Reading value without using sections - delphi

Question

How do I read value from INI file without using sections?
So instead of normal file:
[section]
name=value
it would result in this:
name=value

Answer 1

I wouldn't call it an INI file, then. Anyhow, for this the TStringList class fits perfectly.
Consider the file animals.txt:
dog=Sally
rat=Fiona
cat=Linus
And consider this code:
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
with TStringList.Create do
try
LoadFromFile('C:\Users\Andreas Rejbrand\Desktop\animals.txt');
ShowMessage(Values['dog']);
finally
Free;
end;
end;

Answer 2

There's a nice tutorial over here. For example, if iniFile is an instance of TIniFile, you can call the iniFile.ReadString method with an empty section specifier.

Answer 3

This is a late answer but here is some code I wrote for my project:
function GetPropertyValue(aFile, Key: string): string;
var
properties: TStringList;
begin
properties := TStringList.Create;
try
properties.LoadFromFile(aFile);
Result := properties.Values[key];
finally
properties.free;
end;
end;
procedure SetPropertyValue(aFile, Key, Value: string);
var
I: Integer;
properties: TStringList;
found: Boolean;
begin
found := False;
properties := TStringList.Create;
try
properties.LoadFromFile(aFile);
for I := 0 to properties.Count -1 do
begin
if properties.Names[I] = Key then
begin
properties[I] := Key + '=' + Value;
found := True;
Break
end;
end;
if not found then
begin
properties.Add(Key + '=' + Value);
end;
finally
properties.SaveToFile(aFile);
properties.free;
end;
end;

Answer 4

I think the question really needs more information. Often people will ask questions relating to what they think they need to do instead of asking questions related to what they are actually trying to accomplish.
Why do you need to do this instead of using the normal methods of reading the ini entries?
If these are existing ini files, then you should use the Tinifile.ReadSections to read the section names into a stringlist and then iterate through that list using Tinifile.ReadSectionValues to read all the section name/values pairs.
Are you reading existing INI files, or reading and writing your own files?
If these are your own files, then Andreas has a good answer above.