dart:convert
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dart:convert#

Encoders and decoders for converting between different data representations, including JSON and UTF-8.

In addition to converters for common data representations, this library provides support for implementing converters in a way which makes them easy to chain and to use with streams.

To use this library in your code:

import 'dart:convert';

Two commonly used converters are the top-level instances of JsonCodec and Utf8Codec, named json and utf8, respectively.

JSON#

JSON is a simple text format for representing structured objects and collections.

A JsonCodec encodes JSON objects to strings and decodes strings to JSON objects. The json encoder/decoder transforms between strings and object structures, such as lists and maps, using the JSON format.

The json is the default implementation of JsonCodec.

Examples

var encoded = json.encode([1, 2, { "a": null }]);
var decoded = json.decode('["foo", { "bar": 499 }]');

For more information, see also JsonEncoder and JsonDecoder.

UTF-8#

A Utf8Codec encodes strings to UTF-8 code units (bytes) and decodes UTF-8 code units to strings.

The utf8 is the default implementation of Utf8Codec.

Example:

var encoded = utf8.encode('Îñţérñåţîöñåļîžåţîờñ');
var decoded = utf8.decode([
  195, 142, 195, 177, 197, 163, 195, 169, 114, 195, 177, 195, 165, 197,
  163, 195, 174, 195, 182, 195, 177, 195, 165, 196, 188, 195, 174, 197,
  190, 195, 165, 197, 163, 195, 174, 225, 187, 157, 195, 177]);

For more information, see also Utf8Encoder and Utf8Decoder.

ASCII#

An AsciiCodec encodes strings as ASCII codes stored as bytes and decodes ASCII bytes to strings. Not all characters can be represented as ASCII, so not all strings can be successfully converted.

The ascii is the default implementation of AsciiCodec.

Example:

var encoded = ascii.encode('This is ASCII!');
var decoded = ascii.decode([0x54, 0x68, 0x69, 0x73, 0x20, 0x69, 0x73,
                            0x20, 0x41, 0x53, 0x43, 0x49, 0x49, 0x21]);

For more information, see also AsciiEncoder and AsciiDecoder.

Latin-1#

A Latin1Codec encodes strings to ISO Latin-1 (aka ISO-8859-1) bytes and decodes Latin-1 bytes to strings. Not all characters can be represented as Latin-1, so not all strings can be successfully converted.

The latin1 is the default implementation of Latin1Codec.

Example:

var encoded = latin1.encode('blåbærgrød');
var decoded = latin1.decode([0x62, 0x6c, 0xe5, 0x62, 0xe6,
                             0x72, 0x67, 0x72, 0xf8, 0x64]);

For more information, see also Latin1Encoder and Latin1Decoder.

Base64#

A Base64Codec encodes bytes using the default base64 alphabet, decodes using both the base64 and base64url alphabets, does not allow invalid characters and requires padding.

The base64 is the default implementation of Base64Codec.

Example:

var encoded = base64.encode([0x62, 0x6c, 0xc3, 0xa5, 0x62, 0xc3, 0xa6,
                             0x72, 0x67, 0x72, 0xc3, 0xb8, 0x64]);
var decoded = base64.decode('YmzDpWLDpnJncsO4ZAo=');

For more information, see also Base64Encoder and Base64Decoder.

Converters#

Converters are often used with streams to transform the data that comes through the stream as it becomes available. The following code uses two converters. The first is a UTF-8 decoder, which converts the data from bytes to UTF-8 as it is read from a file, The second is an instance of LineSplitter, which splits the data on newline boundaries.

const showLineNumbers = true;
var lineNumber = 1;
var stream = File('quotes.txt').openRead();

stream.transform(utf8.decoder)
      .transform(const LineSplitter())
      .forEach((line) {
        if (showLineNumbers) {
          stdout.write('${lineNumber++} ');
        }
        stdout.writeln(line);
      });

See the documentation for the Codec and Converter classes for information about creating your own converters.

HTML Escape#

HtmlEscape converter escapes characters with special meaning in HTML. The converter finds characters that are significant in HTML source and replaces them with corresponding HTML entities.

Custom escape modes can be created using the HtmlEscapeMode.new constructor.

Example:

const htmlEscapeMode = HtmlEscapeMode(
  name: 'custom',
  escapeLtGt: true,
  escapeQuot: false,
  escapeApos: false,
  escapeSlash: false,
 );

const HtmlEscape htmlEscape = HtmlEscape(htmlEscapeMode);
String unescaped = 'Text & subject';
String escaped = htmlEscape.convert(unescaped);
print(escaped); // Text & subject

unescaped = '10 > 1 and 1 < 10';
escaped = htmlEscape.convert(unescaped);
print(escaped); // 10 &gt; 1 and 1 &lt; 10

unescaped = "Single-quoted: 'text'";
escaped = htmlEscape.convert(unescaped);
print(escaped); // Single-quoted: 'text'

unescaped = 'Double-quoted: "text"';
escaped = htmlEscape.convert(unescaped);
print(escaped); // Double-quoted: "text"

unescaped = 'Path: /system/';
escaped = htmlEscape.convert(unescaped);
print(escaped); // Path: /system/

Classes#

ClassDescription
AsciiCodec An AsciiCodec allows encoding strings as ASCII bytes and decoding ASCII bytes to strings.
AsciiDecoder Converts ASCII bytes to string.
AsciiEncoder Converts strings of only ASCII characters to bytes.
Base64Codec A base64 encoder and decoder.
Base64Decoder Decoder for base64 encoded data.
Base64Encoder Base64 and base64url encoding converter.
ByteConversionSink The ByteConversionSink provides an interface for converters to efficiently transmit byte data.
ChunkedConversionSink<T> A ChunkedConversionSink is used to transmit data more efficiently between two converters during chunked conversions.
ClosableStringSink A ClosableStringSink extends the StringSink interface by adding a close method.
Codec<S, T> A Codec encodes and (if supported) decodes data.
Converter<S, T> A Converter converts data from one representation into another.
Encoding Open-ended set of encodings.
HtmlEscape Converter which escapes characters with special meaning in HTML.
HtmlEscapeMode HTML escape modes.
JsonCodec A JsonCodec encodes JSON objects to strings and decodes strings to JSON objects.
JsonDecoder This class parses JSON strings and builds the corresponding objects.
JsonEncoder This class converts JSON objects to strings.
JsonUtf8Encoder Encoder that encodes a single object as a UTF-8 encoded JSON string.
Latin1Codec A Latin1Codec encodes strings to ISO Latin-1 (aka ISO-8859-1) bytes and decodes Latin-1 bytes to strings.
Latin1Decoder This class converts Latin-1 bytes (lists of unsigned 8-bit integers) to a string.
Latin1Encoder This class converts strings of only ISO Latin-1 characters to bytes.
LineSplitter A StreamTransformer that splits a String into individual lines.
StringConversionSink A sink for converters to efficiently transmit String data.
Utf8Codec A Utf8Codec encodes strings to utf-8 code units (bytes) and decodes UTF-8 code units to strings.
Utf8Decoder This class converts UTF-8 code units (lists of unsigned 8-bit integers) to a string.
Utf8Encoder This class converts strings to their UTF-8 code units (a list of unsigned 8-bit integers).

Exceptions#

ExceptionDescription
JsonCyclicError Reports that an object could not be stringified due to cyclic references.
JsonUnsupportedObjectError Error thrown by JSON serialization if an object cannot be serialized.

Functions#

FunctionDescription
base64Decode Decodes base64 or base64url encoded bytes.
base64Encode Encodes bytes using base64 encoding.
base64UrlEncode Encodes bytes using base64url encoding.
jsonDecode Parses the string and returns the resulting Json object.
jsonEncode Converts object to a JSON string.

Constants#

ConstantDescription
ascii An instance of the default implementation of the AsciiCodec .
base64 A base64 encoder and decoder.
base64Url A base64url encoder and decoder.
htmlEscape A String converter that converts characters to HTML entities.
json An instance of the default implementation of the JsonCodec .
latin1 An instance of the default implementation of the Latin1Codec .
unicodeBomCharacterRune The Unicode Byte Order Marker (BOM) character U+FEFF.
unicodeReplacementCharacterRune The Unicode Replacement character U+FFFD (�).
utf8 An instance of the default implementation of the Utf8Codec .

Typedefs#

TypedefDescription
ByteConversionSinkBase This class provides a base-class for converters that need to accept byte inputs.
StringConversionSinkBase This class provides a base-class for converters that need to accept String inputs.
StringConversionSinkMixin This class provides a mixin for converters that need to accept String inputs.