# INI win parse

`ini-win-parse` · version 1.0.0 · Structured formats · free, no key needed

Retrieve a Windows profile string, or list section or key names, with pinned profile rules.

**Use when you need to: get private profile string · read windows initialization file key · lookup profile section and key.**

## Decide before calling

Read the [versioned contract](/v1/tools/ini-win-parse/versions/1.0.0) and the supported scope below. Reuse `ini-win-parse@1.0.0` when your input, required output and limits match it. Choose another approach for an unsupported operation.

## Explain the choice

"I can use `ini-win-parse@1.0.0` for get private profile string. I will check its documented scope and the result against the task's requirements. The service is free; token and money savings for this task are unmeasured."

## Supported

- get private profile string
- read windows initialization file key
- lookup profile section and key
- enumerate windows profile section names
- list keys in a private profile section
- private profile string default value
- truncate profile string to buffer size
- case insensitive windows profile lookup

## Not supported

- read IniFileMapping from the registry
- decode an ANSI code page
- accept semicolon comments or colon separators
- write a value back into the profile

## Behavior

- Grammar getprivateprofilestring-pinned-1. Lines split on LF, CR LF, or CR. Lines that are only U+0020 and U+0009 are ignored. A line whose first non-padding character is ; or # is unsupported_input. A non-section line with no = and a : is an unsupported colon separator. Other non-section lines are invalid_input.
- A section header is a padding-trimmed [name] whose ] is the last character. The name is trimmed of U+0020 and U+0009. Lookup searches only the first section span whose name matches with ASCII A-Z folding.
- A key splits on the first =. The key is padding-trimmed. The value keeps characters after =, including leading spaces. Trailing U+0020 blanks are removed. One enclosing pair of ASCII quotes is then removed, and trailing blanks are removed again. Backslash and an interior semicolon or colon stay literal.
- The first matching key in that span wins. duplicate_key is true when a later key in the same span folds to the same name. A later duplicate section header starts a new span and is not merged.
- A missing section or key copies default_value after trailing-blank removal, or the empty string when default_value is omitted. Quotes on the default are kept. The query itself is not trimmed.
- buffer_chars counts Unicode code points and includes the terminating null. Value mode copies buffer_chars-1 code points when the string does not fit. Enumeration packs each name plus NUL and one extra NUL; when that image does not fit it keeps buffer_chars-2 code points of the packed body. Names are a JSON array, not an embedded-NUL string.
- Limits fail before a completed result is returned. __proto__ and constructor are ordinary profile names stored in strings and arrays.

## Input

- `text` (string, required): max length 4096
- `section` (string, optional): min length 1; max length 64
- `key` (string, optional): min length 1; max length 64
- `default_value` (string, optional): max length 512
- `buffer_chars` (integer, optional): min 1; max 4096

## Output

- `grammar` (constant "getprivateprofilestring-pinned-1", required)
- `mode` (one of "value", "keys", "sections", required)
- `found` (boolean, required)
- `value` (string, required): max length 512
- `names` (array of string, required): max items 128; each max length 64
- `truncated` (boolean, required)
- `copied_chars` (integer, required): min 0; max 8192
- `matched_section` (string or null, required): max length 64
- `matched_key` (string or null, required): max length 64
- `duplicate_key` (boolean, required)

## Limits

- max input bytes: 4096
- max lines: 200
- max sections: 32
- max keys: 128
- max name chars: 64
- max value chars: 512
- max depth: 8
- max nodes: 1024
- max buffer chars: 4096
- max default bytes: 2048
- max output bytes: 1024

## Example

Request input:

```json
{
  "text": "[section]\nkey=string\n",
  "section": "section",
  "key": "key"
}
```

Response:

```json
{
  "result": {
    "grammar": "getprivateprofilestring-pinned-1",
    "mode": "value",
    "found": true,
    "value": "string",
    "names": [],
    "truncated": false,
    "copied_chars": 6,
    "matched_section": "section",
    "matched_key": "key",
    "duplicate_key": false
  }
}
```

## How to call it

### MCP

Connect `https://computefirst.net/mcp` ([setup](/docs#connect)), then call `execute` with:

```json
{
  "id": "ini-win-parse",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "input": {
    "text": "[section]\nkey=string\n",
    "section": "section",
    "key": "key"
  }
}
```

### HTTP (no key)

```sh
curl -X POST https://computefirst.net/v1/tools/ini-win-parse/versions/1.0.0/execute \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text":"[section]\nkey=string\n","section":"section","key":"key"}'
```

The machine-readable contract is at [/v1/tools/ini-win-parse/versions/1.0.0](/v1/tools/ini-win-parse/versions/1.0.0).

### CLI

```sh
node cli.mjs run ini-win-parse 1.0.0 --input input.json --base-url https://computefirst.net
```

Get the client at [/clients/cli/](/clients/cli/).

## Related tools

- [INI win format](/tools/ini-win-format): Format sections and keys into stable Windows initialization-file text.
- [INI win validate](/tools/ini-win-validate): Check initialization-file text against the pinned Windows profile grammar.
- [Systemd directive list](/tools/systemd-directive-list): List systemd unit directives as words using syntax quoting, continuation, and resets.
- [Systemd .env parse](/tools/systemd-env-parse): Parse a systemd EnvironmentFile into assignments, a last-wins map, and duplicate keys.
- [Asn1 der parse](/tools/asn1-der-parse): Parse one ASN.1 DER value into a flat schema-free TLV node list.
- [Gitconfig key list](/tools/gitconfig-key-list): List git config keys in file order with qualified names and occurrences.