@ Jonathan,

>Because keys, values, and key/value pairs in the Pd preferences are themselves simple:

>keys: ascii string containing no spaces

>values: number, numbers separated by whitespace, ascii string with no

whitespace, and file paths.

Pseudo XML may not be needed but what was the trouble with it anyway?

I think I can retrieve ANY string with [mrpeach/binfile].

Why not in C ?

Just a thought.