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Revision 1.10 by root, Wed Apr 4 00:01:44 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.13 by root, Mon Jun 11 03:45:26 2007 UTC

112 $json = $json->ascii ([$enable]) 112 $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
113 If $enable is true (or missing), then the "encode" method will not 113 If $enable is true (or missing), then the "encode" method will not
114 generate characters outside the code range 0..127 (which is ASCII). 114 generate characters outside the code range 0..127 (which is ASCII).
115 Any unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using 115 Any unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using
116 either a single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL 116 either a single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL
117 escape sequence, as per RFC4627. 117 escape sequence, as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can
118 be treated as a native unicode string, an ascii-encoded,
119 latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string, or any other superset of
120 ASCII.
118 121
119 If $enable is false, then the "encode" method will not escape 122 If $enable is false, then the "encode" method will not escape
120 Unicode characters unless required by the JSON syntax. This results 123 Unicode characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other
121 in a faster and more compact format. 124 flags. This results in a faster and more compact format.
125
126 The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
127 transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
128 contain any 8 bit characters.
122 129
123 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401]) 130 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
124 => ["\ud801\udc01"] 131 => ["\ud801\udc01"]
132
133 $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
134 If $enable is true (or missing), then the "encode" method will
135 encode the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping
136 any characters outside the code range 0..255. The resulting string
137 can be treated as a latin1-encoded JSON text or a native unicode
138 string. The "decode" method will not be affected in any way by this
139 flag, as "decode" by default expects unicode, which is a strict
140 superset of latin1.
141
142 If $enable is false, then the "encode" method will not escape
143 Unicode characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other
144 flags.
145
146 The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as
147 JSON text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a
148 smaller encoded size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON
149 text is encoded in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such
150 when storing and transfering), a rare encoding for JSON. It is
151 therefore most useful when you want to store data structures known
152 to contain binary data efficiently in files or databases, not when
153 talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
154
155 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
156 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
125 157
126 $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable]) 158 $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
127 If $enable is true (or missing), then the "encode" method will 159 If $enable is true (or missing), then the "encode" method will
128 encode the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, 160 encode the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols,
129 while the "decode" method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded 161 while the "decode" method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded
300 returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 332 returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
301 333
302 JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays 334 JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays
303 become Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. "true" 335 become Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. "true"
304 becomes 1, "false" becomes 0 and "null" becomes "undef". 336 becomes 1, "false" becomes 0 and "null" becomes "undef".
337
338 ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
339 This works like the "decode" method, but instead of raising an
340 exception when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON
341 object, it will silently stop parsing there and return the number of
342 characters consumed so far.
343
344 This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer
345 protocol (which is not the brightest thing to do in the first place)
346 and you need to know where the JSON text ends.
347
348 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
349 => ([], 3)
305 350
306MAPPING 351MAPPING
307 This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and 352 This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
308 vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most 353 vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
309 circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics 354 circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
490 Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, 535 Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted,
491 empty keys result in nothing being output) 536 empty keys result in nothing being output)
492 537
493 Does not check input for validity. 538 Does not check input for validity.
494 539
540 JSON and YAML
541 You often hear that JSON is a subset (or a close subset) of YAML. This
542 is, however, a mass hysteria and very far from the truth. In general,
543 there is no way to configure JSON::XS to output a data structure as
544 valid YAML.
545
546 If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
547 algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
548
549 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
550 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
551
552 This will usually generate JSON texts that also parse as valid YAML.
553 Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
554 lengths that JSON doesn't have, so you should make sure that your hash
555 keys are noticably shorter than the 1024 characters YAML allows.
556
557 There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of. In
558 general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or
559 vice versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa:
560 chances are high that you will run into severe interoperability
561 problems.
562
495 SPEED 563 SPEED
496 It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following 564 It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
497 tables. They have been generated with the help of the "eg/bench" program 565 tables. They have been generated with the help of the "eg/bench" program
498 in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own 566 in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
499 system. 567 system.
500 568
501 First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short JSON 569 First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short
502 string: 570 single-line JSON string:
503 571
504 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], "id": null} 572 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], \
573 "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, true, false]}
505 574
506 It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses the 575 It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses the
507 functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface with 576 functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface with
508 pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled). Higher is better: 577 pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables shrink).
578 Higher is better:
509 579
510 module | encode | decode | 580 module | encode | decode |
511 -----------|------------|------------| 581 -----------|------------|------------|
512 JSON | 11488.516 | 7823.035 | 582 JSON | 7645.468 | 4208.613 |
513 JSON::DWIW | 94708.054 | 129094.260 | 583 JSON::DWIW | 40721.398 | 77101.176 |
514 JSON::PC | 63884.157 | 128528.212 | 584 JSON::PC | 65948.176 | 78251.940 |
515 JSON::Syck | 34898.677 | 42096.911 | 585 JSON::Syck | 22844.793 | 26479.192 |
516 JSON::XS | 654027.064 | 396423.669 | 586 JSON::XS | 388361.481 | 199728.762 |
517 JSON::XS/2 | 371564.190 | 371725.613 | 587 JSON::XS/2 | 218453.333 | 192399.266 |
588 JSON::XS/3 | 338250.323 | 192399.266 |
589 Storable | 15779.925 | 14169.946 |
518 -----------+------------+------------+ 590 -----------+------------+------------+
519 591
520 That is, JSON::XS is more than six times faster than JSON::DWIW on 592 That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on
521 encoding, more than three times faster on decoding, and about thirty 593 encoding, about three times faster on decoding, and over fourty times
522 times faster than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. 594 faster than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also
595 compares favourably to Storable for small amounts of data.
523 596
524 Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals 597 Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
525 search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg): 598 search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg):
526 599
527 module | encode | decode | 600 module | encode | decode |
528 -----------|------------|------------| 601 -----------|------------|------------|
529 JSON | 273.023 | 44.674 | 602 JSON | 254.685 | 37.665 |
530 JSON::DWIW | 1089.383 | 1145.704 | 603 JSON::DWIW | 843.343 | 1049.731 |
531 JSON::PC | 3097.419 | 2393.921 | 604 JSON::PC | 3602.116 | 2307.352 |
532 JSON::Syck | 514.060 | 843.053 | 605 JSON::Syck | 505.107 | 787.899 |
533 JSON::XS | 6479.668 | 3636.364 | 606 JSON::XS | 5747.196 | 3690.220 |
534 JSON::XS/2 | 3774.221 | 3599.124 | 607 JSON::XS/2 | 3968.121 | 3676.634 |
608 JSON::XS/3 | 6105.246 | 3662.508 |
609 Storable | 4417.337 | 5285.161 |
535 -----------+------------+------------+ 610 -----------+------------+------------+
536 611
537 Again, JSON::XS leads by far. 612 Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
613 decodes faster).
538 614
539 On large strings containing lots of high unicode characters, some 615 On large strings containing lots of high unicode characters, some
540 modules (such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the 616 modules (such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the
541 result will be broken due to missing (or wrong) unicode handling. Others 617 result will be broken due to missing (or wrong) unicode handling. Others
542 refuse to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a 618 refuse to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a
565 to be conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your 641 to be conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your
566 process has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly 642 process has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly
567 with the "max_depth" method. 643 with the "max_depth" method.
568 644
569 And last but least, something else could bomb you that I forgot to think 645 And last but least, something else could bomb you that I forgot to think
570 of. In that case, you get to keep the pieces. I am alway sopen for 646 of. In that case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for
571 hints, though... 647 hints, though...
572 648
573BUGS 649BUGS
574 While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does 650 While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
575 not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is 651 not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is

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