Simple INI file parser in Haskell

Question

I've written a rudimentary parser for INI files:

{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings   #-}

import qualified Data.Map           as M
import           Data.Maybe         (fromMaybe)
import qualified Data.Text          as T

type Ini = M.Map T.Text Section

data Section =
  Section
    { name       :: T.Text
    , properties :: M.Map T.Text T.Text
    }
  deriving (Show)

main :: IO ()
main = parseIni iniFilePath >>= \ini -> putStrLn $ "Parsed INI: " ++ show ini
  where
    iniFilePath = "/home/me/test.ini"

parseIni :: FilePath -> IO Ini
parseIni iniFilePath = parseToIni . T.pack <$> readFile iniFilePath

parseToIni :: T.Text -> Ini
parseToIni stringToParse =
  -- We return the parsed Ini, not the helper values
  firstOfTriple $
  foldr
    (\line (ini, currentSectionMaybe, lineIndex) ->
        -- We're at a new section start or the end of the file → add the previous section
        -- to the parsed Ini value and create a new section
      if isSectionHeader line || lineIndex >= length lines - 1
        then let updatedIni = addSection ini currentSectionMaybe
              in (updatedIni, Just $ Section (getSectionName line) M.empty, 1 + lineIndex)
        else (ini, updateSection currentSectionMaybe line, 1 + lineIndex))
    (M.empty, Nothing, 0) $
  -- Since foldr is right associative we would process the lines starting with the last one, that's
  -- why we reverse the list of lines
  reverse lines
  where
    lines :: [T.Text]
    lines = T.splitOn "\n" stringToParse

firstOfTriple :: (a, b, c) -> a
firstOfTriple (x, _, _) = x

parseProperty :: T.Text -> Maybe (T.Text, T.Text)
parseProperty line =
  case T.splitOn "=" line of
    [name, value] -> Just (T.strip name, T.strip value)
    _             -> Nothing

updateSection :: Maybe Section -> T.Text -> Maybe Section
updateSection sectionMaybe line = fmap updateSection' sectionMaybe
  where
    updateSection' :: Section -> Section
    updateSection' section =
      -- Add the property to the section if the property can be parsed.
      -- Otherwise, leave the section as it were
      maybe
        section
        (\(propName, value) -> Section (name section) (M.insert propName value (properties section)))
        (parseProperty line)

getSectionName :: T.Text -> T.Text
getSectionName line = fromMaybe line headerWithoutBracketsMaybe
  where
    headerWithoutBracketsMaybe = T.stripPrefix "[" line >>= T.stripSuffix "]"

isSectionHeader :: T.Text -> Bool
isSectionHeader line = T.isPrefixOf "[" strippedLine && T.isSuffixOf "]" strippedLine
  where
    strippedLine = T.strip line

addSection :: Ini -> Maybe Section -> Ini
addSection ini sectionMaybe = maybe ini (\section -> M.insert (name section) section ini) sectionMaybe

I'd love to get feedback on how to simplify the code and/or make it more readable.

Things I'm aware of and ok with at the moment:

• The parser doesn't support comments
• addSection could be eta-reduced
• I don't use a parsing library like Parsec
• I don't use lenses

Answer 1

Just a few comments – not a full review:

1. parseToIni :: T.Text -> Ini indicates that from any random string, parseToIni can produce an Ini. This makes me wonder how it would handle an invalid .ini file, or e.g. the string foo.

2. In updateSection :: Maybe Section -> T.Text -> Maybe Section the Maybes obfuscate what the function is supposed to do. Can the function produce a Nothing if the first argument is a Just? Better remove the Maybes and fmap the whole thing if needed. addSection is similar.

3. main would IMHO be more readable if it simply used do-notation.

4. In parseToIni, the worker function for foldr is complex enough that it should have a type annotation. It's ok to to simply call inner worker functions f IMHO.

5. I think it's a bit confusing that the section names appear both as the keys of Ini and in Section's name field. I'd probably remove the name field.

6. A few type synonyms for keys, values, section names etc might help with readability.

7. The order of parameters in addSection and updateSection is a bit unconventional. The usual a -> b -> b ordering is a bit nicer for partial applications.

8. IMHO, maybe (and similar functions like either) don't aid readability. If you don't want to come up with a variable name, try the LambdaCase extension.

9. Try Data.Text.IO.readFile.

10. Instead of getSectionName and isSectionName, have a single function of type Text -> Maybe SectionName.

All in all I think your code is pretty readable. It's mostly the types that could be a bit better.

Answer 2

I know you said you were fine with not using a parser combinator library like parsec, but I thought you might like to see the how the same thing might look using one, so I wrote an Attoparsec based parser for your data types:

{-# LANGUAGE LambdaCase        #-}
{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}

module IniParser where

import           Control.Monad               ( void )
import           Data.Attoparsec.Text        ( Parser
                                             , char
                                             , endOfInput
                                             , endOfLine
                                             , many'
                                             , many1
                                             , notInClass
                                             , parseOnly
                                             , satisfy
                                             , space
                                             )
import           Data.Map.Strict             ( Map )
import qualified Data.Map.Strict      as Map
import           Data.Text                   ( Text
                                             , pack
                                             )
import           System.Environment          ( getArgs )

type Ini = Map Text Section

data Section = Section
  { name       :: Text
  , properties :: Map Text Text
  } deriving (Show)

main :: IO ()
main = do
  [path] <- getArgs
  parseIniFile path >>= \case
    Right ini -> putStrLn $ "Parsed INI: " ++ show ini
    Left err  -> putStrLn $ "ERROR parsing ini: " ++ err

parseIniFile :: FilePath -> IO (Either String Ini)
parseIniFile iniFilePath = parseIni . pack <$> readFile iniFilePath

parseIni :: Text -> Either String Ini
parseIni = parseOnly ini

ini :: Parser Ini
ini = do
  defaultSection <- lexeme (Section "" <$> (Map.fromList <$> many' property))
  namedSections  <- lexeme (many' section)
  void $ endOfInput
  let allSections | null (properties defaultSection) = namedSections
                  | otherwise = defaultSection:namedSections
  pure . Map.fromList . map (\section -> (name section, section))
    $ allSections

section :: Parser Section
section = Section <$> sectionName <*> (Map.fromList <$> many' (lexeme property))

sectionName :: Parser Text
sectionName = char '[' *> sectionNameChars <* char ']' <* endOfLine

sectionNameChars :: Parser Text
sectionNameChars = pack <$> many' (satisfy $ notInClass "]\r\n")

property :: Parser (Text, Text)
property = (,) <$> propertyName <*> (lexeme (char '=') *> propertyValue)

propertyName :: Parser Text
propertyName = pack <$> many' (satisfy $ notInClass "=\r\n\t ")

propertyValue :: Parser Text
propertyValue = pack <$> many' (satisfy $ notInClass "\r\n")

lexeme :: Parser a -> Parser a
lexeme p = whitespace *> p <* whitespace

whitespace :: Parser String
whitespace = many' space

I think the main strength of the approach is self pretty self-evident. It eliminates all the multi-line lambdas, the entire foldr, etc. which (at least IMHO) really obscures the essence of what the code is expressing.

Additionally I've restricted the use of qualified imports to a single one usage where I think it makes the code more readable, though your taste may vary.

You can see the whole stack based project here if you're interested.