Data Transformation Tools

Overview

Kayston’s Forge provides powerful data transformation tools for developers working with structured data, lists, and database queries. All transformations run entirely in your browser with no external server calls.

Data Format Converters

JSON to CSV

Convert JSON arrays of objects to CSV format. Automatically flattens nested objects.

CSV to JSON

Parse CSV files and convert to JSON arrays. Handles headers, dynamic typing, and empty lines.

CSV to SQL INSERT

Generate SQL INSERT statements from CSV data. Supports multiple SQL dialects.

SQL Formatter

Format SQL queries with proper indentation. Supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and more.

PHP to JSON

Convert PHP serialized data or PHP array syntax to JSON.

JSON to PHP

Convert JSON to PHP serialized format or PHP array syntax.

PHP Serializer

Serialize JSON data to PHP serialized format.

PHP Unserializer

Unserialize PHP data to readable JSON or PHP array syntax.

List & Text Tools

List Splitter

Split lists into batches or chunks. Supports custom delimiters and multiple output templates.

List Compare

Compare two lists to find intersection, union, differences, or unique items.

Text Separator

Change text delimiters (comma, newline, tab, semicolon, pipe, space). Sort or deduplicate.

Line Sort/Dedupe

Sort text lines alphabetically and remove duplicates. Case-insensitive deduplication.

String Case Converter

Convert strings between camelCase, snake_case, kebab-case, PascalCase, SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE, and Title Case.

JSON ↔ CSV Conversion

Convert between JSON arrays and CSV for spreadsheet compatibility. JSON to CSV Example

// Input
[
  {"name": "Alice", "age": 30, "city": "New York"},
  {"name": "Bob", "age": 25, "city": "Los Angeles"}
]

# Output
name,age,city
Alice,30,New York
Bob,25,Los Angeles

CSV to JSON Example

# Input
name,age,city
Alice,30,New York
Bob,25,Los Angeles

// Output
[
  {"name": "Alice", "age": 30, "city": "New York"},
  {"name": "Bob", "age": 25, "city": "Los Angeles"}
]

The JSON to CSV converter automatically flattens nested objects using dot notation (e.g., address.city becomes a column).

CSV to SQL INSERT

Generate INSERT statements from CSV data with support for multiple SQL dialects. Example

# Input
id,name,email
1,Alice,alice@example.com
2,Bob,bob@example.com

-- Output (MySQL)
INSERT INTO table_name (id, name, email) VALUES
(1, 'Alice', 'alice@example.com'),
(2, 'Bob', 'bob@example.com');

Supported Dialects

MySQL / MariaDB
PostgreSQL
SQLite
Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle

Customize the table name in the second input field. The tool uses the first row as column names.

SQL Formatting

Format SQL queries with proper indentation and keyword capitalization. Example

-- Input
select u.id,u.name,o.total from users u join orders o on u.id=o.user_id where o.total>100 order by o.total desc;

-- Output
SELECT
  u.id,
  u.name,
  o.total
FROM
  users u
  JOIN orders o ON u.id = o.user_id
WHERE
  o.total > 100
ORDER BY
  o.total DESC;

Supported Dialects

SQL (standard)
MySQL
PostgreSQL
MariaDB
SQLite
BigQuery
Snowflake
Redshift
Spark
and more…

PHP Data Conversion

Kayston’s Forge includes full support for PHP serialized data and PHP array syntax. PHP Serialize to JSON

// Input (PHP serialized)
a:2:{s:4:"name";s:5:"Alice";s:3:"age";i:30;}

// Output
{
  "name": "Alice",
  "age": 30
}

PHP Array Syntax to JSON

// Input (PHP array syntax)
[
    'name' => 'Alice',
    'age' => 30,
    'active' => true
]

// Output
{
  "name": "Alice",
  "age": 30,
  "active": true
}

JSON to PHP Array Syntax

// Input
{"name": "Alice", "age": 30}

// Output
[
    'name' => 'Alice',
    'age' => 30,
]

The PHP parser supports both array() and [] syntax. It handles nested arrays, objects, and preserves data types (strings, integers, booleans, null).

List Comparison

Compare two lists to find relationships between datasets. Example: Intersection (items in both lists)

# List A
apple
banana
cherry

# List B
banana
cherry
date

# Output (Intersection)
banana
cherry

Available Operations

Intersection - Items in both lists
Union - All unique items from both lists
A - B - Items only in list A
B - A - Items only in list B
Symmetric Difference - Items in either list but not both

Comparison is case-insensitive and trims whitespace. Empty lines are ignored.

List Splitter

Split lists into equal-sized batches or chunks. Example: Split into Groups of 3

# Input
apple
banana
cherry
date
eggfruit
fig

# Output (Plain Text)
Group 1:
apple
banana
cherry

Group 2:
date
eggfruit
fig

Output Templates

Plain Text - Simple grouped output
JSON Array - [["apple", "banana", "cherry"], ["date", "eggfruit", "fig"]]
Numbered List - Groups with numeric prefixes

Split Modes

Items per Group - Fixed number of items per group
Number of Groups - Distribute items evenly across N groups

Text Separator

Change delimiters in delimited text. Example: Comma to Newline

# Input (comma-separated)
apple, banana, cherry, date

# Output (newline-separated)
apple
banana
cherry
date

Supported Delimiters

Newline (\n)
Comma (,)
Comma + Space (, )
Semicolon (;)
Tab (\t)
Space
Pipe (|)
Custom (any string)

Additional Actions

Sort - Sort items alphabetically
Unique - Remove duplicates
Count - Show item count

Line Sort/Dedupe

Sort text lines and remove duplicates with advanced options. Example

# Input
banana
apple
cherry
apple
date

# Output (Sort Ascending + Dedupe)
apple
banana
cherry
date

Actions

Sort Ascending - A-Z
Sort Descending - Z-A
Dedupe Only - Remove duplicates without sorting
Dedupe + Sort - Remove duplicates then sort

Deduplication is case-insensitive and preserves the first occurrence of each unique line.

String Case Converter

Convert between common programming case conventions. Example

Input: hello_world_example

camelCase:         helloWorldExample
PascalCase:        HelloWorldExample
snake_case:        hello_world_example
kebab-case:        hello-world-example
SCREAMING_SNAKE:   HELLO_WORLD_EXAMPLE
Title Case:        Hello World Example

Supported Cases

camelCase - First word lowercase, rest capitalized
PascalCase - All words capitalized
snake_case - Lowercase with underscores
kebab-case - Lowercase with hyphens
SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE - Uppercase with underscores
Title Case - Space-separated with capitalized words

The converter intelligently parses existing case conventions, so you can convert from any format to any other format.

Best Practices

CSV Headers Always include a header row in CSV files for proper column mapping. The CSV to JSON and CSV to SQL tools use the first row as field names. SQL Dialect Selection Choose the correct SQL dialect for your database:

MySQL - Uses backticks for identifiers
PostgreSQL - Uses double quotes for identifiers, supports advanced types
SQLite - Simpler syntax, fewer data types
SQL Server - Uses square brackets for identifiers

PHP Serialization Security

Never unserialize untrusted PHP data in production applications. PHP’s unserialize() function can execute arbitrary code if the input contains malicious object instances. Use JSON for data interchange instead.

List Comparison Performance For very large lists (>10,000 items), the comparison may take a few seconds. Consider breaking large datasets into smaller chunks.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Cmd/Ctrl + Enter - Execute transformation
Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + C - Copy output
Cmd/Ctrl + K - Switch tools

JSON Format/Validate - Validate and format JSON
HTML to JSX - Convert HTML to React JSX
Markdown Preview - Render Markdown to HTML

Get Started

Core Features

User Guide

Overview

Data Format Converters

JSON to CSV

CSV to JSON

CSV to SQL INSERT

SQL Formatter

PHP to JSON

JSON to PHP

PHP Serializer

PHP Unserializer

List & Text Tools

List Splitter

List Compare

Text Separator

Line Sort/Dedupe

String Case Converter

JSON ↔ CSV Conversion

CSV to SQL INSERT

SQL Formatting

PHP Data Conversion

List Comparison

List Splitter

Text Separator

Line Sort/Dedupe

String Case Converter

Best Practices

Keyboard Shortcuts

Get Started

Core Features

User Guide

​Overview

​Data Format Converters

JSON to CSV

CSV to JSON

CSV to SQL INSERT

SQL Formatter

PHP to JSON

JSON to PHP

PHP Serializer

PHP Unserializer

​List & Text Tools

List Splitter

List Compare

Text Separator

Line Sort/Dedupe

String Case Converter

​JSON ↔ CSV Conversion

​CSV to SQL INSERT

​SQL Formatting

​PHP Data Conversion

​List Comparison

​List Splitter

​Text Separator

​Line Sort/Dedupe

​String Case Converter

​Best Practices

​Keyboard Shortcuts

​Related Tools

Overview

Data Format Converters

List & Text Tools

JSON ↔ CSV Conversion

CSV to SQL INSERT

SQL Formatting

PHP Data Conversion

List Comparison

List Splitter

Text Separator

Line Sort/Dedupe

String Case Converter

Best Practices

Keyboard Shortcuts

Related Tools