Derml (Deji's Really Minimal Language) is a simple configuration file format.
Lines that begin with the hash (#) are comments. Comments go on to the end of the line.
# This is a comment
Comments may also be indented, so the (#) has to be the first non-whitespace character on the line to make the line a comment.
In their most basic forms, key-value pairs are represented thus:
key = value
Keys may be any combination of alphabets, numbers, dashes or underscores and may not begin with a number or a dash.
Note the whitespace around the equals (=) sign. They are compulsory and must be added.
Also note that keys are case-sensitive. So mykey is different from Mykey which is different from MyKey, etc.
Used in the above form, the value starts from the first non-whitespace character after the '=' sign up to the end of the line.
Values begin from the first non-whitespace character after the equal sign up to the end of the line.
intro = My name is Deji Adegbite
In the above example, the value begins from the letter 'M' up to the last character on that line.
More simple examples:
Avatar = Aang
City = Ba Sing Se
sacred_artifact = Sokka's boomerang
Values may be quoted. There are 7 quoting mechanisms available - these are single-quotes ('), double-quotes ("), backticks (`), parentheses (()), braces({}),square-brackets ([]), or angular brackets(<>). A comment can be added after the quoted value.
key = (This is t
8000
he value) # Using parentheses as the quote
a_second_key = 'This uses single-quotes' # Comments may be added after quoted value
angle-quote = <This value uses angular brackets as the quotes>
dbl-quote = "Double quote"
windows_path = {C:\Program Files} # Uses braces to quote the value
Sometimes values are too long to fit on a single line, for example:
long-value = This is a value that is really, really long and which we would like to break down into multiple lines because who wants to read this?
Use the left-angle (<) instead of equals (=) sign and end the value with a blank line. So the above could be re-written thus:
long-value <
This is a value
that is really,
really long and
which we would
like to break
down into
multiple lines
because who
wants to read
this?
another_key = another value
Note the blank line between the long value and the next key. Also note the whitespace before < as it is a must.
The initial indentation on the first line of the value will be stripped off while the initial indentation for the
remaining lines will be concatenated into one space.
If the value is a multi-line value, use the pipe (|) and follow with a delimiter. The delimiter starts from the first non-whitespace character after | up to the end of the line. The delimiter on a line by itself (and possibly surrounded by whitespace) marks the end of the of the multi-line value.
multi-line-value | end-value
This is line 1
This is line 2
This is line 3
end-value
Do not forget the whitespace around |. All initial whitespace is removed. This implies that you end up with a left-aligned
paragraph.
Relative indentation of the values may be preserved. This is done by using > to assign the value and specifying a delimiter. End
the value with the delimiter on a line by itself possibly surrounded by spaces. The initial spaces on each line is stripped. The
number of indenting spaces on the first line of the value is stripped off from the remaining lines. This means python or yaml can
be stored. For example
my-python-code > end-of-python
if(x > 5):
print("x is 5")
end-of-python
The delimiter begins with the first non-whitespace character after the > up to the end of that line.
The keys can be any combination of uppercase letters (A-Z), lowercase letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), dash, and underscore. Keys cannot start with a dash or a number. This means the regex for keys would be
/[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_-]+/
Elements of an array can be specified in one of two possible ways; Multiple line in which each element is on a line by itself and Single line in which all elements of the array are specified on a single line
Append a pair of square brackets to indicate that the value would be an array. Specify each value on its own line. Start each value on its own line starting with indentation and followed by equals-space. The value begins from the first non-space character after the equals sign (=) up to the end of the line. End the array values with an empty element
array-value[]
= This is the first item in this array
= This is the second item in this array
= And this is the third item in this array
=
If an array item is too long to fit on a single line, use the left angle (<) instead of equals. The surrounding spaces are required.
another-array-value[]
< This array element is very,
very long and cannot fit on
a single line. Sorry 'bout
that
= This is another element
= This is a third element
=
The long line ends with either the next element of the array, or the end of the array
If an array element is a multi-line value, use the pipe (|) instead and follow up with the delimiter. The delimiter is the first non-whitespace character after the | up to the end of the line. The value ends on a line that contains only the delimiter possibly surrounded by whitespaces.
third-array[]
= first element
= second element
| end value
This is the third element
It is a multi-line value
It has 3 lines
end value
= This is the fourth element
= This is the fifth
=
By default, single line arrays are specified thus:
my-single-line-array[] = element 1, element 2, this is element 3, and this is element 4
The elements of the array are simply separated with comma-space. Anything that is not comma-space belongs to an element. Here are some other examples
even-numbers[] = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
the-gaang[] = Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko
Quoting mechanisms may be used, however. To do that, replace the equals = sign with a colon : and surround each element with the desired quote.
The four brackets '()', '[]', '{}', '<>' can be used to quote array elements
parens-as-quotes[] = (first item) (this is the second) (and this is the third)
square-brackets-as-quotes[] = [element number 1] [element number 2] [element number 3]
use-braces[] = {this is the first} {this is the second} {this is the third}
angular-brackets[] = <Aang> <Katara> <Sokka> <Toph> <Zuko>
Note in the above examples that the equals sign has been replaced with a colon.
When using any of backtick(`), apostrophe('), and double-quotes("), each array element must be surrounded by the quoting character and seperated by comma-space. For example:
use-backtick-as-separator[] = `first`, `second`, `third`
use-apostrophe-as-separator[] = 'first', 'second', 'third'
use-double-quotes-separator[] = "first", "second", "third"
There's a special case of assigning to an array while using the 'space' as the separator for the elements. Here's an example of that. Prepend '@' to the name of the array to separate its elements with spaces. Everything not whitespace, would belong to an element. For example
# This array has 4 elements in it
@space-separated 1 2 3 elements
# This is an array with 2 elements.
@names toph beifong
Note the removal of the square brackets from the array's name.
Surround section names with the section markers, i.e. open with 2 dashes and space/tab and
close with 2 space or tab followed by 2 spaces. Section names follow the same rules as variable
names. That is [A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_-]+
-- Section-1 --
my-first-key = This is the first value
my-second-key = This is the second value
an-array[] = first, second, third, fourth
races[]
= air nomads
= water tribe
= earth kingdom
= fire nation
=
-- Section-2 --
song | END_SONG
It's a long, long way to Ba Sing Se
And girls in the city
They're so pretty
END_SONG
therapy-section <
Zuko, you must look within yourself,
to find your true self. Oonly then
will your true self find your other self
Arrays and key-value pairs are nested under sections. In derml, the beginning of a new section implies the ending of the previous one. This means sections cannot be nested
Percent Strings are lines that begin with the percent-space % (there's a space after the '%' sign). These strings can contain anything programmers/authors of tools are free to make use of these strings as they see fit.
% This is a percent string.
Just like percent strings, there are also percent blocks which authors of tools can do anything they like with. The block is between a pair of %%.
%%
This is a percent block
It begins with and ends with
%% but does not include them
%%