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Revision 1.15 by root, Sat Mar 24 01:15:22 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.104 by root, Thu May 8 15:33:06 2008 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast 3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast
4 4
5=encoding utf-8
6
7JSON::XS - 正しくて高速な JSON シリアライザ/デシリアライザ
8 (http://fleur.hio.jp/perldoc/mix/lib/JSON/XS.html)
9
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 10=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 11
7 use JSON::XS; 12 use JSON::XS;
8 13
9 # exported functions, croak on error 14 # exported functions, they croak on error
15 # and expect/generate UTF-8
10 16
11 $utf8_encoded_json_text = to_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref; 17 $utf8_encoded_json_text = encode_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;
12 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = from_json $utf8_encoded_json_text; 18 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = decode_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;
13 19
14 # oo-interface 20 # OO-interface
15 21
16 $coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref; 22 $coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;
17 $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar); 23 $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);
18 $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text); 24 $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);
19 25
26 # Note that JSON version 2.0 and above will automatically use JSON::XS
27 # if available, at virtually no speed overhead either, so you should
28 # be able to just:
29
30 use JSON;
31
32 # and do the same things, except that you have a pure-perl fallback now.
33
20=head1 DESCRIPTION 34=head1 DESCRIPTION
21 35
22This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its 36This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its
23primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be 37primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be
24I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C. 38I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C.
39
40Beginning with version 2.0 of the JSON module, when both JSON and
41JSON::XS are installed, then JSON will fall back on JSON::XS (this can be
42overriden) with no overhead due to emulation (by inheritign constructor
43and methods). If JSON::XS is not available, it will fall back to the
44compatible JSON::PP module as backend, so using JSON instead of JSON::XS
45gives you a portable JSON API that can be fast when you need and doesn't
46require a C compiler when that is a problem.
25 47
26As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason 48As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason
27to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON 49to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON
28modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases 50modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases
29their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug 51their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
36 58
37=head2 FEATURES 59=head2 FEATURES
38 60
39=over 4 61=over 4
40 62
41=item * correct handling of unicode issues 63=item * correct Unicode handling
42 64
43This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how and when 65This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does
44it does so. 66so, and even documents what "correct" means.
45 67
46=item * round-trip integrity 68=item * round-trip integrity
47 69
48When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported 70When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported
49by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. 71by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level.
50(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2"). 72(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks
73like a number). There minor I<are> exceptions to this, read the MAPPING
74section below to learn about those.
51 75
52=item * strict checking of JSON correctness 76=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
53 77
54There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON strings by default, 78There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
55and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security 79and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
56feature). 80feature).
57 81
58=item * fast 82=item * fast
59 83
60Compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably in terms 84Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable,
61of speed, too. 85this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too.
62 86
63=item * simple to use 87=item * simple to use
64 88
65This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO 89This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an objetc
66interface. 90oriented interface interface.
67 91
68=item * reasonably versatile output formats 92=item * reasonably versatile output formats
69 93
70You can choose between the most compact guarenteed single-line format 94You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format
71possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format (for 95possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format
72when your transport is not 8-bit clean), or a pretty-printed format (for 96(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
73when you want to read that stuff). Or you can combine those features in 97Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
74whatever way you like. 98stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
75 99
76=back 100=back
77 101
78=cut 102=cut
79 103
80package JSON::XS; 104package JSON::XS;
81 105
82BEGIN { 106use strict;
107
83 $VERSION = '0.31'; 108our $VERSION = '2.2';
84 @ISA = qw(Exporter); 109our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
85 110
86 @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json); 111our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json to_json from_json);
87 require Exporter;
88 112
113sub to_json($) {
89 require XSLoader; 114 require Carp;
90 XSLoader::load JSON::XS::, $VERSION; 115 Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::to_json has been renamed to encode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call");
91} 116}
92 117
118sub from_json($) {
119 require Carp;
120 Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::from_json has been renamed to decode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call");
121}
122
123use Exporter;
124use XSLoader;
125
93=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 126=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
94 127
95The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are 128The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are
96exported by default: 129exported by default:
97 130
98=over 4 131=over 4
99 132
100=item $json_string = to_json $perl_scalar 133=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar
101 134
102Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to 135Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string
103a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains 136(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error.
104octets only). Croaks on error.
105 137
106This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar) >>. 138This function call is functionally identical to:
107 139
140 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
141
142except being faster.
143
108=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_string 144=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text
109 145
110The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to 146The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries
111parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON string, returning the resulting simple 147to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting
112scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 148reference. Croaks on error.
113 149
114This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_string) >>. 150This function call is functionally identical to:
151
152 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
153
154except being faster.
155
156=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar
157
158Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or
159JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively
160and are used to represent JSON C<true> and C<false> values in Perl.
161
162See MAPPING, below, for more information on how JSON values are mapped to
163Perl.
115 164
116=back 165=back
166
167
168=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL
169
170Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on
171how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs.
172
173=over 4
174
175=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255.
176
177This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a
178Perl string - very natural.
179
180=item 2. Perl does I<not> associate an encoding with your strings.
181
182... until you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or
183printing the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your
184string as locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending
185on various settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your
186data, it is I<use> that decides encoding, not any magical meta data.
187
188=item 3. The internal utf-8 flag has no meaning with regards to the
189encoding of your string.
190
191Just ignore that flag unless you debug a Perl bug, a module written in
192XS or want to dive into the internals of perl. Otherwise it will only
193confuse you, as, despite the name, it says nothing about how your string
194is encoded. You can have Unicode strings with that flag set, with that
195flag clear, and you can have binary data with that flag set and that flag
196clear. Other possibilities exist, too.
197
198If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't
199exist.
200
201=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be
202validly interpreted as a Unicode codepoint.
203
204If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a
205Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string.
206
207=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string.
208
209It's a fact. Learn to live with it.
210
211=back
212
213I hope this helps :)
214
117 215
118=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE 216=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
119 217
120The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or 218The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
121decoding style, within the limits of supported formats. 219decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
128strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>. 226strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>.
129 227
130The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can 228The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can
131be chained: 229be chained:
132 230
133 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8(1)->space_after(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 231 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
134 => {"a": [1, 2]} 232 => {"a": [1, 2]}
135 233
136=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable]) 234=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
137 235
236=item $enabled = $json->get_ascii
237
138If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will 238If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
139not generate characters outside the code range C<0..127>. Any unicode 239generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
140characters outside that range will be escaped using either a single 240Unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
141\uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence, as per 241single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
142RFC4627. 242as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
243Unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
244or any other superset of ASCII.
143 245
144If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode 246If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
145characters unless necessary. 247characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
248in a faster and more compact format.
146 249
250See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
251document.
252
253The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
254transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
255contain any 8 bit characters.
256
147 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode (chr 0x10401) 257 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
148 => \ud801\udc01 258 => ["\ud801\udc01"]
259
260=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
261
262=item $enabled = $json->get_latin1
263
264If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
265the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
266outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
267latin1-encoded JSON text or a native Unicode string. The C<decode> method
268will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
269expects Unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
270
271If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
272characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
273
274See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
275document.
276
277The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
278text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
279size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
280in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
281transferring), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
282you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
283in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
284
285 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
286 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
149 287
150=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable]) 288=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
151 289
290=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8
291
152If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode 292If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
153the JSON string into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the 293the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
154C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please 294C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
155note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the 295note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
156range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. 296range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
297versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
298and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
157 299
158If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON 300If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON
159string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a 301string as a (non-encoded) Unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a
160unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs 302Unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
161to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module. 303to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
162 304
305See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
306document.
307
163Example, output UTF-16-encoded JSON: 308Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
309
310 use Encode;
311 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
312
313Example, decode UTF-32LE-encoded JSON:
314
315 use Encode;
316 $object = JSON::XS->new->decode (decode "UTF-32LE", $jsontext);
164 317
165=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable]) 318=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable])
166 319
167This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and 320This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and
168C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to 321C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to
179 ] 332 ]
180 } 333 }
181 334
182=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable]) 335=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
183 336
337=item $enabled = $json->get_indent
338
184If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline 339If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
185format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair 340format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
186into its own line, identing them properly. 341into its own line, indenting them properly.
187 342
188If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the 343If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
189resulting JSON strings is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>. 344resulting JSON text is guaranteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
190 345
191This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 346This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
192 347
193=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable]) 348=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
349
350=item $enabled = $json->get_space_before
194 351
195If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 352If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
196optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects. 353optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
197 354
198If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 355If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
199space at those places. 356space at those places.
200 357
201This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. You will also most 358This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. You will also
202likely combine this setting with C<space_after>. 359most likely combine this setting with C<space_after>.
203 360
204Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled: 361Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
205 362
206 {"key" :"value"} 363 {"key" :"value"}
207 364
208=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable]) 365=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
366
367=item $enabled = $json->get_space_after
209 368
210If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 369If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
211optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects 370optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
212and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array 371and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
213members. 372members.
214 373
215If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 374If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
216space at those places. 375space at those places.
217 376
218This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 377This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
219 378
220Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled: 379Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
221 380
222 {"key": "value"} 381 {"key": "value"}
223 382
383=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])
384
385=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed
386
387If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
388extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
389affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
390JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
391parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files,
392resource files etc.)
393
394If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept
395valid JSON texts.
396
397Currently accepted extensions are:
398
399=over 4
400
401=item * list items can have an end-comma
402
403JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This
404can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to
405quickly append elements, so this extension accepts comma at the end of
406such items not just between them:
407
408 [
409 1,
410 2, <- this comma not normally allowed
411 ]
412 {
413 "k1": "v1",
414 "k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed
415 }
416
417=item * shell-style '#'-comments
418
419Whenever JSON allows whitespace, shell-style comments are additionally
420allowed. They are terminated by the first carriage-return or line-feed
421character, after which more white-space and comments are allowed.
422
423 [
424 1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
425 # neither this one...
426 ]
427
428=back
429
224=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable]) 430=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
431
432=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical
225 433
226If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects 434If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
227by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead. 435by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
228 436
229If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value 437If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
230pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs 438pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
231of the same script). 439of the same script).
232 440
233This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as 441This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
234the same JSON string (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled, 442the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
235the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data, 443the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
236as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl. 444as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
237 445
238This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 446This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
239 447
240=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable]) 448=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
449
450=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref
241 451
242If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a 452If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
243non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value, 453non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
244which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON 454which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
245values instead of croaking. 455values instead of croaking.
246 456
247If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't 457If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't
248passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON strings must either be an object 458passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON texts must either be an object
249or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a 459or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a
250JSON object or array. 460JSON object or array.
251 461
252Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>, 462Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>,
253resulting in an invalid JSON text: 463resulting in an invalid JSON text:
254 464
255 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!") 465 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
256 => "Hello, World!" 466 => "Hello, World!"
257 467
468=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable])
469
470=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown
471
472If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode> will I<not> throw an
473exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for
474example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C<null> value. Note
475that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by
476c<allow_nonref>.
477
478If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
479exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON.
480
481This option does not affect C<decode> in any way, and it is recommended to
482leave it off unless you know your communications partner.
483
484=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
485
486=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
487
488If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
489barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the
490B<convert_blessed> option will decide whether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>
491disabled or no C<TO_JSON> method found) or a representation of the
492object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<TO_JSON> method found) is being
493encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
494
495If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
496exception when it encounters a blessed object.
497
498=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
499
500=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed
501
502If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
503blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
504on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context
505and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no
506C<TO_JSON> method is found, the value of C<allow_blessed> will decide what
507to do.
508
509The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
510returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
511way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
512(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
513methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
514usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json>
515function or method.
516
517This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the
518future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are
519enabled by this setting.
520
521If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what
522to do when a blessed object is found.
523
524=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
525
526When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
527time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the
528newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which
529need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid
530aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns
531an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the
532original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down
533decoding considerably.
534
535When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
536be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
537way.
538
539Example, convert all JSON objects into the integer 5:
540
541 my $js = JSON::XS->new->filter_json_object (sub { 5 });
542 # returns [5]
543 $js->decode ('[{}]')
544 # throw an exception because allow_nonref is not enabled
545 # so a lone 5 is not allowed.
546 $js->decode ('{"a":1, "b":2}');
547
548=item $json = $json->filter_json_single_key_object ($key [=> $coderef->($value)])
549
550Works remotely similar to C<filter_json_object>, but is only called for
551JSON objects having a single key named C<$key>.
552
553This C<$coderef> is called before the one specified via
554C<filter_json_object>, if any. It gets passed the single value in the JSON
555object. If it returns a single value, it will be inserted into the data
556structure. If it returns nothing (not even C<undef> but the empty list),
557the callback from C<filter_json_object> will be called next, as if no
558single-key callback were specified.
559
560If C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, the corresponding callback will be
561disabled. There can only ever be one callback for a given key.
562
563As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
564one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
565objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
566as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
567as JSON gets (it's basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
568support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
569like a serialised Perl hash.
570
571Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
572C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
573things like C<__class_md5sum(classname)__>, to reduce the risk of clashing
574with real hashes.
575
576Example, decode JSON objects of the form C<< { "__widget__" => <id> } >>
577into the corresponding C<< $WIDGET{<id>} >> object:
578
579 # return whatever is in $WIDGET{5}:
580 JSON::XS
581 ->new
582 ->filter_json_single_key_object (__widget__ => sub {
583 $WIDGET{ $_[0] }
584 })
585 ->decode ('{"__widget__": 5')
586
587 # this can be used with a TO_JSON method in some "widget" class
588 # for serialisation to json:
589 sub WidgetBase::TO_JSON {
590 my ($self) = @_;
591
592 unless ($self->{id}) {
593 $self->{id} = ..get..some..id..;
594 $WIDGET{$self->{id}} = $self;
595 }
596
597 { __widget__ => $self->{id} }
598 }
599
258=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable]) 600=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
259 601
602=item $enabled = $json->get_shrink
603
260Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for 604Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
261strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either 605strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
262C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save 606C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
263memory when your JSON strings are either very very long or you have many 607memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
264short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form 608short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form
265if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called 609if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called
266UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less 610UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less
267space in general. 611space in general (and some buggy Perl or C code might even rely on that
612internal representation being used).
268 613
614The actual definition of what shrink does might change in future versions,
615but it will always try to save space at the expense of time.
616
269If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will be shrunk-to-fit, 617If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will
270while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be shrunk-to-fit. 618be shrunk-to-fit, while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be
619shrunk-to-fit.
271 620
272If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used. 621If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used.
273If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster. 622If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster.
274 623
275In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting 624In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting
276strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats 625strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
277internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space. 626internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
278 627
628=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
629
630=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth
631
632Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
633or decoding. If a higher nesting level is detected in JSON text or a Perl
634data structure, then the encoder and decoder will stop and croak at that
635point.
636
637Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
638needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
639characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
640given character in a string.
641
642Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
643that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
644
645If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be used, which
646is rarely useful.
647
648Note that nesting is implemented by recursion in C. The default value has
649been chosen to be as large as typical operating systems allow without
650crashing.
651
652See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
653
654=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
655
656=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size
657
658Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
659being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
660is called on a string that is longer then this many bytes, it will not
661attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
662effect on C<encode> (yet).
663
664If no argument is given, the limit check will be deactivated (same as when
665C<0> is specified).
666
667See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
668
279=item $json_string = $json->encode ($perl_scalar) 669=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
280 670
281Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference 671Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference
282to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be 672to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be
283converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays 673converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays
284become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined 674become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined
285Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true> 675Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>
286nor C<false> values will be generated. 676nor C<false> values will be generated.
287 677
288=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_string) 678=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text)
289 679
290The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON string and tries to parse it, 680The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it,
291returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 681returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
292 682
293JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become 683JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become
294Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes 684Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes
295C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>. 685C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>.
296 686
687=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
688
689This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception
690when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will
691silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed
692so far.
693
694This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol
695(which is not the brightest thing to do in the first place) and you need
696to know where the JSON text ends.
697
698 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
699 => ([], 3)
700
297=back 701=back
702
703
704=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING
705
706[This section and the API it details is still EXPERIMENTAL]
707
708In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON
709texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting
710Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a
711JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has
712a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to
713using C<decode_prefix> to see if a full JSON object is available, but is
714much more efficient (JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text
715once it is sure it has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very
716simple but truly incremental parser).
717
718The following two methods deal with this.
719
720=over 4
721
722=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string])
723
724This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and
725extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these
726functions are optional).
727
728If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already
729existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object.
730
731After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply
732return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text
733in as many chunks as you want.
734
735If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract
736exactly I<one> JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this
737object, otherwise it will return C<undef>. If there is a parse error,
738this method will croak just as C<decode> would do (one can then use
739C<incr_skip> to skip the errornous part). This is the most common way of
740using the method.
741
742And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects
743from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list
744otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators between the JSON
745objects or arrays, instead they must be concatenated back-to-back. If
746an error occurs, an exception will be raised as in the scalar context
747case. Note that in this case, any previously-parsed JSON texts will be
748lost.
749
750=item $lvalue_string = $json->incr_text
751
752This method returns the currently stored JSON fragment as an lvalue, that
753is, you can manipulate it. This I<only> works when a preceding call to
754C<incr_parse> in I<scalar context> successfully returned an object. Under
755all other circumstances you must not call this function (I mean it.
756although in simple tests it might actually work, it I<will> fail under
757real world conditions). As a special exception, you can also call this
758method before having parsed anything.
759
760This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a
761JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text
762(such as commas).
763
764=item $json->incr_skip
765
766This will reset the state of the incremental parser and will remove the
767parsed text from the input buffer. This is useful after C<incr_parse>
768died, in which case the input buffer and incremental parser state is left
769unchanged, to skip the text parsed so far and to reset the parse state.
770
771=back
772
773=head2 LIMITATIONS
774
775All options that affect decoding are supported, except
776C<allow_nonref>. The reason for this is that it cannot be made to
777work sensibly: JSON objects and arrays are self-delimited, i.e. you can concatenate
778them back to back and still decode them perfectly. This does not hold true
779for JSON numbers, however.
780
781For example, is the string C<1> a single JSON number, or is it simply the
782start of C<12>? Or is C<12> a single JSON number, or the concatenation
783of C<1> and C<2>? In neither case you can tell, and this is why JSON::XS
784takes the conservative route and disallows this case.
785
786=head2 EXAMPLES
787
788Some examples will make all this clearer. First, a simple example that
789works similarly to C<decode_prefix>: We want to decode the JSON object at
790the start of a string and identify the portion after the JSON object:
791
792 my $text = "[1,2,3] hello";
793
794 my $json = new JSON::XS;
795
796 my $obj = $json->incr_parse ($text)
797 or die "expected JSON object or array at beginning of string";
798
799 my $tail = $json->incr_text;
800 # $tail now contains " hello"
801
802Easy, isn't it?
803
804Now for a more complicated example: Imagine a hypothetical protocol where
805you read some requests from a TCP stream, and each request is a JSON
806array, without any separation between them (in fact, it is often useful to
807use newlines as "separators", as these get interpreted as whitespace at
808the start of the JSON text, which makes it possible to test said protocol
809with C<telnet>...).
810
811Here is how you'd do it (it is trivial to write this in an event-based
812manner):
813
814 my $json = new JSON::XS;
815
816 # read some data from the socket
817 while (sysread $socket, my $buf, 4096) {
818
819 # split and decode as many requests as possible
820 for my $request ($json->incr_parse ($buf)) {
821 # act on the $request
822 }
823 }
824
825Another complicated example: Assume you have a string with JSON objects
826or arrays, all separated by (optional) comma characters (e.g. C<[1],[2],
827[3]>). To parse them, we have to skip the commas between the JSON texts,
828and here is where the lvalue-ness of C<incr_text> comes in useful:
829
830 my $text = "[1],[2], [3]";
831 my $json = new JSON::XS;
832
833 # void context, so no parsing done
834 $json->incr_parse ($text);
835
836 # now extract as many objects as possible. note the
837 # use of scalar context so incr_text can be called.
838 while (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
839 # do something with $obj
840
841 # now skip the optional comma
842 $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* , //x;
843 }
844
845Now lets go for a very complex example: Assume that you have a gigantic
846JSON array-of-objects, many gigabytes in size, and you want to parse it,
847but you cannot load it into memory fully (this has actually happened in
848the real world :).
849
850Well, you lost, you have to implement your own JSON parser. But JSON::XS
851can still help you: You implement a (very simple) array parser and let
852JSON decode the array elements, which are all full JSON objects on their
853own (this wouldn't work if the array elements could be JSON numbers, for
854example):
855
856 my $json = new JSON::XS;
857
858 # open the monster
859 open my $fh, "<bigfile.json"
860 or die "bigfile: $!";
861
862 # first parse the initial "["
863 for (;;) {
864 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
865 or die "read error: $!";
866 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
867
868 # Exit the loop once we found and removed(!) the initial "[".
869 # In essence, we are (ab-)using the $json object as a simple scalar
870 # we append data to.
871 last if $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* \[ //x;
872 }
873
874 # now we have the skipped the initial "[", so continue
875 # parsing all the elements.
876 for (;;) {
877 # in this loop we read data until we got a single JSON object
878 for (;;) {
879 if (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
880 # do something with $obj
881 last;
882 }
883
884 # add more data
885 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
886 or die "read error: $!";
887 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
888 }
889
890 # in this loop we read data until we either found and parsed the
891 # separating "," between elements, or the final "]"
892 for (;;) {
893 # first skip whitespace
894 $json->incr_text =~ s/^\s*//;
895
896 # if we find "]", we are done
897 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^\]//) {
898 print "finished.\n";
899 exit;
900 }
901
902 # if we find ",", we can continue with the next element
903 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^,//) {
904 last;
905 }
906
907 # if we find anything else, we have a parse error!
908 if (length $json->incr_text) {
909 die "parse error near ", $json->incr_text;
910 }
911
912 # else add more data
913 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
914 or die "read error: $!";
915 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
916 }
917
918This is a complex example, but most of the complexity comes from the fact
919that we are trying to be correct (bear with me if I am wrong, I never ran
920the above example :).
921
922
298 923
299=head1 MAPPING 924=head1 MAPPING
300 925
301This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and 926This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
302vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most 927vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
303circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics 928circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
304(what you put in comes out as something equivalent). 929(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
305 930
306For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions, 931For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
307lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppcercase I<Perl> 932lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppercase I<Perl>
308refers to the abstract Perl language itself. 933refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
309 934
935
310=head2 JSON -> PERL 936=head2 JSON -> PERL
311 937
312=over 4 938=over 4
313 939
314=item object 940=item object
315 941
316A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object 942A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
317keys is preserved (JSON does not preserver object key ordering itself). 943keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself).
318 944
319=item array 945=item array
320 946
321A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl. 947A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
322 948
326are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual 952are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual
327decoding is necessary. 953decoding is necessary.
328 954
329=item number 955=item number
330 956
331A JSON number becomes either an integer or numeric (floating point) 957A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
332scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On the 958string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On
333Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all the 959the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
334conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and might 960the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
335represent more values exactly than (floating point) numbers. 961might represent more values exactly than floating point numbers.
962
963If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
964it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
965a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
966precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in
967which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be
968re-encoded toa JSON string).
969
970Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
971represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
972precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but
973the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number).
336 974
337=item true, false 975=item true, false
338 976
339These JSON atoms become C<0>, C<1>, respectively. Information is lost in 977These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>,
340this process. Future versions might represent those values differently, 978respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers
341but they will be guarenteed to act like these integers would normally in 979C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using
342Perl. 980the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function.
343 981
344=item null 982=item null
345 983
346A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl. 984A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
347 985
348=back 986=back
987
349 988
350=head2 PERL -> JSON 989=head2 PERL -> JSON
351 990
352The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a 991The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a
353truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by 992truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by
356=over 4 995=over 4
357 996
358=item hash references 997=item hash references
359 998
360Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering 999Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering
361in hash keys, they will usually be encoded in a pseudo-random order that 1000in hash keys (or JSON objects), they will usually be encoded in a
362can change between runs of the same program but stays generally the same 1001pseudo-random order that can change between runs of the same program but
363within a single run of a program. JSON::XS can optionally sort the hash 1002stays generally the same within a single run of a program. JSON::XS can
364keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so the same datastructure 1003optionally sort the hash keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so
365will serialise to the same JSON text (given same settings and version of 1004the same datastructure will serialise to the same JSON text (given same
366JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead. 1005settings and version of JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead
1006and is only rarely useful, e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text
1007against another for equality.
367 1008
368=item array references 1009=item array references
369 1010
370Perl array references become JSON arrays. 1011Perl array references become JSON arrays.
371 1012
1013=item other references
1014
1015Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
1016exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
1017C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can
1018also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.
1019
1020 encode_json [\0, JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true]
1021
1022=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false
1023
1024These special values become JSON true and JSON false values,
1025respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want.
1026
372=item blessed objects 1027=item blessed objects
373 1028
374Blessed objects are not allowed. JSON::XS currently tries to encode their 1029Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON. See the
375underlying representation (hash- or arrayref), but this behaviour might 1030C<allow_blessed> and C<convert_blessed> methods on various options on
376change in future versions. 1031how to deal with this: basically, you can choose between throwing an
1032exception, encoding the reference as if it weren't blessed, or provide
1033your own serialiser method.
377 1034
378=item simple scalars 1035=item simple scalars
379 1036
380Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most 1037Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
381difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as 1038difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
382JSON null value, scalars that have last been used in a string context 1039JSON C<null> values, scalars that have last been used in a string context
383before encoding as JSON strings and anything else as number value: 1040before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value:
384 1041
385 # dump as number 1042 # dump as number
386 to_json [2] # yields [2] 1043 encode_json [2] # yields [2]
387 to_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17] 1044 encode_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
388 my $value = 5; to_json [$value] # yields [5] 1045 my $value = 5; encode_json [$value] # yields [5]
389 1046
390 # used as string, so dump as string 1047 # used as string, so dump as string
391 print $value; 1048 print $value;
392 to_json [$value] # yields ["5"] 1049 encode_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
393 1050
394 # undef becomes null 1051 # undef becomes null
395 to_json [undef] # yields [null] 1052 encode_json [undef] # yields [null]
396 1053
397You can force the type to be a string by stringifying it: 1054You can force the type to be a JSON string by stringifying it:
398 1055
399 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number 1056 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
400 "$x"; # stringified 1057 "$x"; # stringified
401 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify 1058 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
402 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often 1059 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
403 1060
404You can force the type to be a number by numifying it: 1061You can force the type to be a JSON number by numifying it:
405 1062
406 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string 1063 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
407 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number 1064 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
408 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choise is yours. 1065 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choice is yours.
409 1066
410You can not currently output JSON booleans or force the type in other, 1067You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me
411less obscure, ways. Tell me if you need this capability. 1068if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed
412 1069:).
413=item circular data structures
414
415Those will be encoded until memory or stackspace runs out.
416 1070
417=back 1071=back
418 1072
419=head1 COMPARISON
420 1073
421As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing 1074=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES
422JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the 1075
423problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules, 1076The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify
424followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer 1077encodings or codesets - C<utf8>, C<latin1> and C<ascii>. There seems to be
425from any of these problems or limitations. 1078some confusion on what these do, so here is a short comparison:
1079
1080C<utf8> controls whether the JSON text created by C<encode> (and expected
1081by C<decode>) is UTF-8 encoded or not, while C<latin1> and C<ascii> only
1082control whether C<encode> escapes character values outside their respective
1083codeset range. Neither of these flags conflict with each other, although
1084some combinations make less sense than others.
1085
1086Care has been taken to make all flags symmetrical with respect to
1087C<encode> and C<decode>, that is, texts encoded with any combination of
1088these flag values will be correctly decoded when the same flags are used
1089- in general, if you use different flag settings while encoding vs. when
1090decoding you likely have a bug somewhere.
1091
1092Below comes a verbose discussion of these flags. Note that a "codeset" is
1093simply an abstract set of character-codepoint pairs, while an encoding
1094takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into
1095octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding,
1096and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at
1097the same time, which can be confusing.
426 1098
427=over 4 1099=over 4
428 1100
429=item JSON 1.07 1101=item C<utf8> flag disabled
430 1102
431Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl). 1103When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate
1104and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode
1105values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such
1106characters are decoded as-is, no canges to them will be done, except
1107"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters,
1108respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do
1109funny/weird/dumb stuff).
432 1110
433Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles unicode values is 1111This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you
434undocumented. One can get far by feeding it unicode strings and doing 1112want to have UTF-16 encoded JSON texts) or when some other layer does
435en-/decoding oneself, but unicode escapes are not working properly). 1113the encoding for you (for example, when printing to a terminal using a
1114filehandle that transparently encodes to UTF-8 you certainly do NOT want
1115to UTF-8 encode your data first and have Perl encode it another time).
436 1116
437No roundtripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g. 1117=item C<utf8> flag enabled
438the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will
439decode into the number 2.
440 1118
441=item JSON::PC 0.01 1119If the C<utf8>-flag is enabled, C<encode>/C<decode> will encode all
1120characters using the corresponding UTF-8 multi-byte sequence, and will
1121expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character"
1122of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow
1123that.
442 1124
443Very fast. 1125The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you
1126will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded
1127octet/binary string in Perl.
444 1128
445Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling. 1129=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled
446 1130
447No roundtripping. 1131With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters
1132with ordinal values > 255 (> 127 with C<ascii>) and encode the remaining
1133characters as specified by the C<utf8> flag.
448 1134
449Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic 1135If C<utf8> is disabled, then the result is also correctly encoded in those
450values will make it croak). 1136character sets (as both are proper subsets of Unicode, meaning that a
1137Unicode string with all character values < 256 is the same thing as a
1138ISO-8859-1 string, and a Unicode string with all character values < 128 is
1139the same thing as an ASCII string in Perl).
451 1140
452Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}> 1141If C<utf8> is enabled, you still get a correct UTF-8-encoded string,
453which is not a valid JSON string. 1142regardless of these flags, just some more characters will be escaped using
1143C<\uXXXX> then before.
454 1144
455Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 1145Note that ISO-8859-1-I<encoded> strings are not compatible with UTF-8
456getting fixed). 1146encoding, while ASCII-encoded strings are. That is because the ISO-8859-1
1147encoding is NOT a subset of UTF-8 (despite the ISO-8859-1 I<codeset> being
1148a subset of Unicode), while ASCII is.
457 1149
458=item JSON::Syck 0.21 1150Surprisingly, C<decode> will ignore these flags and so treat all input
1151values as governed by the C<utf8> flag. If it is disabled, this allows you
1152to decode ISO-8859-1- and ASCII-encoded strings, as both strict subsets of
1153Unicode. If it is enabled, you can correctly decode UTF-8 encoded strings.
459 1154
460Very buggy (often crashes). 1155So neither C<latin1> nor C<ascii> are incompatible with the C<utf8> flag -
1156they only govern when the JSON output engine escapes a character or not.
461 1157
462Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much 1158The main use for C<latin1> is to relatively efficiently store binary data
463undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a 1159as JSON, at the expense of breaking compatibility with most JSON decoders.
464single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
465generate ASCII-only JSON strings).
466 1160
467Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode 1161The main use for C<ascii> is to force the output to not contain characters
468escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to 1162with values > 127, which means you can interpret the resulting string
469I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour). 1163as UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ASCII, KOI8-R or most about any character set and
470 11648-bit-encoding, and still get the same data structure back. This is useful
471No roundtripping (simple cases work, but this depends on wether the scalar 1165when your channel for JSON transfer is not 8-bit clean or the encoding
472value was used in a numeric context or not). 1166might be mangled in between (e.g. in mail), and works because ASCII is a
473 1167proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world.
474Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state.
475
476Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
477getting fixed).
478
479Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
480return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
481issue: imagine two banks transfering money between each other using
482JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
483while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
484good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
485the transaction will still not succeed).
486
487=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
488
489Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
490
491Undocumented unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
492still don't get parsed properly).
493
494Very inflexible.
495
496No roundtripping.
497
498Does not generate valid JSON (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
499result in nothing being output)
500
501Does not check input for validity.
502 1168
503=back 1169=back
1170
1171
1172=head2 JSON and YAML
1173
1174You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
1175hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing),
1176so let me state it clearly: I<in general, there is no way to configure
1177JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML> that works in all
1178cases.
1179
1180If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
1181algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
1182
1183 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
1184 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
1185
1186This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
1187YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
1188lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible
1189unicode handling, so you should make sure that your hash keys are
1190noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows and that
1191you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the Unicode BMP
1192(basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/> sequences in
1193strings (which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate, but other JSON
1194generators might).
1195
1196There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML
1197specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In
1198general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice
1199versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are
1200high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you
1201least expect it.
1202
1203=over 4
1204
1205=item (*)
1206
1207I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the
1208authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him
1209acknowledging that the actual incompatibilities exist. As I was personally
1210bitten by this "JSON is YAML" lie, I refused and said I will continue to
1211educate people about these issues, so others do not run into the same
1212problem again and again. After this, Brian called me a (quote)I<complete
1213and worthless idiot>(unquote).
1214
1215In my opinion, instead of pressuring and insulting people who actually
1216clarify issues with YAML and the wrong statements of some of its
1217proponents, I would kindly suggest reading the JSON spec (which is not
1218that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and
1219educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the
1220real compatibility for many I<years> and trying to silence people who
1221point out that it isn't true.
1222
1223=back
1224
504 1225
505=head2 SPEED 1226=head2 SPEED
506 1227
507It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following 1228It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
508tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program 1229tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program
509in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own 1230in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
510system. 1231system.
511 1232
512First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short JSON 1233First comes a comparison between various modules using
513string (83 bytes), showing the number of encodes/decodes per second 1234a very short single-line JSON string (also available at
1235L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>).
1236
1237 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1",
1238 "we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7,
1239 true, false]}
1240
1241It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
514(JSON::XS is the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 is the OO 1242the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
515interface with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled). Higher is 1243with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
516better: 1244shrink). Higher is better:
517 1245
518 module | encode | decode | 1246 module | encode | decode |
519 -----------|------------|------------| 1247 -----------|------------|------------|
520 JSON | 14006 | 6820 | 1248 JSON 1.x | 4990.842 | 4088.813 |
521 JSON::DWIW | 200937 | 120386 | 1249 JSON::DWIW | 51653.990 | 71575.154 |
522 JSON::PC | 85065 | 129366 | 1250 JSON::PC | 65948.176 | 74631.744 |
523 JSON::Syck | 59898 | 44232 | 1251 JSON::PP | 8931.652 | 3817.168 |
524 JSON::XS | 1171478 | 342435 | 1252 JSON::Syck | 24877.248 | 27776.848 |
525 JSON::XS/2 | 730760 | 328714 | 1253 JSON::XS | 388361.481 | 227951.304 |
1254 JSON::XS/2 | 227951.304 | 218453.333 |
1255 JSON::XS/3 | 338250.323 | 218453.333 |
1256 Storable | 16500.016 | 135300.129 |
526 -----------+------------+------------+ 1257 -----------+------------+------------+
527 1258
528That is, JSON::XS is 6 times faster than than JSON::DWIW and about 80 1259That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
1260about three times faster on decoding, and over forty times faster
529times faster than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. 1261than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares
1262favourably to Storable for small amounts of data.
530 1263
531Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals 1264Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
532search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg): 1265search API (L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/long.json>).
533 1266
534 module | encode | decode | 1267 module | encode | decode |
535 -----------|------------|------------| 1268 -----------|------------|------------|
536 JSON | 673 | 38 | 1269 JSON 1.x | 55.260 | 34.971 |
537 JSON::DWIW | 5271 | 770 | 1270 JSON::DWIW | 825.228 | 1082.513 |
538 JSON::PC | 9901 | 2491 | 1271 JSON::PC | 3571.444 | 2394.829 |
539 JSON::Syck | 2360 | 786 | 1272 JSON::PP | 210.987 | 32.574 |
540 JSON::XS | 37398 | 3202 | 1273 JSON::Syck | 552.551 | 787.544 |
541 JSON::XS/2 | 13765 | 3153 | 1274 JSON::XS | 5780.463 | 4854.519 |
1275 JSON::XS/2 | 3869.998 | 4798.975 |
1276 JSON::XS/3 | 5862.880 | 4798.975 |
1277 Storable | 4445.002 | 5235.027 |
542 -----------+------------+------------+ 1278 -----------+------------+------------+
543 1279
544Again, JSON::XS leads by far in the encoding case, while still beating 1280Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
545every other module in the decoding case. 1281decodes faster).
546 1282
547On large strings containing lots of unicode characters, some modules 1283On large strings containing lots of high Unicode characters, some modules
548(such as JSON::PC) decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result will be 1284(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
549broken due to missing unicode handling. Others refuse to decode or encode 1285will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse
550properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair comparison table for that 1286to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
551case. 1287comparison table for that case.
552 1288
553=head1 RESOURCE LIMITS
554 1289
555JSON::XS does not impose any limits on the size of JSON texts or Perl 1290=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
556values they represent - if your machine can handle it, JSON::XS will 1291
557encode or decode it. Future versions might optionally impose structure 1292When you are using JSON in a protocol, talking to untrusted potentially
558depth and memory use resource limits. 1293hostile creatures requires relatively few measures.
1294
1295First of all, your JSON decoder should be secure, that is, should not have
1296any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
1297trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
1298
1299Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
1300limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
1301resources run out, that's just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
1302can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
1303usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
1304it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
1305text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
1306might want to check the size before you accept the string.
1307
1308Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
1309arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
1310machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
1311only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
1312to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. To be
1313conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
1314has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
1315C<max_depth> method.
1316
1317Something else could bomb you, too, that I forgot to think of. In that
1318case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, though...
1319
1320Also keep in mind that JSON::XS might leak contents of your Perl data
1321structures in its error messages, so when you serialise sensitive
1322information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS
1323will not end up in front of untrusted eyes.
1324
1325If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
1326by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
1327L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see whether
1328you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser
1329design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major
1330browser developers care only for features, not about getting security
1331right).
1332
1333
1334=head1 THREADS
1335
1336This module is I<not> guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no
1337plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the
1338horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated
1339process simulations - use fork, it's I<much> faster, cheaper, better).
1340
1341(It might actually work, but you have been warned).
1342
559 1343
560=head1 BUGS 1344=head1 BUGS
561 1345
562While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does 1346While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
563not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is 1347not mean it's bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. If you
564still very young and not well-tested. If you keep reporting bugs they will 1348keep reporting bugs they will be fixed swiftly, though.
565be fixed swiftly, though. 1349
1350Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting
1351service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason.
566 1352
567=cut 1353=cut
568 1354
1355our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
1356our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
1357
1358sub true() { $true }
1359sub false() { $false }
1360
1361sub is_bool($) {
1362 UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::XS::Boolean"
1363# or UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::Literal"
1364}
1365
1366XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION;
1367
1368package JSON::XS::Boolean;
1369
1370use overload
1371 "0+" => sub { ${$_[0]} },
1372 "++" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} + 1 },
1373 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
1374 fallback => 1;
1375
5691; 13761;
1377
1378=head1 SEE ALSO
1379
1380The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments.
570 1381
571=head1 AUTHOR 1382=head1 AUTHOR
572 1383
573 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1384 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
574 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1385 http://home.schmorp.de/

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