diff --git a/key-value/key-value.go b/key-value/key-value.go
index 3616eba..b234ab8 100644
--- a/key-value/key-value.go
+++ b/key-value/key-value.go
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ package keyValue
 import "io"
 import "bufio"
 import "strings"
+import "strconv"
+import "unicode"
 import "git.tebibyte.media/tomo/xdg/locale"
 
 type keyValueError string
@@ -42,6 +44,16 @@ const (
 	ErrNoDefaultValue = keyValueError("no default value")
 	// ErrEntryOutsideGroup indicates that an entry was found.
 	ErrEntryOutsideGroup = keyValueError("entry outside group")
+	// ErrUnsupportedEscape indicates that an unsupported escape sequence
+	// was found.
+	ErrUnsupportedEscape = keyValueError("unsupported escape")
+	
+	// ErrStringNotASCII indicates that a string or iconstring value was not
+	// found to contain valid ASCII text.
+	ErrStringNotASCII = keyValueError("string not ascii")
+	// ErrBooleanNotTrueOrFalse indicates that a boolean value was not found
+	// to equal "true" or "false".
+	ErrBooleanNotTrueOrFalse = keyValueError("boolean not true or false")
 )
 
 // Parse parses a key/value file from a Reader.
@@ -216,3 +228,133 @@ func (entry Entry) Localize (locale locale.Locale) string {
 }
 
 // TODO have functions to parse/validate all data types
+
+// ParseString parses a value of type string.
+// Values of type string may contain all ASCII characters except for control
+// characters.
+// The escape sequences \s, \n, \t, \r, and \\ are supported, meaning ASCII
+// space, newline, tab, carriage return, and backslash, respectively.
+func ParseString (value string) (string, error) {
+	value, err := escapeString(value)
+	if err != nil { return "", err }
+	if !isAsciiText(value) { return "", ErrStringNotASCII }
+	return value, nil
+}
+
+// ParseLocaleString parses a value of type localestring.
+// Values of type localestring are user displayable, and are encoded in UTF-8.
+// The escape sequences \s, \n, \t, \r, and \\ are supported, meaning ASCII
+// space, newline, tab, carriage return, and backslash, respectively.
+func ParseLocaleString (value string) (string, error) {
+	return value, nil
+}
+
+// ParseIconString parses a value of type iconstring.
+// Values of type iconstring are the names of icons; these may be absolute
+// paths, or symbolic names for icons located using the algorithm described in
+// the Icon Theme Specification. Such values are not user-displayable, and are
+// encoded in UTF-8.
+// The escape sequences \s, \n, \t, \r, and \\ are supported, meaning ASCII
+// space, newline, tab, carriage return, and backslash, respectively.
+func ParseIconString (value string) (string, error) {
+	value, err := escapeString(value)
+	if err != nil { return "", err }
+	if !isAsciiText(value) { return "", ErrStringNotASCII }
+	return value, nil
+}
+
+// ParseBoolean parses a value of type boolean.
+// Values of type boolean must either be the string true or false.
+func ParseBoolean (value string) (bool, error) {
+	if value == "true"  { return true,  nil }
+	if value == "false" { return false, nil }
+	return false, ErrBooleanNotTrueOrFalse
+}
+
+// ParseNumeric parses a value of type numeric.
+// Values of type numeric must be a valid floating point number as recognized by
+// the %f specifier for scanf in the C locale.
+func ParseNumeric (value string) (float64, error) {
+	// TODO ensure this is compliant
+	return strconv.ParseFloat(value, 64)
+}
+
+// ParseMultiple parses multiple of a value type. Any value parsing function can
+// be specified. The multiple values should be separated by a semicolon and the
+// input string may be optionally terminated by a semicolon. Trailing empty
+// strings must always be terminated with a semicolon. Semicolons in these
+// values need to be escaped using \;.
+func ParseMultiple[T any] (parser func (string) (T, error), value string) ([]T, error) {
+	values  := []T { }
+	builder := strings.Builder { }
+
+	newValue := func () error {
+		value, err := parser(builder.String())
+		if err != nil { return err }
+		values = append(values, value)
+		builder.Reset()
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	backslash := false
+	for _, char := range value {
+		switch char {
+		case '\\':
+			backslash = true
+		case ';':
+			if backslash {
+				builder.WriteRune(';')
+				backslash = false
+			} else {
+				err := newValue()
+				if err != nil { return nil, err }
+			}
+		default:
+			if backslash {
+				builder.WriteRune('\\')
+				backslash = false
+			}
+			builder.WriteRune(char)
+		}
+	}
+	if backslash {
+		builder.WriteRune('\\')
+	}
+	if builder.Len() > 0 {
+		err := newValue()
+		if err != nil { return nil, err }
+	}
+	return values, nil
+}
+
+func isAsciiText (value string) bool {
+	for _, char := range value {
+		// must be an ascii character that isn't a control character.
+		if char <= 0x1F || char > unicode.MaxASCII {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+func escapeString (value string) (string, error) {
+	builder   := strings.Builder { }
+	backslash := false
+	for _, char := range value {
+		if char == '\\' { backslash = true; continue }
+
+		if backslash {
+			switch char {
+			case 's':  builder.WriteRune(' ')
+			case 'n':  builder.WriteRune('\n')
+			case 't':  builder.WriteRune('\t')
+			case 'r':  builder.WriteRune('\r')
+			case '\\': builder.WriteRune('\\')
+			default: return "", ErrUnsupportedEscape
+			}
+		} else {
+			builder.WriteRune(char)
+		}
+	}
+	return builder.String(), nil
+}