created: 201308251500
modified: 201405131621
tags: deserializers dev
title: TiddlerFiles

Tiddlers can be stored in text files in several different formats. Files containing single tiddlers can also have an auxiliary `.meta` file formatted as a sequence of name:value pairs:

```
title: TheTitle
modifier: someone
```

!! ~TiddlyWeb-style .tid files

These files consist of a sequence of lines containing name:value pairs, a blank line and then the text of the tiddler. For example:

```
title: MyTiddler
modifier: Jeremy

This is the text of my tiddler.
```

Note that many text editors require that files include a terminating newline. If you want to avoid including the terminating newline in the text of the tiddler you can use this alternative syntax:

```
title: MyTiddler
modifier: Jeremy
text: This is the text of my tiddler.
```

//The ContentType `application/x-tiddler` is used internally for these files//

!! TiddlyWiki `<DIV>` .tiddler files

Modern `*.tiddler` files look like this:

```
<div title="AnotherExampleStyleSheet" modifier="blaine" created="201102111106" modified="201102111310" tags="examples" creator="psd">
<pre>Note that there is an embedded <pre> tag, and line feeds are not escaped.

And, weirdly, there is no HTML encoding of the body.</pre>
</div>
```

These `*.tiddler` files are therefore not quite the same as the tiddlers found inside a TiddlyWiki HTML file, where the body is HTML encoded in the expected way.

Older `*.tiddler` files more closely matched the store format used by TiddlyWiki at the time:

```
<div tiddler="AnotherExampleStyleSheet" modifier="JeremyRuston" modified="200508181432" created="200508181432" tags="examples">This is an old-school .tiddler file, without an embedded &lt;pre&gt; tag.\nNote how the body is &quot;HTML encoded&quot; and new lines are escaped to \\n</div>
```

//The ContentType `application/x-tiddler-html-div` is used internally for these files//

!! ~TiddlyWeb-style JSON files

These files are a straightforward array of hashmaps of name:value fields. Currently only these known fields are processed: `title`, `text`, `created`, `creator`, `modified`, `modifier`, `type` and `tags`.

//The ContentType `application/json` is used internally for these files//

!! TiddlyWiki HTML files

TiddlyWiki HTML files contain a collection of tiddlers encoded in `<DIV>` format.