ini config parser for shell it bug when values or keys contains a ‘#’ sign see also http://ajdiaz.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/bash-ini-parser

ini.reader.sh

#!/bin/sh 
# Author: CJ
# Date..: 01/03/2013

## sample INI file save below to a file, replace "^I" with tab
#^I [    SECTION ONE     ]  
#TOKEN_TWO^I ="Value1 two   "
#TOKEN_ONE=Value1 One
#TOKEN_THREE=^I"Value1^I three" # a comment string
#TOKEN_FOUR^I=^I"^IValue1 four"
#
#[SECTION_TWO]  
#TOKEN_ONE=Value1 One ^I^I^I# another comment string
#TOKEN_TWO^I ="Value1 two   "
#TOKEN_THREE=^I"Value1^I three"
#TOKEN_FOUR^I=^I"^IValue1 four"
## sample INI file

export INI= # allows access to the parsed INI values in toto by children
iniParse() {
    # Make word separator Linefeed(\n)
    OIFS="${IFS}"
    IFS=$(echo)

    SECTION=_
    while read LINE; do {
        IFS="${OIFS}"

        # Skip blank lines
        TMP="$(echo "${LINE}"|sed -e "s/^[ \t]*//")"
        if [ 0 -ne ${#TMP} ]; then
            # Ignore comment lines
            if [ '#' == "${LINE:0:1}" -o '*' == "${LINE:0:1}" ]; then
                continue
            fi # if [ '#' == "${LINE:0:1}" -o '*' == "${LINE:0:1}" ]; then

            # Section label
            if [ "[" == "${LINE:0:1}" ]; then
                LINE="${LINE/[/}"
                LINE="${LINE/]/}"
                LINE="${LINE/ /_}"
                SECTION=$(echo "${LINE}")_
            else
                LINE="$(echo "${LINE}"|sed -e "s/^[ \t]*//")"
                LINE="$(echo "${LINE}"|cut -d# -f1)"

                TOKEN="$(echo "${LINE:0}"|cut -d= -f1)"
                EQOFS=${#TOKEN}
                TOKEN="$(echo "${TOKEN}"|sed -e "s/[ \t]*//g")"

                VALUE="${LINE:${EQOFS}}"
                VALUE="$(echo "${VALUE}"|sed -e "s/^[ \t=]*//")"
                VALUE="$(echo "${VALUE}"|sed -e "s/[ \t]*$//")"

                if [ "${VALUE:0:1}" == '"' ]; then
                    echo -n "${SECTION}${TOKEN}=${VALUE}"
                    echo -e "\r"
                else
                    echo -n "${SECTION}${TOKEN}="\"${VALUE}\"""
                    echo -e "\r"
                fi # if [ "${VALUE:0:1}" == '"' ]; then
            fi # if [ "[" == "${LINE:0:1}" ]; then 
        fi # if [ 0 -ne ${#TMP} ]; then

        IFS=$(echo)
    } done <<< "$1"

    IFS="${OIFS}" # restore original IFS value
} # iniParse()

# call this function with the INI filespec
iniReader() {
    if [ -z "$1" ]; then return 1; fi

    TMPINI="$(<$1)"
    TMPINI="$(echo "${TMPINI}"|sed -e "s/\r//g")"
    TMPINI="$(echo "${TMPINI}"|sed -e "s/[ \t]*\[[ \t]*/[/g")"
    TMPINI="$(echo "${TMPINI}"|sed -e "s/[ \t]*\][ \t]*/]/g")"

    INI=`iniParse "${TMPINI}"`
    INI="$(echo "${INI}"|sed -e "s/\r/\n/g")"
    eval "${INI}"

    return 0
} # iniReader() {

# sample usage
if iniReader $1 ; then
    echo INI read, exit_code $? # exit_code == 0
    cat <<< "${INI}"
    cat <<< "${SECTION_ONE_TOKEN_FOUR}"
    cat <<< "${SECTION_ONE_TOKEN_THREE}"
    cat <<< "${SECTION_TWO_TOKEN_TWO}"
    cat <<< "${SECTION_TWO_TOKEN_ONE}"
else
    echo usage: $0 filename.ini
fi