Question

I’m trying to parse an ini file with the parse_ini_file function.

Reserved characters are ?{}|&~![()^.

PHP arrays can have keys with a dollar sign, but why can’t this function generate an array with keys from an ini file that has $ characters?

Answer 1

Its perhaps because the use of $ is used to specify INI variable; thus causing a syntax error if not used in the context of a variable

Using ${...} as a value will look to

1. An INI setting
2. An environment variable

For example:

<?php
print_r(parse_ini_string('
php_ext_dir = ${extension_dir}
operating_system = ${OS}
'));
?>

Array
(
    [php_ext_dir] => ./ext/
    [operating_system] => Windows_NT
)