Syntax Overview

File Extensions

Extension	Output	Description
.purus	.js	Standard JavaScript
.cpurus	.cjs	CommonJS module
.mpurus	.mjs	ES Module

Comments

-- This is a line comment

--- This is a
block comment ---

Strings

Strings use triple slashes ///:

const greeting be ///Hello, World///

Escape sequences

Escape	Result
\n	Newline
\t	Tab
\\	Backslash
\/	/
\[	[
\]	]

Numbers

const i be 42
const f be 3.14

Booleans and null

const a be true
const b be false
const c be null
const d be nil       -- alias for null
const e be undefined

Arrays

const arr be [1, 2, 3]
const arr2 be [1; 2; 3]   -- semicolons also work
const empty be []

Objects

const obj be [name be ///Alice///, age be 30]
const empty-obj be [be]    -- empty object

Brackets only

Purus uses [] for everything — function calls, arrays, objects, and grouping. No () or {}.

Indentation

Blocks are defined by indentation (2 spaces recommended):

if x gt 0
  console.log[///positive///]
else
  console.log[///non-positive///]

Identifiers

Identifiers can contain hyphens (-), which are converted to underscores in JavaScript output:

const my-variable be 42
-- compiles to: const my_variable = 42;