Convert Nested INI Sections with Dot Notation to Deep JSON

Dot Notation for Deep Nesting

Some INI files use dot notation in section names to represent hierarchical configuration. For example, [database.primary] and [database.replica] both create objects nested under a database parent.

Example INI

[app]
name=MultiDB Service
version=3.0

[database.primary]
host=db-primary.example.com
port=5432
ssl=true

[database.replica]
host=db-replica.example.com
port=5432
ssl=true
readonly=true

[database.pool]
min=5
max=20
idle_timeout=30000

Generated JSON

{
  "app": {
    "name": "MultiDB Service",
    "version": 3
  },
  "database": {
    "primary": {
      "host": "db-primary.example.com",
      "port": 5432,
      "ssl": true
    },
    "replica": {
      "host": "db-replica.example.com",
      "port": 5432,
      "ssl": true,
      "readonly": true
    },
    "pool": {
      "min": 5,
      "max": 20,
      "idle_timeout": 30000
    }
  }
}

How Deep Nesting Works

The converter splits section names on dots and creates nested objects for each segment:

• [a] → { "a": { ... } }
• [a.b] → { "a": { "b": { ... } } }
• [a.b.c] → { "a": { "b": { "c": { ... } } } }

If a parent section (e.g., [database]) is not explicitly declared, the converter still creates the parent object to hold its children. Multiple subsections under the same parent are merged into the same parent object.

Round-Trip Conversion

When converting this JSON back to INI, the converter reconstructs the dot-notation section names, maintaining the original hierarchical structure.