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https://github.com/monsterkodi/noon

no ordinary object notation
https://github.com/monsterkodi/noon

data-format noon object-notation serialization

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no ordinary object notation

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![Logo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/monsterkodi/noon/master/img/icon.png)
![noon](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/monsterkodi/noon/master/img/noon.png)

### noon

is an object notation with a focus on human readability.

Whitespace is preferred over other control characters:

- Indentation is used to express hierarchy
- Strings don't need to be escaped
- works well in config files
- works well in [command line arguments](https://github.com/monsterkodi/colorcat/blob/master/test/test.sh)
- good for storing [regexp patterns](https://github.com/monsterkodi/ko/blob/master/syntax/ko.noon)

### example files

* [package](https://github.com/monsterkodi/noon/blob/master/package.noon)
* [language](https://github.com/monsterkodi/language-noon/blob/master/grammars/noon.noon)
* [font](https://github.com/monsterkodi/salter/blob/master/font.noon)
* [menu](https://github.com/monsterkodi/kaligraf/blob/master/coffee/menu.noon)

### format

#### hierarchy

is expressed by indentation with spaces

```
grandpa
parent
child
sibling
uncle
```

#### dictionaries

two or more spaces mark the end of a dictionary key, therefore ...
keys and list items can have single spaces in them but ...
unescaped dictionary keys can't contain consecutive spaces:

```
key 1 value 1
key 2 value 2 contains spaces
```

#### one key makes an object

```
this is
an object
```

the above as json: `{"this is": null, "an": "object"}`
while

```
this is
not an object
```

is equivalent to `["this is", "not an object"]`

#### objects inside lists

are expressed like this:
```
.
a 1
.
b 2
```
the above as json: `[{"a": 1}, {"b": 2}]`

### strings

#### escaping

if trimming your strings is not an option, you can escape:

```
a | leading spaces
b trailing spaces |
c | leading and trailing spaces |
pipe symbol |||
empty string ||
```

keys must be escaped from both ends:

```
| s pace | key keeps spaces
| | key consists of spaces
|| key is empty string
```

#### multiline strings

```
key ...
value is
a text with
line breaks
which stops
now
...
```

#### comments

```coffeescript
# comments start with the hash sign
# mixing of data and comments is not allowed
therefore:
1 # this is not a comment
| # neither is this one
# but this one is
```

### inline

sometimes data needs to be encoded in a single line.

#### dense notation

```
key . a .. b . c
```

is equivalent to

```
key
a
b
c
```

#### one line notation

**::** represents a line break
no spaces in keys allowed, therefore ...
no two-space-seperation necessary:

```
key . a :: b . c :: d 1 :: e 2
```

is equivalent to

```
key
a
b
c
d 1
e 2
```

### command line

![cli](./img/cli.png)

### module

```coffeescript
noon = require 'noon'

# usage is similar to JSON

noon.stringify { hello: 'world' }

# hello world

noon.parse """
hello world
what's up? ☺
"""

# { hello: 'world', 'what\'s up?': '☺' }

stringify_options = # stringify's second argument, defaults are:
ext: 'noon' # output format: noon or json
indent: 4 # number of spaces per indent level
align: true # vertically align object values
maxalign: 32 # maximal number of spaces when aligning
sort: false # sort object keys alphabetically
circular: false # check for circular references (expensive!)
colors: false # colorize output with ansi colors

```

```coffeescript

# load data from file

data = noon.load 'file.noon'
data = noon.load 'file.json'

# write data to file

noon.save 'file.noon', data

noon.save 'file.noon', data, stringify_options
noon.save 'file.json', data # < write as json
noon.save 'noext', data, ext: 'noon'

```

### caveats

- keys can't start with the pipe symbol: |
- escaped keys can't contain the pipe symbol
- empty objects are not expressible

Don't use it if you can't live with the limitations mentioned above.

[![npm package][npm-image]][npm-url]
[![downloads][downloads-image]][downloads-url]

[npm-image]:https://img.shields.io/npm/v/noon.svg
[npm-url]:http://npmjs.org/package/noon
[downloads-image]:https://img.shields.io/npm/dm/noon.svg
[downloads-url]:https://www.npmtrends.com/noon