Convert Java .properties files to JSON (using JavaScript/TypeScript).

Supports nested objects, arrays, Unicode escape sequences, and type coercion.

Install

# pnpm
pnpm add js-properties-to-json

# npm
npm i js-properties-to-json

Usage

import propertiesToJSON from 'js-properties-to-json';
// or CommonJS:
// const propertiesToJSON = require('js-properties-to-json');

const result = propertiesToJSON(`
# comment
server.host=localhost
server.port=8080
`);
// { 'server.host': 'localhost', 'server.port': '8080' }

Read a local file in Node.js

import fs from 'fs';
import propertiesToJSON from 'js-properties-to-json';

const data = fs.readFileSync('app.properties', 'utf-8');
console.log(propertiesToJSON(data, { convertToJsonTree: true, parseNumber: true }));

Read a remote file in the browser

import propertiesToJSON from 'js-properties-to-json';

const text = await fetch('/app.properties').then((r) => r.text());
console.log(propertiesToJSON(text));

Options

import propertiesToJSON, { type Options } from 'js-properties-to-json';

Option	Default	Description
jsonAsString	false	Return the result as a JSON string instead of an object
convertToJsonTree	false	Convert dotted keys into nested objects — e.g. a.b=c → { a: { b: "c" } }
parseNumber	false	Coerce numeric strings to numbers — e.g. port=8080 → { port: 8080 }
parseBooleanNullUndefined	false	Coerce "true", "false", "null", "undefined" to their JS equivalents (case-sensitive)

Examples

Properties	JSON
a=b	{ "a": "b" }
a:b	{ "a": "b" }
a = b	{ "a": "b" }
a[0]=x	{ "a": ["x"] }
a[1][1]=b	{ "a": [null, [null, "b"]] }
a.b.c=d	{ "a": { "b": { "c": "d" } } } (requires convertToJsonTree)
k=\u00e9	{ "k": "é" }
k=hello\tworld	{ "k": "hello\tworld" }

Supported escape sequences

Sequence	Result
\uXXXX	Unicode character (hex)
\t	Tab
\n	Newline
\r	Carriage return
\f	Form feed
\\	Literal backslash
\=, \:	Literal = or : in a key

Limitations

• Whitespace-only key separators (e.g. key value) are not supported — use = or :.
• Inline comments (e.g. key=value # comment) are not supported; the # comment becomes part of the value.
• parseBooleanNullUndefined is case-sensitive: "True" stays as a string.

Online converter

https://mehimanshupatil.github.io/propertiesToJSON/

Inspiration

• ryanpcmcquen/propertiesToJSON
• jeanpaulattard/json-to-properties