NestedTextTo

CLI to convert between NestedText and JSON, YAML, HUML, or TOML, with explicit type casting

<img src="https://github.com/AndydeCleyre/nestedtextto/blob/assets/logo.png?raw=true" alt="logo" width="160" height="160" />

This project was created in appreciation for the design of NestedText, the readability of yamlpath queries, the utility of cattrs, and the joy of plumbum and ward -- none of which are this author's projects.

This project, NestedTextTo, provides command line tools for convenient conversion between NestedText and other formats:

• nt2 with subcommands: json, yaml, toml, huml

  • nt2 {json,toml,yaml} can also be invoked as a single command: nt2json, nt2toml, nt2yaml

• 2nt with subcommands: json, yaml, toml, huml

  • 2nt {json,toml,yaml} can also be invoked as a single command: json2nt, toml2nt, yaml2nt

---

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• What's NestedText?
• How does this translate to formats with more value types?
• Installation
  • Shell Completion
• Usage Docs
  • Limitations
• More Examples
  • View JSON Lines logs in a more readable format
  • View TOML as NestedText
  • Convert NestedText to TOML, with and without casting
  • Convert NestedText to TOML with casting via auto-schema
  • Query TOML with JSON tools, with and without casting
• Development Docs

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What's NestedText?

From the NestedText docs, with emphasis added:

NestedText is a file format for holding structured data to be entered, edited, or viewed by people. It organizes the data into a nested collection of dictionaries, lists, and strings without the need for quoting or escaping. A unique feature of this file format is that it only supports one scalar type: strings. While the decision to eschew integer, real, date, etc. types may seem counter intuitive, it leads to simpler data files and applications that are more robust.

How does this translate to formats with more value types?

When converting from NestedText to formats supporting more value types, all plain values will be strings by default. But you can provide options to cast any values as numbers, booleans, nulls, or dates/times, if the target format supports it, using the powerful and concise YAML Path query syntax.

$ cat config.nt

logging:
  level: info
  file: /var/log/app.log
  rotate: yes
  max_size: 100

$ nt2json config.nt --number logging.max_size --boolean logging.rotate

{
  "logging": {
    "level": "info",
    "file": "/var/log/app.log",
    "rotate": true,
    "max_size": 100
  }
}

You may instead store these type mappings in a NestedText "schema" file.

$ cat config.types.nt

boolean:
  - logging.rotate
number:
  - logging.max_size

The following command will then also yield the above JSON:

$ nt2json config.nt --schema config.types.nt

Such a schema may be automatically generated from any of the typed formats:

$ json2nt --to-schema config.json

Options may be provided before or after the document, and content may be piped directly to the command instead of specifying a file.

For more YAML Path syntax information see the YAML Path wiki.

For example, you could match all items which are probably intended as booleans, at any depth, with --boolean '**[. =~ /(?i)^(yes|no|true|false)$/]'.

Installation

Support for JSON and YAML are always included. If you don't need support for more than those, you can omit the [all] bits below. Or you can use a comma-separated list of extra formats, like [toml,huml].

Here are some ways to install it:

$ uv tool install 'nt2[all]'     # Install using uv (Python all-around manager)
$ pipx install 'nt2[all]'        # Install using pipx (Python app manager)
$ pipz install 'nt2[all]'        # Install using zpy (Python app and environment manager for Zsh)
$ pip install --user 'nt2[all]'  # Install in your user's environment
$ pip install 'nt2[all]'         # Install in current environment

I recommend using uv, pipx, or pipz from zpy.

Shell Completion

For Zsh completion, add this line to your .zshrc, any time after compinit:

compdef _gnu_generic nt2{json,{to,ya}ml} {json,{to,ya}ml}2nt

Usage Docs

<details> <summary>nt2</summary>

nt2 0.3.0

Convert NestedText to another format.

Examples:
    - nt2 json config.nt
    - nt2 json config.nt --number font.size --boolean font.bold
    - nt2 json config.nt --schema config.types.nt
    - cat config.nt | nt2 json

Usage:
    nt2 [SWITCHES] [SUBCOMMAND [SWITCHES]] args...

Meta-switches:
    -h, --help         Prints this help message and quits
    --help-all         Prints help messages of all sub-commands and quits
    -v, --version      Prints the program's version and quits

Sub-commands:
    completion         Print completion code for the given shell.
    hjson              Read NestedText and output its content as Hjson.
    huml               Read NestedText and output its content as HUML.
    json               Read NestedText and output its content as JSON.
    maml               Read NestedText and output its content as MAML.
    toml               Read NestedText and output its content as TOML.
    xml                Read NestedText and output its content as XML.
    yaml               Read NestedText and output its content as YAML.

</details> <details> <summary>2nt</summary>

2nt 0.3.0

Convert another format to NestedText.

Examples:
    - 2nt config.json
    - 2nt config.json --to-schema >config.types.nt
    - cat config.json | 2nt json
    - cat config.json | 2nt --from json

Usage:
    2nt [SWITCHES] [SUBCOMMAND [SWITCHES]] DATA_FILE...

Meta-switches:
    -h, --help                      Prints this help message and quits
    --help-all                      Prints help messages of all sub-commands and
                                    quits
    -v, --version                   Prints the program's version and quits

Switches:
    --from, -f FROM_FORMAT:{maml, hjson, huml, toml, yml, yaml, json, jsonl, xml}
                                    Format to convert from
    --inline-width, -i WIDTH:[0..120] Maximum line width for inline dictionaries
                                    and lists
    --to-schema, -s                 Rather than convert the inputs, generate a
                                    schema

Sub-commands:
    completion                      Print completion code for the given shell.
    hjson                           Read Hjson and output its content as
                                    NestedText.
    huml                            Read HUML and output its content as
                                    NestedText.
    json                            Read JSON and output its content as
                                    NestedText.
    maml                            Read MAML and output its content as
                                    NestedText.
    toml                            Read TOML and output its content as
                                    NestedText.
    xml                             Read XML and output its content as
                                    NestedText.
    yaml                            Read YAML and output its content as
                                    NestedText.

</details> <details> <summary>nt2 json</summary>

nt2 json 0.3.0

Read N