What is an INI file? For many, it’s just one of the lesser-known file types, but to billions of people, INI files are something they have to use every day; in fact, they won’t be able to get things done on their PCs daily if not for working INI files in these machines.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at what an INI file is, and how to create an INI file on Windows, Mac, and Android.
What is an INI file?
An .INI file contains configuration information that Windows programs use in initializing program settings. This file contains settings and preferences that have been set by/for a user of a program; this includes information on the operating environment.
INI files are basically plain text files, and they have a predefined format in which the data is saved, so you would generally see something like names and value parameters.
A very simple analogy that will help you remember the use of the INI file is when you try to create a folder. You will notice the folder has two things by default, the yellow color and the name “new folder”. You didn’t select or set those, they were set in the .INI files, and the operating system reads the File and uses these settings by default.
How to Create an INI File on Windows 10 and macOS
There are a few things to consider before creating an INI file, and these are that section headers are used in INI files, the file has to be a plain text file, you have to use (=) to assign values to keys.
So here is a process that will be most effective to create an INI file: Use a Text Editor on your PC, if you’re on Windows 10, you would have Notepad, while Mac users will have Sublime Text, Atom, and TextMate >> You can now enter some global variables and a few sections with scoped variables or pretty much anything you’d like to have in the file >> Save as “filename.ini”.
Note: Depending on your machine, the saving process might be tricky. For Windows 10 users who use Notepad, simply entering your filename +.INI in the section for the filename will automatically create an INI file, but we noticed users on other machines or text editors might have to enter their file names without the .INI extension, but then select .INI among a list of file formats to save in.
Here is an example of what Global variables and scoped variables will look like.
GlobalVar = Value
[SectionName]
SectionVar = Value
How to edit INI files
You can use any text editor to open and edit INI files, on Windows, using Notepad, double-clicking on the INI file will automatically open it. After doing all the work you need on the file, just using Ctrl + S will have your file progress saved with no issues.
How to create INI file in Android
To create INI file in Android, use the android object to get a few more features for phones >> Using the DataStorageDirectory$ expression, the data storage path will be returned on an Android device >> You will set your INI path to something like: DataStorageDirectory$(“Android object”) +”filename.ini”.To learn to use the INI file, click INI object >> properties window (on the last tab) >> help. You should get a detailed process of using this INI file, saving, and editing it.