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| == File Format ==
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| KDE uses a simple text based file format for all its configuration files.
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| It consists of key-value pairs that are placed in groups. All KDE
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| configuration files use UTF-8 encoding for text outside the ASCII range.
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| The start of a group is indicated by a group name that is placed in
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| square brackets. All the key-value entries that follow belong to the group.
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| The group ends when either another group starts or when the end of the file
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| is reached.
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| Entries at the top of the file that are not preceded by a group name belong
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| to the default group.
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| ==== Example: A Simple Config File ====
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| The following example shows a configuration file that consists of two groups.
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| The first group contains the keys "<tt>LargeCursor</tt>" and
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| "<tt>SingleClick</tt>", the second group contains the keys
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| "<tt>Show hidden files</tt>" and "<tt>Sort by</tt>".
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| <code>
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| [KDE]
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| LargeCursor=false
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| SingleClick=true
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| [KFileDialog Settings]
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| Show hidden files=false
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| Sort by=Name
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| </code>
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| Entries in a group consists of a key and value separated by an equal sign.
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| The key can contain spaces and may be followed by options placed in
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| square brackets.
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| The part after the equal sign is the value of the entry. Any white space
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| surrounding the equal sign is ignored, as is any trailing white space.
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| If a value is supposed to include a space at the begin or end then this can be achieved
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| by using a backslash followed by an 's'.
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| There are several other backslash codes, here is the complete list:
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| * "<tt>\s</tt>" can be used as space
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| * "<tt>\t</tt>" can be used to include a tab
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| * "<tt>\r</tt>" for a carriage return character
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| * "<tt>\n</tt>" for a linefeed character (new line)
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| * "<tt>\\</tt>" to include the backslash itself
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| ==== Example: Whitespace ====
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| The following config file fragment is equivalent to the one in the
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| previous example. Whitespace surrounding the key and value is ignored.
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| <code>
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| [KDE]
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| LargeCursor= false
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| SingleClick = true
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| [KFileDialog Settings]
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| Show hidden files = false
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| Sort by =Name
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| </code>
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| ==== Example: Preserving Whitespace ====
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| In the following example the value of the "<tt>Caption</tt>" entry starts
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| with two spaces while the "<tt>Description</tt>" entry contains three lines
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| of text. Linefeeds in backslash notation are used to seperate the different lines.
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| <code>
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| [Preview Image]
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| Caption=\s My Caption
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| Description=This is\na very long\ndescription.
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| </code>
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| Empty lines in configuration files are ignored, just as lines that
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| start with a hash mark '#'. The hash mark can be used to add comments to
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| configuration files but it should be noted that when a KDE application
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| updates a configuration file the comments are not
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| preserved.
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| == Configuration ==
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| There can be multiple configuration files with the same name in the
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| share/config sub-directory of the various
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| [[../KDE Filesystem Hierarchy#Location_of_the_Directory_Trees|KDE Directory Trees]].
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| In that case the information of all these configuration files is combined
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| on a key by key basis. If the same key within a certain group is defined
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| in more than one place, the key value read from the directory tree with
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| the highest precedence will be used.
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| Configuration files under $KDEHOME always have the highest precedence.
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| If a key in a certain group is defined multiple times in a single file, the
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| value of the last entry is used.
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| KDE's cascading configuration scheme can be used to provide users with
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| system or organisation wide default settings while still allowing the users
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| to make individual changes to these settings. KDE will not write entries to
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| the users configuration file under $KDEHOME that match any default settings
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| provided this way. This way changes made to the default settings will
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| immediately be propagated to the user. Note that differs from the traditional
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| way of providing default settings for users through the use of {{path|/etc/skel}},
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| changes to {{path|/etc/skel}} will only be propagated when creating a new user account.
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| When it is undesirable that individual users can make changes to default
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| settings, the default setting can be locked down.
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| == Shell Expansion ==
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| So called ''Shell Expansion'' can be used to provide more dynamic default
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| values. With shell expansion the value of a configuration key can be
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| constructed from the value of an environment variable or from the output of
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| a shell command.
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| To enable shell expansion for a configuration entry, the key must be followed | |
| by <tt>[$e]</tt>. Normally the expanded form is written into the users
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| configuration file after first use. To prevent that, it is recommend to lock
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| the configuration entry down by using <tt>[$ie]</tt>.
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| ==== Example: Dynamic Entries ====
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| In the following example the value for the "<tt>Host</tt>" entry
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| is determined by the output of the ''hostname'' program. This setting is
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| also locked down to ensure that the value is always determined dynamically.
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| The value for the "<tt>Email</tt>" entry is determined by filling in
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| the values of the $USER and $HOST environment variables. When ''joe''
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| is logged in on ''joes_host'' this will result in a value equal to
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| "<tt>joe@joes_host</tt>". The setting is not locked down.
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| <code>
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| [Mail Settings]
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| Host[$ie]=$(hostname)
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| Email[$e]=${USER}@${HOST}
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| </code>
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| == Localization ==
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| All configuration entries can be indexed with a language code. In this case,
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| the language that the user has selected for use on the desktop is used to
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| look up the key value. If the default language (American English) has been
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| selected or if there is no index that corresponds to the selected language,
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| the key entry without index is used.
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| ==== Example: UTF8 In Keys ====
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| In the following example the value of the "<tt>Caption</tt>" entry
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| depends on the language. If the user has selected french as language (language
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| code <tt>fr</tt>) the value of the entry will be "<tt>Ma Légende</tt>".
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| In all other cases the value "<tt>My Caption</tt>" will be used.
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| <code>
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| [Preview Image]
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| Caption=My Caption
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| Caption[fr]=Ma Légende
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| </code>
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| == Lock Down ==
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| To prevent users from overriding default settings, you can lock
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| these settings down in the system-wide config files. Settings can be locked down individually, per group,
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| or per file. An individual entry can be locked down by adding <tt>[$i]</tt>
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| behind the key. A group of entries can be locked down by placing
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| <tt>[$i]</tt> behind the group name. To lock down the entire file, start
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| the file with <tt>[$i]</tt> on a single line.
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| ==== Example: Using [$i] ====
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| In the following example the "<tt>Caption</tt>" entry has been locked
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| down. All entries in the "<tt>Mail Settings</tt>" group have been
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| locked down as well.
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| <code>
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| [Preview Image]
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| Caption[$i]=My Caption
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| [Mail Settings][$i]
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| Host[$e]=$(hostname)
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| Email=waldo@kde.org
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| </code>
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| If an entry has been locked down, entries that would otherwise take
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| precedence over the default setting will now be ignored.
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| Any changes that applications make to settings that have been locked
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| down will be silently dropped. Applications may respond differently to locked down settings. Some applications
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| recognize when a setting has been locked down, and will remove the
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| elements from its user interface that would otherwise allow the user
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| to make changes to these settings. Other applications will continue
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| to offer these options in their user interface even though the option
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| does not have any effect any more. It is also possible that it is actually
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| still possible to change the setting in the running program. In that case the
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| changed setting will be effective for the time the program remains running.
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| When the program is restarted it will then return to the locked down default
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| settings.
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| == Editors ==
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| If you do not want to use a text editor then
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| [http://extragear.kde.org/apps/kconfigeditor/ KConfigEditor]
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| offers a convenient way to edit KDE configuration files.
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| For scripts or modifying files from the command line, the command line app <tt>kwriteconfig</tt> is very useful. <tt>kwriteconfig</tt> expects a configuration file name, a group, a key, an optional type and a value, such as:
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| <code>kwriteconfig --file kickerrc \
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| --group General \
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| --key AutoHidePanel \
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| --type bool \
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| true</code>
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