Config File Syntax

Rattail config files follow the traditional INI file syntax, e.g. here is a snippet:

[rattail]
app_title = Poser

That example can be broken down into 3 parts:

  • section (the name in square brackets, “rattail”)

  • option (the name of the setting being defined, “app_title”)

  • value (the value for the setting, “Poser”)

When logic within the app needs to retrieve a value from config, it does so by requesting both the section and option by name, for example:

config.get('rattail', 'app_title')   # returns "Poser"

Under the hood we use Python’s configparser module to parse config files.

If you think it would be handy for your app to have a new setting for some reason, just create one and use it like so:

[poser]
foo = bar

config.get('poser', 'foo')   # returns "bar"

So far our examples have been for simple string values. There is no way within the standard INI file syntax, to define any data types other than string. However the Rattail config parser/object can “coerce” values to a given type if so requested, for example:

[poser]
foo_flag = true
foo_number = 42
foo_entries =
    first
    second
    third

config.getbool('poser', 'foo_flag')      # returns True
config.getint('poser', 'foo_number')     # returns 42
config.getlist('poser', 'foo_entries')   # returns ["first", "second", "third"]