Line-format guides

Recipe-style walk-throughs for the Bodu line formats - Bodu.Text.Delimited, Bodu.Text.DotEnv, and Bodu.Text.Ini (available together through the Bodu.Text.Formats umbrella package).

If you are new to the family, start with the introduction, the Core concepts glossary, and the getting-started page. The guides below assume you know the quartet vocabulary (token reader/writer, serializer, mutable node DOM, read-only document DOM).

How the libraries work

Each format is a self-contained System.Text.Json-shaped library: a forward-only Utf8*Reader / Utf8*Writer pair over UTF-8 bytes, a *Serializer that binds POCOs and dictionaries with the shared attribute/naming-policy/callback layer, a mutable *Node DOM for authoring, and a disposable read-only *Document DOM for querying.

The serializer infrastructure (attributes, naming policies, callbacks) is shared with the TOML, Bencode, and YAML libraries - see the Bodu serializer guides.

Namespace map

Namespace	What lives here	Guides
Bodu.Text.Delimited	DelimitedSerializer, the dialect-policy enums, and the exceptions; readers/writers and DOMs in the .Reader / .Writer / .Nodes / .Document child namespaces.	Using delimited
Bodu.Text.DotEnv	DotEnvSerializer and companions, with the same child-namespace layout.	Using DotEnv
Bodu.Text.Ini	IniSerializer, the duplicate-policy enums, and companions; the two readers live in Bodu.Text.Ini.Reader.	Using INI

Guides

• Choosing a text format - which format fits which job, round-trip fidelity, error recovery.
• Using delimited (CSV / TSV) - documents, typed records, dialect policies, CSV↔TSV conversion.
• Using DotEnv - literal values, quoting, export prefixes, typed settings.
• Using INI - global keys and sections, comment-preserving edits, duplicate policies.
• Streams and token-level I/O - the forward-only readers/writers and the record-streaming serializer surface.
• Errors across the line formats - the *FormatException / *SerializationException pair per format, what each carries, and which reader policies tolerate dirty input.
• Reflection-free binding with the source generator - emit IDelimitedRecordFactory<TRecord> / IIniSectionFactory<TSection> implementations at build time for trimming- and AOT-safe binding.
• Writer options and DOM options - every *WriterOptions, *NodeOptions, and *DocumentOptions struct across the line formats and the serializer DOMs, with the effect of each knob.

Suggested reading path

1. Choosing a text format
2. The guide for your format
3. Streams and token-level I/O for large inputs
4. Errors across the line formats before shipping a parser of untrusted files

Where to go next

• The serializer guides for the shared attribute family, naming policies, and callbacks - including Migrating from System.Text.Json and Serializer options: freezing, caching, and thread safety, both of which cover the line formats too.
• Bodu.Text.Configuration when you need EditorConfig-style layered configuration rather than raw INI.