Maybe you wanted Config::Tiny::Ordered to maintain order? It seems that Config::Tiny documents that it does not maintain the order of the sections.

Config::IniFiles also does not maintain the section order, I think.

I use Config::IniFiles but I have defined an order in which the sections will be joined.

UPDATE: never mind! Better choice of module as suggested by Corion will solve this issue.

Hashes don't store their keys in order, so that's why (keys %...) returns them in a way you don't expect. For the inner case, replace

with

For the outer loop, perhaps store the sections in array instead of a hash?

This "(sort keys %{$config->{$section}}" has solved my problem .. Thanks a lot :) good solution

Hm, I am not sure why you would need them to be ordered.

You might want to order them during development so you could print and check to see that Config::Tiny is in fact processing your file properly, but in your program you should not be using them in a list anyway --- the whole point of an .ini file is to have named parameters ... so that you can avoid having to remember the order and having to use your params in order.

After you have tested, you will want to use Config::Tiny to slurp in your named parameters, and then just use them as you need them:

# in ini file
[Section1]
foo=bar
baz=quux
[Section2]
perl=cool
[download]

# in program after reading file with Config::Tiny
# note you can use them in any order you want
my $perl = $ini->{'Section2'}->{'perl'};
my $baz = $ini->{'Section1'}->{'baz'};
my $foo = $ini->{'Section1'}->{'foo'};
[download]

Please state your reason for needing to sort your config parameters if this doesn't make sense to you.

I think this requirement comes from the code in 1133314:

foreach $ini_sect ( keys %ini_file ) {

        %$ini_sect = %{ $ini_file{$ini_sect} };
}
[download]

This builds up a common structure from information distributed across different sections. I use a similar approach to have "common" and "specialized" sections:

[GENERAL]
FOO=bar
TEMPLATE=./templates/mytemplate-v3.html

[until-20150409]
TEMPLATE=./templates/mytemplate-v2.html

[until-20150307]
TEMPLATE=./templates/mytemplate-v1.html
[download]

OK, so you have options for your options based on things, like maybe the date. I must be dense today, but I can't see how sorting would help unless you have cleverly named your sections (as in your example) and then do:

my $template;
while ( I am looping through Sections) {
  next unless first half of name is 'until';
  next unless date in second half of name hasn't passed yet;
  $template = this_Section->{TEMPLATE};
  last;
}
[download]

But for the OP, how would

foreach $ini_sect ( sort keys %ini_file ) {
  %$ini_sect = %{ $ini_file{$ini_sect} };
}
[download]

be any better than

foreach $ini_sect ( keys %ini_file ) {
  %$ini_sect = %{ $ini_file{$ini_sect} };
}
[download]

??

Remember: Ne dederis in spiritu molere illegitimi!

I was not aware of Tiny::Config::Ordered until today. However, the Hash::Ordered module v0.009 is quite nice IMO.

The following diff is all that's needed to preserve order transparently in Tiny::Config.

$ diff -u Tiny.pm.orig Tiny.pm
--- Tiny.pm.orig    2015-07-06 12:51:54.000000000 -0400
+++ Tiny.pm    2015-07-06 13:02:22.000000000 -0400
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # If you thought Config::Simple was small...

 use strict;
+use Hash::Ordered;

 # Warning: There is another version line, in t/02.main.t.

@@ -39,7 +40,8 @@
 # Create an object from a string
 sub read_string {
     my $class = ref $_[0] ? ref shift : shift;
-    my $self  = bless {}, $class;
+    tie my %obj, 'Hash::Ordered';
+    my $self  = bless \%obj, $class;
     return undef unless defined $_[0];

     # Parse the file
@@ -59,7 +61,10 @@
             # Create the sub-hash if it doesn't exist.
             # Without this sections without keys will not
             # appear at all in the completed struct.
-            $self->{$ns = $1} ||= {};
+            $self->{$ns = $1} ||= do{
+                tie my %obj, 'Hash::Ordered';
+                \%obj;
+            };
             next;
         }
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The output order matches the ini file (sections and elements).

$ perl test.pl
[insert]
SQL1 = insert into table <table1>
SQL2 = insert into table <table2>
SQL3 = insert into table <table3>
SQL4 = insert into table <table4>
[Truncate]
SQL1 = truncate table <tablename1>
SQL2 = truncate table <tablename2>
[update]
SQL1 = update into <table1>
SQL2 = update into <table2>
[download]

I sent the link to the first post to both authors.

Kind regards, Mario

Thanks all for the help.. the best solution found by using 'sort' keyword.. which makes my job easy...and its working perfectly..however I have gone through the other solutions as well.. Appreciate.. right now I don't want to change my logic which is working and printing all section and parameter in order.  use Config::Tiny::Ordered; this is quite helpful.