CONFIGFILE(5) File Formats Manual CONFIGFILE(5)
NAME
configfile - generic configuration file format
SYNOPSIS
*/etc/*.conf
DESCRIPTION
The syntax of the generic configuration file format is as follows:
configfile: empty
| configline configfile
;
configline: wordlist ';'
| include string ';'
;
wordlist: empty
| word wordlist
| string wordlist
| '{' configfile '}' wordlist
;
empty: ;
A word is a sequence of letters, numbers, and characters from the set
!#$%&*+-./<=>?[\]^_|~. A backslash (\) may be followed by a character
in the set abefnrstv to form a BEL, BS, ESC, FF, NL, CR, SP, TAB, or VT
character. Followed by up to three octal digits a character of that
value is formed, and likewise for an x followed by up to two hexadeci-
mal digits. Any other character is left as-is. A backslash followed
by whitespace is completely removed from the input. (This includes
comments.)
A string is started by a single or double quote, a series of charac-
ters, and ended by the same type of quote it started with. Any charac-
ter or escape with \ may be found in a string. Strings may not span
lines.
Tokens are separated by whitespace, being the usual whitespace charac-
ters and comments. A comment starts with the # character, and ends at
a newline.
The special word include tells that the file mentioned in the following
string must be read and included at that point. The file is found rel-
ative to the directory the current configuration file is found in, un-
less its name starts with a /. A file that doesn't exist is seen as
empty.
A generic configuration file can be read with the functions described
in configfile(3).
SEE ALSO
configfile(3).
NOTES
Inspired by the configuration file of Paul Vixie's bind.
AUTHOR
Kees J. Bot (
[email protected])
CONFIGFILE(5)