Introduction to HOCON¶
HOCON (Human-Optimized Config Object Notation) is an easy-to-use configuration format. It is used by Sponge and
individual plugins utilizing SpongeAPI to store important data, such as configuration or player data. HOCON files
typically use the suffix .conf.
Components¶
- a
keyis a string preceding a value - a
valueis a string, number, object, array, or boolean following akey - a
key-value separatorseparates keys from values, and can be either:or= - a
commentis prefixed with#or//, typically serving to provide feedback or instructions
Example:
yellow-thing: "Sponge"
In this example, the key is yellow-thing, the value is Sponge, and the key-value separator is :.
Working with HOCON¶
HOCON is more flexible than the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format in that there are several ways to write valid HOCON. Below are two examples of valid HOCON.
Example #1:
player: {
name: "Steve",
level: 30
}
Example #2:
player {
name = "Steve"
level = 30
}
In practice, it is best to follow the formatting conventions of the HOCON configuration you are editing. When editing a HOCON configuration for Sponge or an individual plugin utilizing SpongeAPI, the values are likely the only thing you will be changing unless otherwise specified.
Debugging your configuration¶
If a HOCON configuration does not appear to be working, here are some tips.
- Curly brackets must be balanced
- Quotation marks must be balanced
- Duplicate keys that appear later take precedence
