Node Reference

JsonRecast nodes are small typed PHP objects. Container nodes hold item nodes; item nodes hold values plus parsed whitespace used by the preserving printer.

Document
Containers
Items
Scalars
Convert PHP Values
Node Attributes

Document

Node	Purpose
`JsonDocument`	Wraps the root JSON value in `$value`.

JsonRecast::parse() always returns a JsonDocument.

Containers

Node	Public data	Helpers
`ObjectNode`	`list<ObjectItemNode> $items`	`get()`, `has()`, `set()`, `remove()`
`ArrayNode`	`list<ArrayItemNode> $items`	`append()`, `insert()`, `removeAt()`

ObjectNode::set() accepts any NodeJson value:

$object->set('name', new StringNode('boundwize/jsonrecast'));
$object->set('keywords', JsonValue::from(['json', 'ast']));

ArrayNode helpers also accept any NodeJson value:

$array->append(JsonValue::from('last'));
$array->insert(0, JsonValue::from('first'));
$array->removeAt(1);

Array indexes must be non-negative. insert() throws InvalidArgumentException for a negative index, while setAt() and removeAt() return false when an index does not exist. An insertion index past the end appends the value.

Items

Node	Purpose
`ObjectItemNode`	Holds a `StringNode $key`, a `NodeJson $value`, and object item whitespace.
`ArrayItemNode`	Holds a `NodeJson $value` and array item whitespace.

Remove an item node when you want to delete a key/value pair or an array entry.

Scalars

Node	Public data
`StringNode`	`string $value`
`NumberNode`	`string $rawValue`
`BooleanNode`	`bool $value`
`NullNode`	No value property

NumberNode stores the original spelling as rawValue, so 1, 1.0, and 1e0 remain distinct until you intentionally replace the node.

$number = new NumberNode('1e0');

echo $number->rawValue;             // 1e0
echo $number->toIntOrFloat();       // 1
var_dump($number->toIntOrFloat());  // float(1)

Convert PHP Values

Use JsonValue::from() to create nodes from PHP values.

use Boundwize\JsonRecast\Value\JsonValue;

$node = JsonValue::from([
    'name' => 'boundwize/jsonrecast',
    'keywords' => ['json', 'ast'],
    'private' => false,
    'license' => null,
]);

Supported inputs are strings, integers, floats, booleans, null, list arrays, and associative arrays.

Node Attributes

Parsed nodes also carry metadata through the NodeJson attribute API:

$node->getAttributes();
$node->getAttribute('originalText');
$node->setAttribute('custom', true);
$node->hasAttribute('custom');
$node->removeAttribute('custom');

Built-in attribute names are available in Boundwize\JsonRecast\Attribute\NodeAttributes:

Attribute	Meaning
`START_OFFSET`	Start offset in the original source.
`END_OFFSET`	End offset in the original source.
`ORIGINAL_TEXT`	Exact source substring for the node.
`DEPTH`	Original nesting depth, where the root JSON value and document are depth `0`.
`OPENING_LINE_INDENTATION`	Leading spaces or tabs on the source line where a parsed object or array opens. Stored on container nodes only.
`SOURCE`	Original source used as document-framing provenance; a replacement document that adopts host framing also adopts the host source.
`NEWLINE`	Detected newline sequence, stored on the document and parsed nodes.
`INDENT`	Detected indentation unit, stored on the document and parsed nodes, and used when printing newly-created nested structures.
`TRAILING_NEWLINE`	Whether the document ended with a newline.

OPENING_LINE_INDENTATION is not necessarily the same as INDENT repeated DEPTH times. A container can open inline after a shallower value, as the object does here:

{
  "items": [1, {
    "enabled": true
  }]
}

The inner object’s depth is 2, but its opening line begins with one two-space indent. The preserving printer uses this source coordinate when changing indent units so closing delimiters remain aligned without inventing off-grid residual whitespace.

Attributes are useful for tooling and debugging. JsonRecast does not use a mutable “has changed” node attribute; changes are tracked in the traversal result.