json/jsonc

• JSONC | JSONC Specification

  • About

    • JSONC (JSON with Comments) is an extension of json that allows comments within JSON data. This specification defines the syntax and semantics of JSONC.
    • The JSONC format was informally introduced by Microsoft to be used for VS Code's configuration files (settings.json, launch.json, tasks.json, etc). Alongside the informal format, a publicly-available parser (jsonc-parser) was supplied to parse those configuration files. The goal of this specification is to formalize the JSONC format as what jsonc-parser considers valid while using its default configurations.
    • JSONC follows the same syntax rules as JSON with the addition of JavaScript style comments. Comments can be either single-line or multi-line.

  • Comparison with json/5

    • Both JSONC and json/5 extend JSON to support comments, but they have different approaches:
      • JSONC: Minimal extension - adds only comments to standard JSON
      • JSON5: Comprehensive extension - adds comments, unquoted keys, trailing commas, and other JavaScript-like features
    • JSONC is more conservative and maintains closer compatibility with standard JSON
    • JSON5 is more permissive and allows more JavaScript-like syntax

  • #Example

    • jsonc

      {
        // This is a single-line comment
        "name": "example",
        "value": 42,
        /* This is a 
           multi-line comment */
        "enabled": true
      }

  • Use Cases

    • Configuration files in development tools (especially VS Code)
    • Documentation within JSON data structures
    • Human-readable JSON files that benefit from explanatory comments

  • Related

    • json/5 - Alternative JSON extension with broader syntax support
    • json - Standard JSON format
    • jsonc-parser - Official parser implementation