Structure of Config Files

Configuration files have a simple structure consisting of two parts, the stanza and key/value pairs.

1. A stanza is a section of the config file. It starts with a name (or number) surrounded by square brackets on a line by itself. A config file will have one or more stanza. Each stanza continues until the next stanza or end of file. Stanzas contain one or more ker/value pairs.
2. Key/value pairs set various values such as the ID of the node.

Config file comments are preceded with a semicolon.

In this example of two nodes the stanza is the node number and the key/value pairs set the CW ID and the ID timer:

[1998]
idrecording = |iW1ABC
idtime = 540000          ; 9 minutes

[1999]
idrecording = |iW1XYZ
idtime = 540000 

Settings to name other Stanzas

Within the node stanza, some key=value pairs point to other stanzas. This allows nodes on the same Asterisk/app_rpt server to have the same settings (without duplicate entries) or different settings in some cases. For example the phone patch command may be *6 on one node, yet *61 on another.

For example:

[1000]
functions=functionsVHF

[1001]
functions=functionsVHF

[1002]
functions=functionsUHF

[functionsVHF]
 ; Two meter Autopatch up is *6
6=autopatchup,noct=1,farenddisconnect=1,dialtime=20000 
0=autopatchdn       ; Autopatch down

[functionsUHF]
 ; 440 Autopatch up is *61
61=autopatchup,noct=1,farenddisconnect=1,dialtime=20000  ; Autopatch up
0=autopatchdn       ; Autopatch down

Note: A stanza is also called a context in Asterisk PBX terminology, particularly related to the dialplan.