The Practical Data and Markup Language (PDML) is a text format designed to store data and markup code.

PDML is easy to read and write for humans.

Here is an example of a simple XML document:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<person>
    <name>
        <first>Albert</first>
        <last>Einstein</last>
    </name>
    <city>Bern</city>
    <country>Switzerland</country>
</person>

The same document looks like this in PDML:

[person
    [name
        [first Albert]
        [last Einstein]
    ]
    [city Bern]
    [country Switzerland]
]

Markup code, such as this HTML code:

<p>We can write text in <b>bold</b>, <i>italic</i>, or <b><i>bold and italic</b></i>.</p>

... looks like this in PDML:

[p We can write text in [b bold], [i italic], or [b[i bold and italic]].]

Besides a simple and succinct syntax, PDML also provides unique, powerful extensions to make it more practical.

For a quick overview please visit the Overview page.