# dart:convert library

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 is a simple text format for representing structured objects and collections. The JSON encoder/decoder transforms between strings and object structures, such as lists and maps, using the JSON format.

UTF-8 is a common variable-width encoding that can represent every character in the Unicode character set. The UTF-8 encoder/decoder transforms between Strings and bytes.

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's read from a file, The second is an instance of LineSplitter, which splits the data on newline boundaries.

    int lineNumber = 1;
    Stream<List<int>> stream = new File('quotes.txt').openRead();

    stream.transform(utf8.decoder)
          .transform(const LineSplitter())
          .listen((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.

## Classes

AsciiCodec
  An AsciiCodec allows encoding strings as ASCII bytes and decoding ASCII bytes to strings.
AsciiDecoder
AsciiEncoder
  This class 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. [...]
ByteConversionSinkBase
  This class provides a base-class for converters that need to accept byte inputs.
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 Encoding enum.
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
  This class provides an interface for converters to efficiently transmit String data. [...]
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.
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).

## Constants

ascii → const AsciiCodec
  An instance of the default implementation of the AsciiCodec. [...]
  `const AsciiCodec()`
base64 → const Base64Codec
  A base64 encoder and decoder. [...]
  `const Base64Codec()`
base64Url → const Base64Codec
  A base64url encoder and decoder. [...]
  `const Base64Codec.urlSafe()`
htmlEscape → const HtmlEscape
  A `String` converter that converts characters to HTML entities. [...]
  `const HtmlEscape()`
json → const JsonCodec
  An instance of the default implementation of the JsonCodec. [...]
  `const JsonCodec()`
latin1 → const Latin1Codec
  An instance of the default implementation of the Latin1Codec. [...]
  `const Latin1Codec()`
unicodeBomCharacterRune → const int
  The Unicode Byte Order Marker (BOM) character `U+FEFF`.
  `0xFEFF`
unicodeReplacementCharacterRune → const int
  The Unicode Replacement character `U+FFFD` (�).
  `0xFFFD`
utf8 → const Utf8Codec
  An instance of the default implementation of the Utf8Codec. [...]
  `const Utf8Codec()`

## Functions

base64Decode(String source) → Uint8List
  Decodes base64 or base64url encoded bytes. [...]
base64Encode(List<int> bytes) → String
  Encodes `bytes` using base64 encoding. [...]
base64UrlEncode(List<int> bytes) → String
  Encodes `bytes` using base64url encoding. [...]
jsonDecode(String source, { Object reviver(Object key, Object value) }) → dynamic
  Parses the string and returns the resulting Json object. [...]
jsonEncode(Object object, { Object toEncodable(Object nonEncodable) }) → String
  Converts `value` to a JSON string. [...]

## Exceptions / Errors

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. [...]