The 'ini' formatter will convert an associative array into a textual representation that can be parsed with the php function parse_ini_file() or parse_ini_string(). The source array should be a simple associative array of key: value pairs; however, it is also possible to format an associative array of the same kind used by the 'table' formatter if the Drush command defines which column of the table should serve as the 'value' data.

The command `drush core-requirements`, when called with the --pipe option, will use the 'ini' formatter to produce its output. The output format record in the core-requirements command definition array contains an entry 'ini-item' => 'sid'; this indicates that the field 'sid' should appear as the data item in the ini format's output.

$ drush core-requirements --pipe

cron: 2
drupal: -1
(Note: the output above has been shortened for clarity; the actual output of core-requirements contains additional rows not shown here.)

For an example of code that would produce the output above, please see the example shown in the 'table' formatter.

See also: 'ini-sections' output formatter.