piml.js

Spec version: v1.1.0

piml.js is a JavaScript library for parsing and stringifying data in the PIML (Parenthesis Intended Markup Language) format. PIML is a human-readable, indentation-based data serialization format designed for configuration files and simple data structures.

Features

• Intuitive Syntax: Easy-to-read key-value pairs, supporting nested structures.
• Primitive Types: Supports strings, numbers, booleans, and null.
• Complex Types: Handles objects and arrays.
• Multi-line Strings: Supports multi-line string values with indentation.
• Comments: Allows single-line comments using # (only lines starting with # are treated as comments).

PIML Format Overview

PIML uses a simple key-value structure. Keys are enclosed in parentheses () , and values follow. Indentation defines nesting.

(site_name) PIML Demo
(port) 8080
(is_production) false
(version) 1.2

(database)
  (host) localhost
  (port) 5432

(admins)
  > (User)
    (id) 1
    (name) Alice
  > (User)
    (id) 2
    (name) Bob

(features)
  > auth
  > logging
  > metrics

(description)
  This is a sample product description.
  It spans multiple lines.

  With an empty line in between.

(metadata)
(related_ids) nil

Installation

To use piml.js in your project, you can install it via npm:

npm install piml.js

Or via yarn:

yarn add piml.js

Usage

Parsing PIML to JavaScript Objects

import { parse } from 'piml.js';

const pimlString = `
(site_name) My Awesome Site
(port) 8080
(is_production) true
(admins)
  > (User)
    (id) 1
    (name) Admin One
  > (User)
    (id) 2
    (name) Admin Two
(description)
  This is a multi-line
  description for the site.
`;

const config = parse(pimlString);
console.log(config);
/*
Output:
{
  site_name: 'My Awesome Site',
  port: 8080,
  is_production: true,
  admins: [
    { id: 1, name: 'Admin One' },
    { id: 2, name: 'Admin Two' }
  ],
  description: 'This is a multi-line\ndescription for the site.'
}
*/

Stringifying JavaScript Objects to PIML

import { stringify } from 'piml.js';

const config = {
  site_name: 'My Awesome Site',
  port: 8080,
  is_production: true,
  admins: [
    { id: 1, name: 'Admin One' },
    { id: 2, name: 'Admin Two' }
  ],
  description: 'This is a multi-line\ndescription for the site.'
};

const pimlString = stringify(config);
console.log(pimlString);
/*
Output:
(site_name) My Awesome Site
(port) 8080
(is_production) true
(admins)
  > (User)
    (id) 1
    (name) Admin One
  > (User)
    (id) 2
    (name) Admin Two
(description)
  This is a multi-line
  description for the site.
*/

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.