CoffeeScript-Object-Notation Parser. Same as JSON but for CoffeeScript objects.

Projects using CSON.

• Use: require('cson')
• Install: npm install --save cson

Everyone knows JSON, it's the thing that looks like this:

{
	"abc": [
		"a",
		"b",
		"c"
	],
	"a": {
		"b": "c"
	}
}

But with the invention of CoffeeScript you can also write the same thing in CSON which looks like this:

{
	# an array
	abc: [
		'a'
		'b'
		'c'
	]

	# an object
	a:
		b: 'c'
}

Which is far more lenient than JSON, way nicer to write and read, no need to quote everything, has comments and readable multi-line strings, and won't fail if you forget a comma.

• With Node.js in JavaScript

   // Include CSON
   CSON = require('cson');
  
   // Parse a file path
   CSON.parseFile('data.cson', function(err,obj){});  // async
   result = CSON.parseFileSync('data.cson');  // sync
  
   // Parse a String
   CSON.parse(src, function(err,obj){});  // async
   result = CSON.parseSync(src);  // sync
  
   // Stringify an object to CSON
   CSON.stringify(obj, function(err,str){});  // async
   result = CSON.stringifySync(obj);  // sync

• With Node.js in CoffeeScript

   # Include CSON
   CSON = require('cson')
  
   # Parse a file path
   CSON.parseFile 'data.cson', (err,obj) ->  # async
   result = CSON.parseFileSync('data.cson')  # sync
  
   # Parse a string
   CSON.parse src, (err,obj) ->  # async
   result = CSON.parseSync(src)  # sync
  
   # Stringify an object to CSON
   CSON.stringify data, (err,str) ->  # async
   result = CSON.stringifySync(obj)  # sync

• Via the command line (requires a global installation of CSON via npm install -g cson)

   # JSON file to CSON String
   json2cson filePath > out.cson
  
   # CSON file to JSON String
   cson2json filePath > out.json

CSON is fantastic for developers writing their own configuration to be executed on their own machines, but bad for configuration you can't trust. This is because parsing CSON will execute the CSON input as CoffeeScript code (making it unsafe, so while true would work) but it does so inside a node virtual machine for isolation (making it secure, so require('fs') won't work) resulting in the evaluated JavaScript object. This is a non-issue for the only use case which CSON actually makes sense for (developers writing their own configuration to be executed on their own machines). Issue #32 has more information.

Discover the change history by heading on over to the HISTORY.md file.

Discover how you can contribute by heading on over to the CONTRIBUTING.md file.

These amazing people are maintaining this project:

• Benjamin Lupton [email protected] (https://github.com/balupton)

No sponsors yet! Will you be the first?

These amazing people have contributed code to this project:

• attilaolah — view contributions
• Benjamin Lupton [email protected] — view contributions
• evinugur — view contributions
• jasonkarns — view contributions
• Joel Perras [email protected] — view contributions
• Linus G Thiel [email protected] — view contributions
• Nicolae Claudius [email protected] — view contributions
• RobLoach — view contributions
• Ryan LeFevre [email protected] — view contributions
• Zearin — view contributions
• Zhang Cheng [email protected] — view contributions

Become a contributor!

Licensed under the incredibly permissive MIT license

Copyright © 2012+ Bevry Pty Ltd [email protected] (https://bevry.me)
Copyright © 2011 Benjamin Lupton [email protected] (https://balupton.com)