← All Modules

json

JSON serialization. No require() needed.

• json.parse(str) → table — Parse JSON string to Lua table
• json.encode(value) → string — Encode Lua value to JSON string
• json.array(t?) → table — Tag a table to encode as a JSON array (defaults to a fresh empty table when called with no argument)
• json.object(t?) → table — Tag a table to encode as a JSON object (defaults to a fresh empty table when called with no argument)

Empty tables

Lua has one composite type covering both arrays and objects, so the encoder has to pick a shape for {}. The default is object — json.encode({}) returns "{}". To express an empty JSON array, use json.array({}) (or just json.array()) which tags the table via a __jsontype = "array" metatable marker that the encoder honours regardless of contents.

json.encode({})                 -- "{}"
json.encode(json.array({}))     -- "[]"
json.encode(json.array({1,2}))  -- "[1,2]"
json.encode(json.object({"a"})) -- '{"1":"a"}'  (object with stringified key)

For non-empty tables the heuristic still applies: contiguous 1..N integer keys encode as arrays, anything else as objects. The helpers only matter when you need to override that.

yaml

YAML serialization. No require() needed.

• yaml.parse(str) → table — Parse YAML string to Lua table
• yaml.encode(table) → string — Encode Lua table to YAML string

toml

TOML serialization. No require() needed.

• toml.parse(str) → table — Parse TOML string to Lua table
• toml.encode(table) → string — Encode Lua table to TOML string