nim-bencode is a library to encode/decode torrent files Bencode

import bencode, tables, strformat

let encoder = newEncoder()
let decoder = newDecoder()

let btListSample1 = @[BencodeType(kind:btInt, i:1), BencodeType(kind:btString, s:"hi") ]
var btDictSample1 = initOrderedTable[BencodeType, BencodeType]()
btDictSample1[BencodeType(kind:btString, s:"name")] = BencodeType(kind:btString, s:"dmdm")
btDictSample1[BencodeType(kind:btString, s:"lang")] = BencodeType(kind:btString, s:"nim")
btDictSample1[BencodeType(kind:btString, s:"age")] = BencodeType(kind:btInt, i:50)
btDictSample1[BencodeType(kind:btString, s:"alist")] = BencodeType(kind:btList, l:btListSample1)

var testObjects = initOrderedTable[BencodeType, string]()
testObjects[BencodeType(kind: btString, s:"hello")] = "5:hello"
testObjects[BencodeType(kind: btString, s:"yes")] = "3:yes"
testObjects[BencodeType(kind: btInt, i:55)] = "i55e"

testObjects[BencodeType(kind: btInt, i:12345)] = "i12345e"
testObjects[BencodeType(kind: btList, l:btListSample1)] = "li1e2:hie"
testObjects[BencodeType(kind:btDict, d:btDictSample1)] = "d4:name4:dmdm4:lang3:nim3:agei50e5:alistli1e2:hiee"


for k, v in testObjects.pairs():
    echo $k & " => " & $v
    doAssert(encoder.encodeObject(k) == v)
    doAssert(decoder.decodeObject(v) == k)

So according to Bencode we have some datatypes

• strings and those are encoded with the string length followed by a colon and the string itself length:string, e.g yes will be encoded into 3:yes
• ints those are encoded between i, e letters, e.g 59 will be encoded into i59e
• lists can contain any of the bencode types and it's encoded with l, e, e.g list of 1, 2 numbers is encoded into li1ei2e or with spaces for verbosity l i1e i2e e
• dicts are mapping from strings to any type and encoded between letters d, e, e.g name => hi and num => 3 is encoded into d4:name2:hi3:numi3ee or with spaces for verbosity d 4:name 2:hi 3:num i3e e

import strformat, tables, json, strutils, hashes

As we will be dealing a lot with strings, tables

type 
    BencodeKind* = enum
        btString, btInt, btList, btDict

So as we mentioned about bencode data types we can define an enum to represents the kinds

    BencodeType* = ref object
        case kind*: BencodeKind 
        of BencodeKind.btString: s* : string 
        of BencodeKind.btInt: i*    : int
        of BencodeKind.btList: l*   : seq[BencodeType]
        of BencodeKind.btDict: d*  : OrderedTable[BencodeType, BencodeType]

    Encoder* = ref object
    Decoder* = ref object 

• Encoder a simple class to represent encoding operations
• Decoder a simple class to represent decoding operations
• For BencodeType we make use of variant objects case classes in other languages. worth noticing variant objects are the same technique used for json module.

So we can use it like this

BencodeType(kind: btString, s:"hello")
BencodeType(kind: btInt, i:55)
let btListSample1 = @[BencodeType(kind:btInt, i:1), BencodeType(kind:btString, s:"hi") ]
BencodeType(kind: btList, l:btListSample1)

So general rule for the case classes is you have a kind defined in an enum and a constructor value u create the object with.

If you're coming from Haskell or a similar language

data BValue = BInt Integer
            | BStr B.ByteString
            | BList [BValue]
            | BDict (M.Map BValue BValue)
            deriving (Show, Eq, Ord)

Please, note if you define your own variant you should define hash, == procs to be able to compare or hash the values.

proc hash*(obj: BencodeType): Hash = 
    case obj.kind
    of btString : !$(hash(obj.s))
    of btInt : !$(hash(obj.i))
    of btList: !$(hash(obj.l))
    of btDict: 
        var h = 0
        for k, v in obj.d.pairs:
            h = h !& hash(k) !& hash(v)
        !$(h)

• hash proc returns Hash and depending on the kind we return the hash of the underlying stored objects, strings, ints, lists or calculate a new hash if needed
• !& consider it like merging the two hashes together
• !$ is used to finalize the Hash object

proc `==`* (a, b: BencodeType): bool =
    ## Check two nodes for equality
    if a.isNil:
        if b.isNil: return true
        return false
    elif b.isNil or a.kind != b.kind:
        return false
    else:
        case a.kind
        of btString:
            result = a.s == b.s
        of btInt:
            result = a.i == b.i
        of btList:
            result = a.l == b.l
        of btDict:
            if a.d.len != b.d.len: return false
            for key, val in a.d:
                if not b.d.hasKey(key): return false
                if b.d[key] != val: return false
            result = true

define equality operator on BencodeTypes to determine when they're equal by defining proc for operator ==

proc `$`* (a: BencodeType): string = 
    case a.kind
    of btString:  fmt("<Bencode {a.s}>")
    of btInt: fmt("<Bencode {a.i}>")
    of btList: fmt("<Bencode {a.l}>")
    of btDict: fmt("<Bencode {a.d}")

Define a simple toString proc using the $ operator.

proc encode(this: Encoder,  obj: BencodeType) : string

we add forward declarating to encode proc because to encode a list we might encode another values strings, or even lists so we will recursively call encode if needed, feel free to skip to the next part.

proc encode_s(this: Encoder, s: string) : string=
    # TODO: check len
    return $s.len & ":" & s

To encode a string we said we will put encoded with its length + : + string itself

proc encode_i(this: Encoder, i: int) : string=
    # TODO: check len
    return fmt("i{i}e") 

To encode an int we put it between i, e chars

proc encode_l(this: Encoder, l: seq[BencodeType]): string =
    var encoded = "l"
    for el in l:
        encoded &= this.encode(el)
    encoded &= "e"
    return encoded

• To encode a list of elements of type BencodeType we put their encoded values between l, e chars
• Notice the call to this.encode that's why we needed the forward declaration.

proc encode_d(this: Encoder, d: OrderedTable[BencodeType, BencodeType]): string =
    var encoded = "d"
    for k, v in d.pairs():
        assert k.kind == BencodeKind.btString
        encoded &= this.encode(k) & this.encode(v)

    encoded &= "e"
    return encoded

• To encode a dict we enclose the encoded value of the pairs between d, e
• Notice the recursive call to this.encode to the keys and values
• Notice the assertion the kind of the keys must be a btString according to Bencode specs.

proc encode(this: Encoder,  obj: BencodeType) :  string =
    case obj.kind
    of BencodeKind.btString:  result =this.encode_s(obj.s)
    of BencodeKind.btInt :  result = this.encode_i(obj.i)
    of BencodeKind.btList : result = this.encode_l(obj.l)
    of BencodeKind.btDict : result = this.encode_d(obj.d)

Simple proxy to encode obj of BencodeType

proc decode(this: Decoder,  source: string) : (BencodeType, int)

Forward declaration for decode same as decode

proc decode_s(this: Decoder, s: string) : (BencodeType, int) =
    let lengthpart = s.split(":")[0]
    let sizelength = lengthpart.len
    let strlen = parseInt(lengthpart)
    return (BencodeType(kind:btString, s: s[sizelength+1..strlen+1]), sizelength+1+strlen)

Create a BencodeType of after decoding a string reverse operation of encode_s Basically and read string of length sizelength after the colon and construct a BencodeType of kind btString out of it

proc decode_i(this: Decoder, s: string) : (BencodeType, int) =
    let epos = s.find('e')
    let i = parseInt(s[1..<epos])
    return (BencodeType(kind:btInt, i:i), epos+1)

Extract the number between i, e chars and construct BencodeType of kind btInt out of it

proc decode_l(this: Decoder, s: string): (BencodeType, int) =
    # l ... e
    var els = newSeq[BencodeType]()
    var curchar = s[1]
    var idx = 1
    while idx < s.len:
        curchar = s[idx]
        if curchar == 'e':
            idx += 1
            break
    
        let pair = this.decode(s[idx..<s.len])
        let obj = pair[0]
        let nextobjpos = pair[1] 
        els.add(obj)
        idx += nextobjpos
    return (BencodeType(kind:btList, l:els), idx)

Decoding the list can be bit tricky

• Its elements are between l, e chars
• So we start trying to decode objects starting from the first letter after the l until we reach the final e e.g

li1ei2ee

will be parsed like the following

li120ei492ee
 $   $

• will consume the object i120e and set the cursor to the beginning of the second object i492e
• after all the objects are consumed we consume the end character e and we are done
• That's why all decode procs return int value to let us now how much characters to skip

proc decode_d(this: Decoder, s: string): (BencodeType, int) =
    var d = initOrderedTable[BencodeType, BencodeType]()
    var curchar = s[1]
    var idx = 1
    var readingKey = true
    var curKey: BencodeType
    while idx < s.len:
        curchar = s[idx]
        if curchar == 'e':
            break
        let pair = this.decode(s[idx..<s.len])
        let obj = pair[0]
        let nextobjpos = pair[1]
        if readingKey == true:
            curKey = obj
            readingKey = false
        else:
            d[curKey] = obj
            readingKey = true
        idx += nextobjpos
    return (BencodeType(kind:btDict, d: d), idx)

• Same technique as above
• Basically we read one object if we don't have a current key then we set it as the current key
• If we have a current key object then the object we read is the value, so we set the currentKey to that value and change mode to readingKey again.

proc decode(this: Decoder,  source: string) : (BencodeType, int) =
    var curchar = source[0]
    var idx = 0
    while idx < source.len:
        curchar = source[idx]
        case curchar
        of 'i':
            let pair = this.decode_i(source[idx..source.len])
            let obj = pair[0]
            let nextobjpos = pair[1] 
            idx += nextobjpos
            return (obj, idx)
        of 'l':
            let pair = this.decode_l(source[idx..source.len])
            let obj = pair[0]
            let nextobjpos = pair[1] 
            idx += nextobjpos
            return (obj, idx)
        of 'd':
            let pair = this.decode_d(source[idx..source.len])
            let obj = pair[0]
            let nextobjpos = pair[1] 
            idx += nextobjpos
            return (obj, idx)
        else: 
            let pair = this.decode_s(source[idx..source.len])
            let obj = pair[0]
            let nextobjpos = pair[1] 
            idx += nextobjpos
            return (obj, idx)

Starts decoding based on the beginning of character encoding object i for int, l for lists, d for dicts and otherwise tries to parse string

proc newEncoder*(): Encoder =
    new Encoder

proc newDecoder*(): Decoder = 
    new Decoder

Simple constructor procs for newEncoder, newDecoder

proc encodeObject*(this: Encoder, obj: BencodeType) : string =
    return this.encode(obj)

encodeObject dispatch the call to encode proc.

proc decodeObject*(this: Decoder, source:string) : BencodeType =
    let p = this.decode(source)
    return p[0]

decodeObject provides a friendlier API to return the BencodeType from decode instead of BencodeType, how many to read int