Maybe you can get some inspiration form the uu-options package. It uses the interleaved parsers from uu-parsinglib/uu-interleaved and easily handles options which are “distributed” over a several individual entries. It is directed towards command line options, but changing it so it works for similar formats should not be a problem. The included Demo file shows its capabilities, and the error messages you get in case the input is incorrect. Note how the various integers are collected automatically, and how the order of the fileds in the input does not matter either, Doaitse data Prefers = Agda | Haskell deriving Show <> <>data Address = Address { city_ :: String <> , street_ :: String} <> deriving Show <> <>data Name = Name { name_:: String <> , prefers_:: Prefers <> , ints_ :: [Int] <> , address_ :: Address} <> deriving Show <> <>$(deriveLenses ''Name) <>$(deriveLenses ''Address) <> <> <>instance ShowParserType Prefers where <> showType p = " " <> <> <>-- The next thing to do is to specify a initial record containing the default values: <>defaults = Name "Atze" Haskell [] <> (Address "Utrecht" <> "Princetonplein") <> <>-- Next we define the parser for the options, by specifying for each field what may be specified: <> <> <>oName = <> name `option` ("name", pString, "Name") <> <> ints `options` ("ints", pNaturalRaw, "A couple of numbers") <> <> prefers `choose` [("agda", Agda, "in case you prefer Agda") <> ,("haskell", Haskell, "in case you prefer Haskell") <> ] <> <> address `field` <> ( city `option` ("city", pString, "Home city") <> <> street `option` ("street" ,pString, "Home Street" ) <> ) <>{- <>-- | The function `main` may serve as a template for your own option handling. You can also use this module to see what the effectis of the various ways of passing options <>-- >>> ./Demo -i1 --ints 2 --street=Zandlust -a -nDoaitse -i3 --ints=4 --city=Tynaarlo <>-- Name {name_ = "Doaitse", prefers_ = Agda, ints_ = [1,2,3,4], address_ = Address {city_ = "Tynaarlo", street_ = "Zandlust"}} <>-- <>-- >>> ./Demo -i1 --ints 2 --street=Zandlust --name Doaitse -i3 --ints=4 --city=Tynaarlo <>-- --name [Char] optional Name <>-- --ints Int recurring A couple of numbers <>-- Choose at least one from( <>-- --agda required In case you prefer Agda <>-- --haskell required In case you prefer Haskell <>-- ) <>-- --city [Char] optional Home city <>-- --street [Char] optional Home Street <>-- -- <>-- -- Correcting steps: <>-- -- Inserted "-a" at position 70 expecting one of ["--agda", "--agda=", "--haskell", "--haskell=", "--ints=", "--ints", "-i", "-h", "-a"] <>-- -- Inserted "\EOT" at position 70 expecting "\EOT" <> <> <>main ::IO () <>main = do args <- getArgs <> case run defaults oName (concat (map (++ "\EOT") args)) of <> Left a -> case a of <> Succes v -> print v <> Help t -> putStrLn t <> Right errors -> putStrLn errors <> <>-- | The function `demo` can be used from within ghci: <>-} <> <>-- >>> demo ["-i2", "--street=Zandlust", "--ints=5", "-nAtze", "--city=Houten", "--agda", "-i3"] <>-- Name {name_ = "Atze", prefers_ = Agda, ints_ = [2,5,3], address_ = Address {city_ = "Houten", street_ = "Zandlust"}} <> <> <>demo :: [[Char]] -> IO () <>demo args = case run defaults oName (concat (map (++ "\EOT") args)) of <> Left a -> case a of <> Succes v -> print v <> Help t -> putStrLn t <> Right errors -> putStr errors

On 04 Jul 2015, at 1:26 , Mike Meyer wrote:

Ok,I've looked at the packages google and hackage found (ini, hsini & ConfigFile), and can't use any of them for dealing with the ini files I'm being handed.

The problem is they all parse the config file into Maps, and that doesn't seem to be an option. I need lists, because I have multiple sections with the same name that turn into a list of objects, as well as sections that can have multiple options with the same name that turn into multiple objects.

Any chance I overlooked a parser? Or maybe some parsing options in ConfigFile?

Any other advice on a library to do this? _______________________________________________ Haskell-Cafe mailing list Haskell-Cafe@haskell.org http://mail.haskell.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe