Comments

Single-line comments for annotating documents.

Internet Object supports single-line comments for documenting and annotating data. A comment starts with a hash sign (#) and runs to the end of the line.

Syntax

• Start character — the hash sign (#, U+0023).

• Scope — a single line only.

• Placement — anywhere in the document.

• Content — everything after # on the same line is ignored by the parser.

Examples

# Internet Object document: personnel records

# Address schema definition
~ $address: {street:string, zip:{string, maxLen:5}, city:string}

# Person schema definition
~ $schema: {
    name:string,               # individual's full name
    age:int,                   # age in years
    homeAddress?: $address,    # optional home address
    officeAddress?: $address   # optional office address
}
---
# Personnel records
~ John Doe, 25, {Queens, "50010", NewYork}, {Bond Street, "50001", NewYork}
~ Jane Doe, 20, {Queens, "50010", NewYork}, {Bond Street, "50001", NewYork}

Comment placement

A comment can stand on its own line or trail a value:

{
    # person details
    name: John Doe, # inline comment
    age: 30,        # another inline comment

    # contact information
    contact: {
        email: '[email protected]',
        phone: '[phone]'
    }
}

Rules

• A comment can appear on any line, standalone or trailing a value.

• A comment supports full Unicode text.

• A comment cannot span multiple lines.

• No escaping is needed inside a comment.

• A # inside a quoted string is literal text, not a comment.

Best practices

• Be clear and concise — use direct language.

• Explain why, not what — focus on reasoning, not the obvious.

• Keep comments current — update them when the data or schema changes.

• Stay consistent — keep a uniform commenting style across documents.

See Also

• Internet Object Document — overall document structure

• Encoding — Unicode support in text content