Reading/writing an INI file

Question

Is there any class in the .NET framework that can read/write standard .ini files:

[Section]
<keyname>=<value>
...

Delphi has the TIniFile component and I want to know if there is anything similar for C#?

Answer 1

The creators of the .NET framework want you to use XML-based config files, rather than INI files. So no, there is no built-in mechanism for reading them.

There are third party solutions available, though.

• INI handlers can be obtained as NuGet packages, such as INI Parser.
• You can write your own INI handler, which is the old-school, laborious way. It gives you more control over the implementation, which you can use for bad or good. See e.g. an INI file handling class using C#, P/Invoke and Win32.