Null

Problem

Null keys do not have a semantic and make API more difficult.

Constraints

Assumptions

Considered Alternatives

• remove null keys, i.e. keyValue always returns a string (e.g. empty string on new keys)

Decision

Null keys get clear semantics: they are for representing keys that do not have a value, i.e., only represent structure in configuration files.

For example, an INI section is a null key:

[section]
key = value

For example, in other config formats there might be keys without any value. Here key1 would be a null-key and thus is different to the value of key2, i.e., an empty string:

key1
key2 = ""

Rationale

Implications

Related Decisions

• Key Name

Notes