Just a quick note for all those running into trouble escaping double quotes:
I got around this by "base64_encode()"-ing my content on the way in to the ini file, and "base64_decode()"-ing on the way out.
Because base64 uses the "=" sign, you will have to encapsulate the entire value in double quotes so the line looks like this:
varname = "TmlhZ2FyYSBGYWxscywgT04="
When base64'd, your strings will retain all \n, \t...etc... URL's retain everything perfectly :-)
I hope some of you find this useful!
Cheers, Kieran