parseini.in

# 
# parseini --- parses 'ini' style configuration files.
#
# Usage:
#   awk -f parseini S=<section> P=<param> <ini file>
#
# if section is an empty string, then we use the default section
#
# example ini file:
# 
#		fruit = apple
#		fruit = pear
#		multiline = this is a multiline \
#       parameter
#
#       # this is a comment
#
#		[colors]  
#		red = yes
#		green = no
#		blue = maybe
#		
#		[ocean] 
#		fish = red 
#		fish = blue
#       
# example usage:
#       > awk -f parseini S=ocean P=fish testfile.ini 
# would return: 
#       red
#       blue
#
   
BEGIN { 
    readlines = 1 
    implied = 1 
} 

# remove lines starting with #, but not #!
/^#[^!]/ {next} 

# skip blank
/^[ \r\t]*$/ {next} 

# we want to read the lines of the matched section
# and disable for other sections
/^\[.+\][ \r\t]*$/ { 
    continueline = 0 
    if (S && implied) { 
        nline = 0 
        implied = 0 
    } 
    if (S && match($0, "^\\[" S "\\][ \n]*")) { 
        # we found the section, so start reading.
        readlines = 1 
    } 
    else { 
        # no section, so stop reading lines
        if (readlines) readlines = 0 
    } 
    next 
} 

# when reading, store lines.

{ 
    if (!readlines) next 
    line[nline++] = $0 
    if ($0 ~ /\\[ \r\t]*$/) 
        continueline = 1 
    else 
        continueline = 0 
} 

# process the read lines lines, matching parameters

END { 
    # if section is set but implied is still true
    # then we never found the section, so use everything
    if (S && implied) { 
        nline = 0 
    } 

    # if have P then find P in read lines and get values 
    if (P) { 
        MATCH = "^[ \r\t]*" P "[ \r\t]*=" 
        continueline = 0 
        for (x = 0; x < nline; ++x) { 
            v = line[x] 
            if (continueline) { 
                sub(/[ \r\t]+$/, "", v) 
                if (v ~ /\\$/) { 
                   v = substr(v, 1, length(v)-1) 
                   sub(/[ \r\t]+$/, "", v) 
                } 
                if (v) value[nvalue++] = v 
            } 
            else if (v ~ MATCH) { 
                sub(MATCH, "", v) 
                sub(/^[ \r\t]+/, "", v) 
                sub(/[ \r\t]+$/, "", v) 
                if (v ~ /\\$/) { 
                    continueline = 1 
                    v = substr(v, 1, length(v)-1) 
                    sub(/[ \r\t]+$/, "", v) 
                } 
                if (v) value[nvalue++] = v 
            } 
        } 
        # copy parameter definition to output array 
        nline = nvalue 
        for (x = 0; x < nvalue; ++x) 
            line[x] = value[x] 
    } 

    # trim all leading & trailing whitespace; 
    # except for leading whitespace in continuation lines, 
 
    for (x = 0; x < nline; ++x) { 
        sub(/^[ \r\t]+/, "", line[x]) 
        sub(/[ \r\t]+$/, "", line[x]) 
     } 
 
    # output the final result
    for (x = 0; x < nline; ++x) 
        print line[x] 

    if (nline) exit 0 
    else exit 1 
}