TOML
TOML's syntax primarily consists of key = "value" pairs, [section names], and # comments. TOML's syntax somewhat resembles that of .INI files, but it includes a formal specification,
whereas the INI file format suffers from many competing variants. Its specification includes a list of supported data types: String, Integer, Float, Boolean, Datetime, Array, and Table. <syntaxhighlight lang="toml">
# This is a TOML document. title = "TOML Example"
[owner]
name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
dob = 1979-05-27T07:32:00-08:00 # First class dates
[database]
server = "192.168.1.1"
ports = [ 8000, 8001, 8002 ]
connection_max = 5000
enabled = true
[servers]
 # Indentation (tabs and/or spaces) is allowed but not required
 [servers.alpha]
 ip = "10.0.0.1"
 dc = "eqdc10"
 [servers.beta]
 ip = "10.0.0.2"
 dc = "eqdc10"
[clients]
data = [ ["gamma", "delta"], [1, 2] ]
# Line breaks are OK when inside arrays
hosts = [
 "alpha",
 "omega"
</syntaxhighlight> The following table draws on the TOML specification to make a comparison to other popular configuration formats. Since its first release TOML has received several critiques. The following is not a consensus. The StrictYAML project lists the following points as problematic in TOML:


The libconfini project has since released a more extensive critique of TOML from the INI perspective, listing the following points (among others) as problematic:
Comparison to other formats
TOML is a file format for configuration files.