That's a lisp vector representation which (e.g.) emacs lisp and clojure use; I believe CL uses a #(1 2 3) reader format instead though so that's probably why Data::SExpression doesn't grok it (then again I don't know if offhand that module'd like the #(1 2 3) notation either . . .)

Considering that file's basically a serialized list of package-decr instances I'd probably agree with the suggestion to manipulate it from lisp instead. If you expounded on what you're trying to do with it you might prompt better suggestions, but so long as you've called package-initialize and Emacs has populated it you can monkey with things like this. Theoretically you could build up the info you wanted to export and then use json-encode to write out a more convenient representation. 

(require 'cl) ;; Newer emacsen don't need this
(cl-loop for (pkg-sym pkg) in package-archive-contents
  collect (list pkg-sym
                (package-desc-archive pkg)
                (package-desc-version pkg)))

[download]

The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.

In reply to Re: Parsing Emacs Lisp sexpr? by Fletch
in thread Parsing Emacs Lisp sexpr? by perlancar

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.