[Section]
bar=foo
[Section 2]
bar2= baz

[Section 3]
barList={
    item1,
    item2
}

[Section 3]
barList=item1,item2

[Foo]
fibs: [1,1,2,3,5,8,13]

>>> json.loads(config.get("Foo","fibs"))
[1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13]

[Bar]
files_to_check = [
     "/path/to/file1",
     "/path/to/file2",
     "/path/to/another file with space in the name"
     ]

[paths]
path1           = /some/path/
path2           = /another/path/
...

path_items = config.items( "paths" )
for key, path in path_items:
    #do something with path

;test.ini
[hello]
barlist =
    item1
    item2

"nitem1nitem2"

def aslist_cronly(value):
    if isinstance(value, string_types):
        value = filter(None, [x.strip() for x in value.splitlines()])
    return list(value)

def aslist(value, flatten=True):
    """ Return a list of strings, separating the input based on newlines
    and, if flatten=True (the default), also split on spaces within
    each line."""
    values = aslist_cronly(value)
    if not flatten:
        return values
    result = []
    for value in values:
        subvalues = value.split()
        result.extend(subvalues)
    return result

class MyConfigParser(ConfigParser):
    def getlist(self,section,option):
        value = self.get(section,option)
        return list(filter(None, (x.strip() for x in value.splitlines())))

    def getlistint(self,section,option):
        return [int(x) for x in self.getlist(section,option)]

[global]
spys = richard.sorge@cccp.gov, mata.hari@deutschland.gov

SPYS = [e.strip() for e in parser.get('global', 'spys').split(',')]

['richard.sorge@cccp.gov', 'mata.hari@deutschland.gov']

ast.literal_eval()

[section]
option=["item1","item2","item3"]

import ConfigParser
import ast

my_list = ast.literal_eval(config.get("section", "option"))
print(type(my_list))
print(my_list)

<type'list'>
["item1","item2","item3"]

def get(self, section, option):
    """ Get a parameter
    if the returning value is a list, convert string value to a python list"""
    value = SafeConfigParser.get(self, section, option)
    if (value[0] == "[") and (value[-1] == "]"):
        return eval(value)
    else:
        return value

class Section
    bar = foo
class Section2
    bar2 = baz
class Section3
    barList=[ item1, item2 ]

[sect]
alist = a
        b
        c

l = config.get('sect', 'alist').split('n')

nlist = 1
        2
        3

nl = config.get('sect', 'alist').split('n')
l = [int(nl) for x in nl]

import ConfigParser
import os

class Parser(object):
    """attributes may need additional manipulation"""
    def __init__(self, section):
        """section to retun all options on, formatted as an object
        transforms all comma-delimited options to lists
        comma-delimited lists with colons are transformed to dicts
        dicts will have values expressed as lists, no matter the length
        """
        c = ConfigParser.RawConfigParser()
        c.read(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'config.cfg'))

        self.section_name = section

        self.__dict__.update({k:v for k, v in c.items(section)})

        #transform all ',' into lists, all ':' into dicts
        for key, value in self.__dict__.items():
            if value.find(':') > 0:
                #dict
                vals = value.split(',')
                dicts = [{k:v} for k, v in [d.split(':') for d in vals]]
                merged = {}
                for d in dicts:
                    for k, v in d.items():
                        merged.setdefault(k, []).append(v)
                self.__dict__[key] = merged
            elif value.find(',') > 0:
                #list
                self.__dict__[key] = value.split(',')

[server]
credentials=username:admin,password:$3<r3t
loggingdirs=/tmp/logs,~/logs,/var/lib/www/logs
timeoutwait=15

>>> import config
>>> my_server = config.Parser('server')
>>> my_server.credentials
{'username': ['admin'], 'password', ['$3<r3t']}
>>> my_server.loggingdirs:
['/tmp/logs', '~/logs', '/var/lib/www/logs']
>>> my_server.timeoutwait
'15'