def read_config(parameter):
    """get the value of  a configuration parameter"""
    para_list = parameter.split(".")
    config = Config()
    obj = config
    response = None
    for i in range(len(para_list)):

	# Check to see if they are using subscripts
        p = re.compile('\[(.*?)\]')
        m = p.search(para_list[i])

	if bool(p.search(para_list[i])) == True:
	    # Get the base item of the subscript first
	    item = re.sub(r'\[.*?\]', '', para_list[i])

	    response = getattr(obj, item)


	    if type(obj) == list:
	        # Get the subscript object
	        print len(m.group(1))
	        if len(m.group(1)) == 0:
		    obj = response[0]
	        else:
                    obj = response[int(m.group(1))]
	    else:
	      print item
              response = getattr(obj, item)
              obj = response


	else:
            response = getattr(obj, para_list[i])
            obj = response
    return response