Cartoon - Token-Oriented Object Notation for PHP

High-performance PHP 8.4+ library for encoding and decoding TOON (Token-Oriented Object Notation) format with full spec compliance.

Features

• 🚀 High Performance: AST-based parser with JIT optimization
• 🎯 Spec Compliant: Full adherence to TOON specification
• 🔒 Type Safe: PHPStan level 10, strict types throughout
• 🧪 Well Tested: 95%+ code coverage
• 🎨 Modern PHP: Leverages PHP 8.4+ features (readonly, enums, union types)
• 📦 Zero Dependencies: No runtime dependencies

Installation

composer require diego-ninja/cartoon

Requirements: PHP 8.4 or higher

Quick Start

Decoding TOON to PHP

use Ninja\Cartoon\Toon;

$toon = <<<TOON
name: Alice
age: 30
active: true
TOON;

$data = Toon::decode($toon); //or
$data = toon_decode($toon);
// ['name' => 'Alice', 'age' => 30, 'active' => true]

Encoding PHP to TOON

use Ninja\Cartoon\Toon;

$data = [
    'name' => 'Bob',
    'age' => 25,
    'tags' => ['php', 'toon', 'awesome'],
];

$toon = Toon::encode($data); //or
$toon = toon_encode($data)

Output:

name: Bob
age: 25
tags[3]: php,toon,awesome

Advanced Usage

Custom Encoding Options

use Ninja\Cartoon\{EncodeOptions,Enum\DelimiterType,Enum\IndentationType,Toon};

$options = new EncodeOptions(
    preferredDelimiter: DelimiterType::Tab,
    indentSize: 4,
    indentationType: IndentationType::Tabs,
    maxCompactArrayLength: 20,
);

$toon = Toon::encode($data, $options);

Custom Decoding Options

use Ninja\Cartoon\{Toon, DecodeOptions};

$options = new DecodeOptions(
    strict: false,              // Allow non-canonical input
    preserveKeyOrder: true,     // Maintain key order
);

$data = Toon::decode($toon, $options);

Strict vs Permissive Mode

Strict mode (default):

• Validates array lengths exactly
• Requires canonical number format
• Enforces consistent indentation

Permissive mode:

• Tolerates array length mismatches
• Accepts non-canonical numbers
• Allows mixed indentation

TOON Format Overview

TOON is a line-oriented, indentation-based format encoding the JSON data model:

Objects:

name: Alice
age: 30

Arrays:

items[3]: a,b,c

Nested structures:

user:
  name: Bob
  address:
    city: NYC

Tabular data:

users[2]{id,name}:
1,Alice
2,Bob

See the official spec for complete details.

Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/diego-ninja/cartoon.git
cd cartoon
composer install

Running Tests

# All tests
vendor/bin/phpunit

# With coverage
vendor/bin/phpunit --coverage-html coverage

# Specific test suite
vendor/bin/phpunit tests/Unit
vendor/bin/phpunit tests/Integration

Code Quality

# PHPStan (level 10)
vendor/bin/phpstan analyse

# PHP-CS-Fixer (PER coding style)
vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix

# All checks
composer test
composer analyze
composer fix

Error Handling

The library provides specific exceptions for different error cases:

• SyntaxException: Invalid TOON syntax
• ValidationException: Spec violations in strict mode
• EscapeException: Invalid escape sequences
• UnencodableException: PHP value cannot be encoded (resources, INF, NAN)
• CircularReferenceException: Circular reference detected

All exceptions extend ToonException for easy catching.

Limitations

• Multi-line strings: Not supported (TOON spec doesn't allow them)
• Special floats: INF, -INF, NAN cannot be encoded
• Control characters: Only \n, \r, \t can be escaped
• Resources: Cannot be encoded
• Closures: Cannot be encoded

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Follow PER coding style
2. Add tests for new features
3. Ensure PHPStan level 10 passes
4. Update documentation as needed

License

MIT License. See LICENSE file.

Links

• TOON Specification
• Issue Tracker
• Changelog