set_config_string(3alleg4)

💖 set_config_string 💖

okay bestie, so this is a page from the Allegro manual — the Allegro game programming library, if you didn't already know, and we're talking about set_config_string, which is literally the girl who writes your strings into the config file. main character energy fr fr. ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <allegro.h>

void set_config_string(const char *section, const char *name, const char *val);

like, that's the whole signature. she takes a section, a name, and a val and she does her thing. periodt. 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So here's the tea: set_config_string writes a string variable to the current config file, replacing any existing value it may have. Just fully evicting the old value, no apology, iconic behaviour honestly. 💖

And if val is NULL? Not me deleting the variable entirely 😭 — yep, passing NULL as val removes the variable. gone. bye. 🎀

The section name is giving options:

• Set it to NULL and the variable goes to the root of the file, no section, just vibes.
• Or use it to control which section the variable is inserted into. very much your choice bestie. ✨

⚠️ okay so listen — the altered file gets cached in memory and is NOT actually written to disk until you call allegro_exit(). she's holding it in her head until you tell her to commit, lowkey relatable. 🫶

Also, important: you can only write to files this way. So if the current config source was specified with set_config_data() rather than set_config_file(), this function will have no effect. literally nothing. zero. 💀 not her fault, that's just how it is.

✨ the special case (iykyk) ✨

As a special case, variable or section names that begin with a # character are treated specially and will not be read from or written to the disk. So sneaky, so chic. 🌈

Addon packages can use this to store version info or other status information into the config module, from where it can be read with the get_config_string() function. cute little secret pocket, love that for them. 🍓

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• set_config_file(3alleg4)
• get_config_string(3alleg4)
• set_config_float(3alleg4)
• set_config_hex(3alleg4)
• set_config_int(3alleg4)
• set_config_id(3alleg4)

go read those too bestie, they're all in the same friend group fr fr. 💜

and that's the whole page!! written by Allegro, version 4.4.3, and dated right along with set_config_string(3alleg4) — mwah, slay, go write some strings. 💅✨🎀