The Formatter module provides utilities for serializing data to various output formats. It supports TOON (the default format), JSON, YAML, Markdown tables, and JSONL.
Types
Supported output formats for the format() function.
type Format = 'toon' | 'json' | 'yaml' | 'md' | 'jsonl'
TOON format (default) - a concise, human-readable format
Pretty-printed JSON with 2-space indentation
Markdown format with tables for structured data
JSON Lines format (one JSON object per line)
Functions
Serializes a value to the specified format. Defaults to TOON.
The value to serialize. Can be any JavaScript value including objects, arrays, primitives, or null/undefined.
The output format. Defaults to 'toon'.
The serialized string representation of the value
import { format } from 'incur'
const data = {
name: 'Alice',
age: 30,
active: true
}
// TOON format (default)
const toon = format(data)
// name: Alice
// age: 30
// active: true
// JSON format
const json = format(data, 'json')
// {
// "name": "Alice",
// "age": 30,
// "active": true
// }
// YAML format
const yaml = format(data, 'yaml')
// name: Alice
// age: 30
// active: true
Usage: Markdown Tables
import { format } from 'incur'
// Flat object becomes a key-value table
const config = { host: 'localhost', port: 3000 }
const md = format(config, 'md')
// | Key | Value |
// |------|-----------|
// | host | localhost |
// | port | 3000 |
// Array of objects becomes a columnar table
const users = [
{ name: 'Alice', role: 'admin' },
{ name: 'Bob', role: 'user' }
]
const table = format(users, 'md')
// | name | role |
// |-------|-------|
// | Alice | admin |
// | Bob | user |
Usage: Scalar Values
import { format } from 'incur'
// Scalars return as strings
format('hello') // 'hello'
format(42) // '42'
format(true) // 'true'
format(null) // ''
format(undefined) // ''
Usage: CLI Output
import { format } from 'incur'
function output(data: unknown, fmt: Format = 'toon') {
console.log(format(data, fmt))
}
// User can control output format
const result = { success: true, count: 42 }
output(result, 'json') // Pretty JSON
output(result, 'yaml') // YAML
output(result, 'md') // Markdown table
Usage: Nested Objects
import { format } from 'incur'
const nested = {
server: {
host: 'localhost',
port: 3000
},
database: {
host: 'db.example.com',
port: 5432
}
}
const md = format(nested, 'md')
// ## server
//
// | Key | Value |
// |------|-----------|
// | host | localhost |
// | port | 3000 |
//
// ## database
//
// | Key | Value |
// |------|----------------|
// | host | db.example.com |
// | port | 5432 |
