lua2json – A command-line tool to convert Lua to JSON

See the copyright information in the file named COPYRIGHT.

Usage:

lua2json [options] < data.lua > data.json

Options:

-h    Print help
-v    Print script version
-O    Force tables to be serialized as objects
      (default: off)
-e    Do not print terminating EOL (default: do print)
-r    Prefix "return " to the input before loading (default: do not prefix)
-G    Do not use global environment protection when loading the data
      (default: do use protection)
-S    Expose Lua environment to the loaded data
      (default: load data into clean environment)

Notes:

1. The lua2json by default expects the Lua data to be prefixed with return:

   return { foo = 42 }

If your data is not, as follows:

  { foo = 42 }

...then use -r option.

2. Note that while some attempts to sandbox the data are made, this tool does not provide any serious protection from malicious code (like malformed Lua bytecode, code with infinite loops, code that eats memory etc.)

   Do not use on Lua data that you do not trust.

Dependencies

luajson

All actual work on JSON data is done here.

sudo luarocks install luajson

Installation:

1. Install dependencies (see above).

2. Install lua2json:

A. Copy / symlink it somewhere in Lua module path

-- or --

B. Install it with LuaRocks (recommended):

Stable version:

  sudo luarocks install lua2json

Developer version:

  sudo luarocks install \
    lua2json \
    --from=http://luarocks.org/repositories/rocks-cvs

Note that LuaRocks 2.0.2 and below reset executable bit on the installed binaries. To ensure that lua2json is executable, run following command after installation:

  sudo chmod +x $(command -v lua2json)

If you're using LuaRocks 2.0.3 and above, chmod is not needed.