CONFIGFILE(5)CONFIGFILE(5)NAMEconfigfile - 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,
unless 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).
EXAMPLES
Have a look at /etc/dhcp.conf.
SEE ALSOconfigfile(3).
NOTES
Inspired by the configuration file of Paul Vixie's bind.
AUTHOR
Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)
CONFIGFILE(5)
