INF: Using Quoted Strings with Profile String Functions

ID Number: Q69752

3.00 3.10

WINDOWS

Summary:

Microsoft Windows provides profile files which are a mechanism for an

application to store configuration about itself. The WIN.INI file is

the system profile file in which Windows stores configuration

information about itself. In versions of Windows prior to version 3.0,

applications also stored configuration information in the WIN.INI

file. Windows 3.0 introduced private profile files, which can store

application-specific information.

An application can retrieve information from a profile file by calling

the GetProfileString or GetPrivateProfileString function. If the

profile file associates the specified lpKeyName value with a string

that is delimited by quotation marks, Windows discards the quotation

marks when it copies the associated string into the application-

provided buffer.

For example, if the following entry appears in the profile file:

[application name] [application name]

keyname = 'string' or keyname = "string"

The GetPrivateProfileString and GetProfileString functions read the

string value and discard the quotation marks.

More Information:

This behavior allows spaces to be put into a string. For example, the

profile entry

keyname = string

returns the string without a leading space, whereas

keyname = ' string' or keyname = " string"

returns the string with a leading space.

Doubling quotation marks includes quotation marks in the string. For

example:

keyname = ''string'' or keyname = ""string""

returns the string with its quotation marks -- 'string' or "string".

Additional reference words: 3.00 3.10 SR# G910131-36 MICS3 R3.9