Free CONF test files and sample generator

Generic directive-style configuration (like nginx/httpd). Generate valid .conf sample files for testing config loaders and deployment tooling.

Generate a .conf file →

What is a .conf file?

CONF: Generic Config File. A generic .conf file covers the directive-style configuration used by nginx, Apache, and many Unix daemons, comments, whitespace-separated directives and semicolons.

Why generate a test CONF file?

• Test a configuration reader or deployment template.
• Check that comments and blank lines are handled correctly.
• Exercise config-file size limits in a provisioning step.

How a .conf file is identified

A .conf file has no signature at the start. A text format has no identifying leading bytes, so the extension and the reported media type are the only claims about it until a parser actually reads it, which is why validating uploads by extension alone is unsafe.

How the size lands on the exact byte

The format allows comments, so the padding is comment lines, legal, inert, and visible if you open the file.

Negative testing with broken CONF files

• Invalid. Identifiable, but wrong inside, so it fails during parsing.
• Corrupted. The leading bytes are destroyed. Same length as the valid file.
• Incomplete. Truncated part-way, so it is genuinely shorter.
• Empty. Chosen under Content rather than File Condition: valid structure, no data.

Which failure to reach for, and what to assert for each, is covered in how to make a corrupted file for testing. For upload limits and type checks see testing file upload validation, and for this format's encodings, UTF-16 and BOM test files.

Sample CONF content

# config
setting_0 137;
setting_1 274;

This shows the shape of the file. Your download is generated fresh at the size you choose, so the values will differ.

How to open and verify the file

Any text editor; validate with the target daemon's own check command (e.g. `nginx -t`).

Media type text/plain · extension .conf · category Config & DevOps

Generate a .conf file → · questions about sizes, privacy or cost are answered on the site FAQ.

Frequently asked questions about CONF files

What identifies a .conf file?

Nothing at the start of the file does. A text format has no identifying leading bytes, so the extension and the reported media type are the only claims about it until a parser actually reads it, which is why validating uploads by extension alone is unsafe.

How can a .conf file be an exact number of bytes?

The format allows comments, so the padding is comment lines, legal, inert, and visible if you open the file.

Can I download several broken CONF files at once?

Yes, select more than one File Condition and you get one ZIP containing a .conf per condition, each named after its condition.

Can the CONF file use UTF-16 or a byte-order mark?

Yes. .conf is a text format, so it can be generated as UTF-8, UTF-8 with a byte-order mark, UTF-16 LE or UTF-16 BE. The body is shortened before re-encoding so the finished file still lands on the exact size you asked for. Note that a UTF-16 file always has an even byte count.

How do I open or verify the CONF file?

Any text editor; validate with the target daemon's own check command (e.g. nginx -t).

Related Config & DevOps formats

ENV · INI · TOML · Dockerfile · gitignore · Properties · Makefile · EditorConfig

Browse all file formats →