EzyToon

EzyToon is a high-performance PHP 8.4+ encoder for the Token-Oriented Object Notation (TOON) format (spec v3.3). TOON is designed to be more compact than JSON while remaining human-readable, specifically optimizing for tabular data and nested object structures.

Reference: https://toonformat.dev/

Features

• High Compression: Significant byte savings compared to JSON (often >50%).
• Tabular Optimization: Automatically detects uniform collections and encodes them with a header and delimiter-separated rows.
• Key Folding: Optional flattening of single-key nested object chains.
• Strict Adherence: Implements full quoting rules (§7) and spec-compliant normalization (ISO 8601 dates, signed zero, etc.).
• Modern PHP: Leverages PHP 8.4 features like readonly property promotion.

Installation

Via Composer

composer require niobe/ezytoon

Manual Installation

If you are not using Composer, download the source and include the file directly:

require_once 'src/EzyToon.php';

Usage

Using Composer Autoload (Recommended)

<?php

require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Toon\EzyToon;

$toon = new EzyToon();

// Read original JSON content
$jsonContent = file_get_contents('test.json');
$data = json_decode($jsonContent, true);

echo $toon->encode($data);

Direct Class Usage

<?php

require_once 'src/EzyToon.php';

use Toon\EzyToon;

$toon = new EzyToon(
    indentsize: 2,
    delimiter: ','
);

// Read original JSON content
$jsonContent = file_get_contents('test.json');
$data = json_decode($jsonContent, true);

// Encode to TOON
$encoded = $toon->encode($data);

echo $encoded;

Example Output

Given the sample hiking data, EzyToon produces:

context:
  task: Our favorite hikes together
  location: Boulder
  season: spring_2025
friends[3]: ana,luis,sam
hikes[3]{id,name,distanceKm,elevationGain,companion,wasSunny}:
  1,Blue Lake Trail,7.5,320,ana,true
  2,Ridge Overlook,9.2,540,luis,false
  3,Wildflower Loop,5.1,180,sam,true

Performance Statistics

• JSON size: 717 bytes
• TOON size: 286 bytes
• Bytes saving: 60.11%