Syntax Cheatsheet

Quick reference for mapping JSON to TOON format. For rigorous, normative syntax rules and edge cases, see the Specification.

Objects

::: code-group

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "Ada"
}

id: 1
name: Ada

:::

Nested Objects

::: code-group

{
  "user": {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Ada"
  }
}

user:
  id: 1
  name: Ada

:::

Primitive Arrays

::: code-group

{
  "tags": ["foo", "bar", "baz"]
}

tags[3]: foo,bar,baz

:::

Tabular Arrays

::: code-group

{
  "items": [
    { "id": 1, "qty": 5 },
    { "id": 2, "qty": 3 }
  ]
}

items[2]{id,qty}:
  1,5
  2,3

:::

Mixed and Non-Uniform Arrays

::: code-group

{
  "items": [1, { "a": 1 }, "x"]
}

items[3]:
  - 1
  - a: 1
  - x

:::

[!NOTE] When a list-item object has a tabular array as its first field, the tabular header appears on the hyphen line. Rows are indented two levels deeper than the hyphen, and other fields are indented one level deeper. This is the canonical encoding for this pattern.

::: code-group

items[1]:
  - users[2]{id,name}:
      1,Ada
      2,Bob
    status: active

items[1]:
  - users[2]{id,name}:
      1,Ada
      2,Bob

:::

Arrays of Arrays

::: code-group

{
  "pairs": [[1, 2], [3, 4]]
}

pairs[2]:
  - [2]: 1,2
  - [2]: 3,4

:::

Root Arrays

::: code-group

["x", "y", "z"]

[3]: x,y,z

:::

Empty Containers

::: code-group

{}

(empty output)

:::

::: code-group

{
  "items": []
}

items: []

:::

Quoting Special Cases

Strings That Look Like Literals

::: code-group

{
  "version": "123",
  "enabled": "true"
}

version: "123"
enabled: "true"

:::

These strings must be quoted because they look like numbers/booleans.

Strings Containing Delimiters

::: code-group

{
  "note": "hello, world"
}

note: "hello, world"

:::

Strings must be quoted when they contain the active delimiter (inside an array scope) or the document delimiter (object field values, comma by default).

Strings with Leading/Trailing Spaces

::: code-group

{
  "message": " padded "
}

message: " padded "

:::

Empty String

::: code-group

{
  "name": ""
}

name: ""

:::

Quoting Rules Summary

Strings must be quoted if they:

• Are empty ("")
• Have leading or trailing whitespace
• Equal true, false, or null (case-sensitive)
• Look like numbers (e.g., "42", "-3.14", "1e-6", "05", "+1")
• Contain special characters: :, ", \, [, ], {, }, or any control character (U+0000–U+001F, including newline/tab/CR)
• Contain the relevant delimiter – the active delimiter inside an array scope, or the document delimiter (comma by default) for object field values
• Equal "-" or start with "-" followed by any character
• Equal "#" or start with "#" (the line would read as a comment)

Otherwise, strings can be unquoted. Unicode and emoji are safe:

message: Hello 世界 👋
note: This has inner spaces

Escape Sequences

Six escape sequences are valid in quoted strings:

Other escapes (e.g., \x, \0, \b) are invalid, and lone-surrogate \uXXXX values (U+D800–U+DFFF) are rejected.

Array Headers

Basic Header

key[N]:

• N = array length
• Default delimiter: comma

Tabular Header

key[N]{field1,field2,field3}:

• N = array length
• {fields} = column names
• Default delimiter: comma

Nested Field Groups

key[N]{id,customer{name,country},total}:

• customer{…} = a column of uniform sub-objects folded into the header
• Rows stay flat: cells follow a depth-first walk of the field list

See Format Overview – Nested Field Groups for details.

Alternative Delimiters

::: code-group

items[2	]{id	name}:
  1	Ada
  2	Bob

items[2|]{id|name}:
  1|Ada
  2|Bob

:::

The delimiter symbol appears inside the brackets and braces.

Keyed Tabular Objects

An object of uniform objects collapses into a keyed header with one entry row per entry:

users[2:]{age,city}:
  alice: 30,Berlin
  bob: 25,Paris

See Format Overview – Keyed Tabular Objects for details.

Comments

Lines whose first non-space character is # are stripped before decoding:

# Full-line comments only; encoders never emit them
host: example.com

Type Conversions

::: info TOON itself doesn't specify how Date should be encoded – the spec leaves this to implementations. This library emits an ISO 8601 string in quotes; other implementations may choose differently. :::