scuff 0.3

A config file format and transpiler suite written in Python.

A human-readable data serialization language written in Python.

Introduction

Scuff is a language for data serialization: a way to store and read data between formats.

One likely use for Scuff is application configuration files.

Installation

To install Scuff and its tools for Python from the Python Package Index, run the following in the command line:

$ python -m pip install scuff

Grammar

Assigning Variables

Variables are assigned with a key and a value. Key names must be valid identifiers, meaning they must contain no spaces or symbols except underscore (_). Values can be assigned to variables with or without an equals sign (=):

my_favorite_number = 42
my_favorite_color "Magenta"
is_but_a_flesh_wound yes

When left without a value, variables will evaluate to null/None:

set_to_null =
also_null
but_this_has_a_value 15

Data Types

• Numbers

  Numbers can be positive integers or floats:

  1 1.2 1_000 0.123 .123_4

• Booleans

  The boolean values True and False are given using these variants:

  True true yes
  False false no

• Strings

  Single-line strings can be enclosed by single quotes ('), double quotes (") or backticks (`), and multiline strings are enclosed by three of any of those:

  foo "abc"
  bar 'def'
  baz '''Hi,
          did you know
              you're cute?
                  '''

• Lists

  Lists are enclosed by square brackets ([]). Elements inside lists are separated by spaces, commas or line breaks:

  groceries [
      "bread",
      "milk" "eggs"
      "spam"
  ]

• Mappings

  Mappings are groups of key-value pairs enclosed by curly braces ({}). Values may be any expression, even other mappings:

  me {
      name "Samantha"
      age 24
      job "Developer"
      favorite_things {
          editor "Vim"
          languages ["Python", "Rust"]
      }
  }

  Mappings may also take the form of dotted attribute lookups:

  outer.middle.inner yes  # == {'outer': {'middle': {'inner': True}}}

• Comments

  Single-line comments are made using the # symbol:

  option = "The parser reads this."
  # But this is a comment.
      #And so is this.
  option2 = "# But not this; It's inside a string."
  # The parser ignores everything between ``#`` and the end of the line.
   #   ignore = "Comment out any lines of code you want to skip."

Usage

Once you install Scuff, you can then import scuff as a Python module and use its tools:

>>> import scuff
>>> scuff.convert_file('file.conf')
...