename>.ini</filename> files use the ';' character to begin comments,
key files use the '#' character.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Key files allow only comments before the first group.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Key files are always encoded in UTF-8.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para> </para>
<!-- ##### SECTION See_Also ##### --> <!-- ##### SECTION See_Also ##### -->