Talk:INI file

message: I assume it means initialization, but I'm just guessing.  I came to this article to find out, but it doesn't say.  Does anyone know for sure? --A D Monroe III 15:30, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: What does ''ini'' stand for?

message: .ini files are not just used for windows. I have seen them used for php. If they have historically been used for Windows or Microsoft created it the article should reflect that.
Phy1729 16:53, 10 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Not just Windows

message: What is the purpose of desktop.ini files?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.101.145.61 (talk) 03:44, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that since desktop.ini redirects to this INI file article, this article should say a few words about it -- so I added a sentence about it (with reference). --DavidCary (talk) 15:37, 1 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  What is the purpose of desktop.ini files? 

message: The article should mention case sensitivity. The Windows implementation is not case-sensitive, but I don't about other implementations. 63.116.23.136 (talk) 02:35, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Done. Mitch Ames (talk) 03:07, 2 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Case sensitivity 

message: If recent edits changing "property" to "key" are correct, we probably should change all of the other uses of the term throughout the article. Mitch Ames (talk) 07:18, 23 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Keys or properties 

message: In Windows' standard implementation all values are literal strings. That is:
[fruit]
grapes=2
bananas="3"
Will set grapes to be the string 2, but bananas literally to be the string "3" (including the quotes) and not 3 as you might expect for a program variable.
 — For which versions of Windows is the above true? It is not for Windows 10. In fact, the article explicitly states the opposite. 2A02:8108:50C0:1E18:B9A2:A2FC:B1FE:A0BD (talk) 17:59, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Also worth noting..  

message: There's a predecessor/timing conflict in the introduction.  Windows 2000 was based on Windows NT.  INI files were primarily for 16-bit systems and applications, and can legitimately include Windows ME.  Windows 2000 should not be included in the paragraph with Windows ME, as Windows 2000 came after Windows NT and was Registry-based.  -- Dave Braunschweig (talk) 19:15, 25 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Windows NT vs. Windows 2000 

message: There is a column 'Disabled entries recognition' in the comparison table, but it is not explained what it is or what an example of that is in and .ini file.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2003:C4:9F1E:2D01:D875:1C1B:99CC:56E5 (talk) 04:22, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Disabled entries recognition 

message: Is this a place to add PHP's library function parse_ini_file and parse_ini_file?
Theking2 (talk) 14:53, 20 June 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  PHP parse_ini_string / parse_ini_file 

message: Windows has two INI-like file formats that are handled by other parsers but can be considered as INI files from a design and editing perspective:
* .reg files are textual representations of a subset of the registry or changes thereto, they begin with a magic string for the format version and support a syntax variant for deleting entire (INI)keys and (INI)sections.  Character set for some versions is UTF-16LE, others use the locale charset.  The parser/generator of this file format is logically in the REGEDIT.EXE system program and/or the newer REG.EXE program.
* .inf files are textual descriptions of system components in NT 5.x and older, and are also used to provide device driver installation. The parser of this format is in the "Setup API" used by both driver installation and NT 3.x to 5.x system installation.  Note that some other software uses the .inf extension for other INI-like files.
Finding details and sources is left as an exercise for other editors
Jbohmdk (talk) 21:23, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Relationship with .reg and .inf files 

message: The examples in the article show spaces around the equals sign between key and value:
[section]
key1 = a
key2 = b
A .NET INI-reading/writing library I was using would read and write files as shown above (with the spaces), but it had serious bugs and I had to abandon it. I replaced it with calls to WinSDK APIs like GetPrivateProfileString().
In (Windows 10) testing, I discovered that the new code couldn't read INI files created by the old library. At first I thought it had to do with BOM or UNICODE vs ANSI. Instead, it turned out that the WinSDK APIs didn't like the spaces around the equal signs between key and value. It has to be formatted without the spaces, e.g.:
[section]
key1=a
key2=b
You can confirm this in Windows by doing a Find in Files for ␠=␠ in C:\Windows\*.ini - I got zero hits out of 800+ .ini files searched.
ProfSchmitty (talk) 21:23, 1 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Spaces around the equals are important in Windows 

message: Paraphrased, as this StackExchange comment explains:
<blockQuote> The "INI page" Wikipedia page claims [that .desktop files can be considered to be .ini files], [but] it doesn’t confirm it; the source for the claim doesn’t compare the .desktop format to a .ini format. </blockQuote>
Does a better citation exist, or might the assessment be incorrect? Tag me if you are responding to my content or wish to notify me, because I may not be subscribed. (talk) 15:13, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Citation for the claim that .desktop is a .ini format does not directly appear to support the claim.