node-json-minify

minifies blocks of JSON-like content into valid JSON by removing all whitespace and comments

/*! JSON.minify() v0.1 (c) Kyle Simpson MIT License */

JSON.minify() minifies blocks of JSON-like content into valid JSON by removing all whitespace and comments.

JSON parsers (like JavaScript's JSON.parse() parser) generally don't consider JSON with comments to be valid and parseable. So, the intended usage is to minify development-friendly JSON (with comments) to valid JSON before parsing, such as:

JSON.parse(JSON.minify(str));

Now you can maintain development-friendly JSON documents, but minify them before parsing or before transmitting them over-the-wire.

Though comments are not officially part of the JSON standard, this post from Douglas Crockford back in late 2005 helps explain the motivation behind this project.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/json/message/152

"A JSON encoder MUST NOT output comments. A JSON decoder MAY accept and ignore comments."

Basically, comments are not in the JSON generation standard, but that doesn't mean that a parser can't be taught to ignore them. Which is exactly what JSON.minify() is for.

The first implementation of JSON.minify() is in JavaScript, but the intent is to port the implementation to as many other environments as possible/practical.

To use in node via npm:

npm install node-json-minify

Then in code:

JSON.minify = JSON.minify || require("node-json-minify");

var myjson = JSON.minify( '{ /* comment */ "foo": 42 \n }' ); // {"foo":42}

NOTE: As transmitting bloated (ie, with comments/whitespace) JSON would be wasteful and silly, this JSON.minify() is intended for use in server-side processing environments where you can strip comments/whitespace from JSON before parsing a JSON document, or before transmitting such over-the-wire from server to browser.