Structural Characters and Literals

Structural characters define the syntax and organization of data within an Internet Object document. These characters form the foundation of the format's grammar and control how data is parsed and interpreted.

Character Set

Symbol

Name

Unicode

Function

Context

,

Comma

U+002C

Value separator

Separates items in arrays and objects

~

Tilde

U+007E

Record delimiter

Indicates the start of a new record in collections

:

Colon

U+003A

Key-value separator

Separates keys from their corresponding values

[

Open Square Bracket

U+005B

Array start

Begins an array structure

]

Close Square Bracket

U+005D

Array end

Ends an array structure

{

Open Curly Bracket

U+007B

Object start

Begins an object or dictionary

}

Close Curly Bracket

U+007D

Object end

Ends an object or dictionary

---

Triple Hyphens

U+002D

Section separator

Separates header and data sections of the document

#

Hash

U+0023

Comment delimiter

Initiates a single-line comment

"

Double Quote

U+0022

String delimiter

Encloses string values

'

Single Quote

U+0027

String delimiter

Alternative string delimiter

Usage Examples

Basic Structure

# Surrounding braces define the object
# And key-value pairs are separated by colons and commas
~ { name: "John Doe", age: 30, active: true }

# Array with values surrounded by square brackets
~ [ "item1", "item2", "item3" ]

Collections and Records

# Schema definition
~ $person: {name: string, age: number}

# Triple hyphens separate sections
---

# Tilde marks new record in the collection
~ "Alice", 25
~ "Bob", 30
~ "Charlie", 35

String Delimiters

{
    message1: "Hello World",    # Double quotes
    message2: 'Hello World',    # Single quotes (equivalent)
    path: "C:\Program Files\"   # Escaped quotes when needed
}

Structural Rules

Balanced Delimiters: Opening brackets/braces must have corresponding closing ones
Proper Nesting: Structures can be nested but must maintain proper hierarchy
Separator Consistency: Commas separate elements within the same structure level
Section Division: Triple hyphens (---) separate document sections
Comment Scope: Hash (#) comments extend to end of line only
String Equivalence: Single and double quotes are functionally equivalent

Grammar Context

Container Structures

Objects: {key: value, key: value}
Arrays: [value, value, value]
Mixed Nesting: Objects and arrays can contain each other

Collection Format

Header Section: Schema definitions and metadata
Data Section: Actual records preceded by ~
Section Separator: --- divides header from data

Comment Integration

Inline Comments: # Comment text
Full Line Comments: # Complete line comment
Documentation: Comments can appear anywhere for annotation