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Revision 1.49 by root, Sun Jul 1 14:08:03 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.121 by root, Mon Jul 13 22:13:17 2009 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
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)
4 9
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 10=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 11
7 use JSON::XS; 12 use JSON::XS;
8 13
9 # exported functions, they croak on error 14 # exported functions, they croak on error
10 # and expect/generate UTF-8 15 # and expect/generate UTF-8
11 16
12 $utf8_encoded_json_text = to_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref; 17 $utf8_encoded_json_text = encode_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;
13 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = from_json $utf8_encoded_json_text; 18 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = decode_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;
14 19
15 # OO-interface 20 # OO-interface
16 21
17 $coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref; 22 $coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;
18 $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar); 23 $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);
19 $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text); 24 $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);
20 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
21=head1 DESCRIPTION 34=head1 DESCRIPTION
22 35
23This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its 36This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its
24primary 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
25I<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
42overridden) with no overhead due to emulation (by inheriting 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.
26 47
27As 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
28to 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
29modules, 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
30their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug 51their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
31reports for other reasons. 52reports for other reasons.
32 53
33See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules.
34
35See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and 54See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and
36vice versa. 55vice versa.
37 56
38=head2 FEATURES 57=head2 FEATURES
39 58
40=over 4 59=over 4
41 60
42=item * correct unicode handling 61=item * correct Unicode handling
43 62
44This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how and when 63This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does
45it does so. 64so, and even documents what "correct" means.
46 65
47=item * round-trip integrity 66=item * round-trip integrity
48 67
49When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported 68When you serialise a perl data structure using only data types supported
50by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. 69by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level.
51(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks 70(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks
52like a number). 71like a number). There minor I<are> exceptions to this, read the MAPPING
72section below to learn about those.
53 73
54=item * strict checking of JSON correctness 74=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
55 75
56There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default, 76There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
57and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security 77and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
58feature). 78feature).
59 79
60=item * fast 80=item * fast
61 81
62Compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably in terms 82Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable,
63of speed, too. 83this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too.
64 84
65=item * simple to use 85=item * simple to use
66 86
67This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO 87This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an object
68interface. 88oriented interface interface.
69 89
70=item * reasonably versatile output formats 90=item * reasonably versatile output formats
71 91
72You can choose between the most compact guarenteed single-line format 92You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format
73possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format 93possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ASCII format
74(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole 94(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
75unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that 95Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
76stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like. 96stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
77 97
78=back 98=back
79 99
80=cut 100=cut
81 101
82package JSON::XS; 102package JSON::XS;
83 103
84use strict; 104use common::sense;
85 105
86our $VERSION = '1.4'; 106our $VERSION = '2.24';
87our @ISA = qw(Exporter); 107our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
88 108
89our @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json); 109our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json to_json from_json);
110
111sub to_json($) {
112 require Carp;
113 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");
114}
115
116sub from_json($) {
117 require Carp;
118 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");
119}
90 120
91use Exporter; 121use Exporter;
92use XSLoader; 122use XSLoader;
93 123
94=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 124=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
95 125
96The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are 126The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are
97exported by default: 127exported by default:
98 128
99=over 4 129=over 4
100 130
101=item $json_text = to_json $perl_scalar 131=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar
102 132
103Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to 133Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string
104a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains 134(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error.
105octets only). Croaks on error.
106 135
107This function call is functionally identical to: 136This function call is functionally identical to:
108 137
109 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar) 138 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
110 139
111except being faster. 140Except being faster.
112 141
113=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_text 142=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text
114 143
115The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to 144The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries
116parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting simple 145to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting
117scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 146reference. Croaks on error.
118 147
119This function call is functionally identical to: 148This function call is functionally identical to:
120 149
121 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text) 150 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
122 151
123except being faster. 152Except being faster.
124 153
125=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar 154=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar
126 155
127Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or 156Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or
128JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively 157JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively
132Perl. 161Perl.
133 162
134=back 163=back
135 164
136 165
166=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL
167
168Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on
169how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs.
170
171=over 4
172
173=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255.
174
175This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a
176Perl string - very natural.
177
178=item 2. Perl does I<not> associate an encoding with your strings.
179
180... until you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or
181printing the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your
182string as locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending
183on various settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your
184data, it is I<use> that decides encoding, not any magical meta data.
185
186=item 3. The internal utf-8 flag has no meaning with regards to the
187encoding of your string.
188
189Just ignore that flag unless you debug a Perl bug, a module written in
190XS or want to dive into the internals of perl. Otherwise it will only
191confuse you, as, despite the name, it says nothing about how your string
192is encoded. You can have Unicode strings with that flag set, with that
193flag clear, and you can have binary data with that flag set and that flag
194clear. Other possibilities exist, too.
195
196If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't
197exist.
198
199=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be
200validly interpreted as a Unicode code point.
201
202If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a
203Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string.
204
205=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string.
206
207It's a fact. Learn to live with it.
208
209=back
210
211I hope this helps :)
212
213
137=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE 214=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
138 215
139The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or 216The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
140decoding style, within the limits of supported formats. 217decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
141 218
152 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 229 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
153 => {"a": [1, 2]} 230 => {"a": [1, 2]}
154 231
155=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable]) 232=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
156 233
234=item $enabled = $json->get_ascii
235
157If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not 236If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
158generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any 237generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
159unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a 238Unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
160single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence, 239single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
161as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native 240as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
162unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string, 241Unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
163or any other superset of ASCII. 242or any other superset of ASCII.
164 243
165If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode 244If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
166characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results 245characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
167in a faster and more compact format. 246in a faster and more compact format.
168 247
248See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
249document.
250
169The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be 251The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
170transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not 252transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
171contain any 8 bit characters. 253contain any 8 bit characters.
172 254
173 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401]) 255 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
174 => ["\ud801\udc01"] 256 => ["\ud801\udc01"]
175 257
176=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable]) 258=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
177 259
260=item $enabled = $json->get_latin1
261
178If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode 262If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
179the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters 263the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
180outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a 264outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
181latin1-encoded JSON text or a native unicode string. The C<decode> method 265latin1-encoded JSON text or a native Unicode string. The C<decode> method
182will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default 266will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
183expects unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1. 267expects Unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
184 268
185If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode 269If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
186characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. 270characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
271
272See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
273document.
187 274
188The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON 275The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
189text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded 276text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
190size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded 277size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
191in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and 278in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
192transfering), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when 279transferring), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
193you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently 280you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
194in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders. 281in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
195 282
196 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"] 283 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
197 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not) 284 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
198 285
199=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable]) 286=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
287
288=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8
200 289
201If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode 290If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
202the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the 291the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
203C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please 292C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
204note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the 293note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
205range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future 294range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
206versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16 295versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
207and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627. 296and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
208 297
209If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON 298If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON
210string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a 299string as a (non-encoded) Unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a
211unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs 300Unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
212to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module. 301to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
302
303See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
304document.
213 305
214Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON: 306Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
215 307
216 use Encode; 308 use Encode;
217 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object); 309 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
238 ] 330 ]
239 } 331 }
240 332
241=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable]) 333=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
242 334
335=item $enabled = $json->get_indent
336
243If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline 337If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
244format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair 338format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
245into its own line, identing them properly. 339into its own line, indenting them properly.
246 340
247If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the 341If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
248resulting JSON text is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>. 342resulting JSON text is guaranteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
249 343
250This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. 344This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
251 345
252=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable]) 346=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
347
348=item $enabled = $json->get_space_before
253 349
254If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 350If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
255optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects. 351optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
256 352
257If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 353If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
263Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled: 359Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
264 360
265 {"key" :"value"} 361 {"key" :"value"}
266 362
267=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable]) 363=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
364
365=item $enabled = $json->get_space_after
268 366
269If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 367If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
270optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects 368optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
271and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array 369and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
272members. 370members.
278 376
279Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled: 377Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
280 378
281 {"key": "value"} 379 {"key": "value"}
282 380
381=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])
382
383=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed
384
385If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
386extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
387affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
388JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
389parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files,
390resource files etc.)
391
392If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept
393valid JSON texts.
394
395Currently accepted extensions are:
396
397=over 4
398
399=item * list items can have an end-comma
400
401JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This
402can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to
403quickly append elements, so this extension accepts comma at the end of
404such items not just between them:
405
406 [
407 1,
408 2, <- this comma not normally allowed
409 ]
410 {
411 "k1": "v1",
412 "k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed
413 }
414
415=item * shell-style '#'-comments
416
417Whenever JSON allows whitespace, shell-style comments are additionally
418allowed. They are terminated by the first carriage-return or line-feed
419character, after which more white-space and comments are allowed.
420
421 [
422 1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
423 # neither this one...
424 ]
425
426=back
427
283=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable]) 428=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
429
430=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical
284 431
285If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects 432If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
286by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead. 433by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
287 434
288If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value 435If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
289pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs 436pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
290of the same script). 437of the same script).
291 438
292This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as 439This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
293the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled, 440the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
294the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data, 441the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
295as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl. 442as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
296 443
297This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. 444This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
298 445
299=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable]) 446=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
447
448=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref
300 449
301If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a 450If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
302non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value, 451non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
303which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON 452which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
304values instead of croaking. 453values instead of croaking.
312resulting in an invalid JSON text: 461resulting in an invalid JSON text:
313 462
314 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!") 463 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
315 => "Hello, World!" 464 => "Hello, World!"
316 465
466=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable])
467
468=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown
469
470If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode> will I<not> throw an
471exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for
472example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C<null> value. Note
473that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by
474c<allow_nonref>.
475
476If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
477exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON.
478
479This option does not affect C<decode> in any way, and it is recommended to
480leave it off unless you know your communications partner.
481
317=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable]) 482=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
483
484=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
318 485
319If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not 486If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
320barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the 487barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the
321B<convert_blessed> option will decide wether C<null> (C<convert_blessed> 488B<convert_blessed> option will decide whether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>
322disabled or no C<to_json> method found) or a representation of the 489disabled or no C<TO_JSON> method found) or a representation of the
323object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<to_json> method found) is being 490object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<TO_JSON> method found) is being
324encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>. 491encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
325 492
326If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an 493If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
327exception when it encounters a blessed object. 494exception when it encounters a blessed object.
328 495
329=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable]) 496=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
497
498=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed
330 499
331If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a 500If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
332blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method 501blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
333on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context 502on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context
334and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no 503and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no
338The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON> 507The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
339returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same 508returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
340way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle 509way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
341(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other 510(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
342methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are 511methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
343usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with the C<to_json> 512usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json>
344function. 513function or method.
345 514
346This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the 515This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the
347future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are 516future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are
348enabled by this setting. 517enabled by this setting.
349 518
350If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what 519If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what
351to do when a blessed object is found. 520to do when a blessed object is found.
352 521
522=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
523
524When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
525time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the
526newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which
527need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid
528aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns
529an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the
530original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down
531decoding considerably.
532
533When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
534be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
535way.
536
537Example, convert all JSON objects into the integer 5:
538
539 my $js = JSON::XS->new->filter_json_object (sub { 5 });
540 # returns [5]
541 $js->decode ('[{}]')
542 # throw an exception because allow_nonref is not enabled
543 # so a lone 5 is not allowed.
544 $js->decode ('{"a":1, "b":2}');
545
546=item $json = $json->filter_json_single_key_object ($key [=> $coderef->($value)])
547
548Works remotely similar to C<filter_json_object>, but is only called for
549JSON objects having a single key named C<$key>.
550
551This C<$coderef> is called before the one specified via
552C<filter_json_object>, if any. It gets passed the single value in the JSON
553object. If it returns a single value, it will be inserted into the data
554structure. If it returns nothing (not even C<undef> but the empty list),
555the callback from C<filter_json_object> will be called next, as if no
556single-key callback were specified.
557
558If C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, the corresponding callback will be
559disabled. There can only ever be one callback for a given key.
560
561As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
562one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
563objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
564as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
565as JSON gets (it's basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
566support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
567like a serialised Perl hash.
568
569Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
570C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
571things like C<__class_md5sum(classname)__>, to reduce the risk of clashing
572with real hashes.
573
574Example, decode JSON objects of the form C<< { "__widget__" => <id> } >>
575into the corresponding C<< $WIDGET{<id>} >> object:
576
577 # return whatever is in $WIDGET{5}:
578 JSON::XS
579 ->new
580 ->filter_json_single_key_object (__widget__ => sub {
581 $WIDGET{ $_[0] }
582 })
583 ->decode ('{"__widget__": 5')
584
585 # this can be used with a TO_JSON method in some "widget" class
586 # for serialisation to json:
587 sub WidgetBase::TO_JSON {
588 my ($self) = @_;
589
590 unless ($self->{id}) {
591 $self->{id} = ..get..some..id..;
592 $WIDGET{$self->{id}} = $self;
593 }
594
595 { __widget__ => $self->{id} }
596 }
597
353=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable]) 598=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
599
600=item $enabled = $json->get_shrink
354 601
355Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for 602Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
356strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either 603strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
357C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save 604C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
358memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many 605memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
376strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats 623strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
377internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space. 624internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
378 625
379=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth]) 626=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
380 627
628=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth
629
381Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding 630Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
382or decoding. If the JSON text or Perl data structure has an equal or 631or decoding. If a higher nesting level is detected in JSON text or a Perl
383higher nesting level then this limit, then the encoder and decoder will 632data structure, then the encoder and decoder will stop and croak at that
384stop and croak at that point. 633point.
385 634
386Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder 635Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
387needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[> 636needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
388characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a 637characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
389given character in a string. 638given character in a string.
390 639
391Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures 640Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
392that the object is only a single hash/object or array. 641that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
393 642
394The argument to C<max_depth> will be rounded up to the next highest power
395of two. If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be 643If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be used, which
396used, which is rarely useful. 644is rarely useful.
645
646Note that nesting is implemented by recursion in C. The default value has
647been chosen to be as large as typical operating systems allow without
648crashing.
397 649
398See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful. 650See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
399 651
400=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size]) 652=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
653
654=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size
401 655
402Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is 656Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
403being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode> 657being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
404is called on a string longer then this number of characters it will not 658is called on a string that is longer then this many bytes, it will not
405attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no 659attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
406effect on C<encode> (yet). 660effect on C<encode> (yet).
407 661
408The argument to C<max_size> will be rounded up to the next B<highest> 662If no argument is given, the limit check will be deactivated (same as when
409power of two (so may be more than requested). If no argument is given, the 663C<0> is specified).
410limit check will be deactivated (same as when C<0> is specified).
411 664
412See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful. 665See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
413 666
414=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar) 667=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
415 668
444 => ([], 3) 697 => ([], 3)
445 698
446=back 699=back
447 700
448 701
702=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING
703
704In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON
705texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting
706Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a
707JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has
708a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to
709using C<decode_prefix> to see if a full JSON object is available, but
710is much more efficient (and can be implemented with a minimum of method
711calls).
712
713JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text once it is sure it
714has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very simple but
715truly incremental parser. This means that it sometimes won't stop as
716early as the full parser, for example, it doesn't detect parenthese
717mismatches. The only thing it guarantees is that it starts decoding as
718soon as a syntactically valid JSON text has been seen. This means you need
719to set resource limits (e.g. C<max_size>) to ensure the parser will stop
720parsing in the presence if syntax errors.
721
722The following methods implement this incremental parser.
723
724=over 4
725
726=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string])
727
728This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and
729extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these
730functions are optional).
731
732If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already
733existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object.
734
735After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply
736return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text
737in as many chunks as you want.
738
739If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract
740exactly I<one> JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this
741object, otherwise it will return C<undef>. If there is a parse error,
742this method will croak just as C<decode> would do (one can then use
743C<incr_skip> to skip the errornous part). This is the most common way of
744using the method.
745
746And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects
747from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list
748otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators between the JSON
749objects or arrays, instead they must be concatenated back-to-back. If
750an error occurs, an exception will be raised as in the scalar context
751case. Note that in this case, any previously-parsed JSON texts will be
752lost.
753
754=item $lvalue_string = $json->incr_text
755
756This method returns the currently stored JSON fragment as an lvalue, that
757is, you can manipulate it. This I<only> works when a preceding call to
758C<incr_parse> in I<scalar context> successfully returned an object. Under
759all other circumstances you must not call this function (I mean it.
760although in simple tests it might actually work, it I<will> fail under
761real world conditions). As a special exception, you can also call this
762method before having parsed anything.
763
764This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a
765JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text
766(such as commas).
767
768=item $json->incr_skip
769
770This will reset the state of the incremental parser and will remove
771the parsed text from the input buffer so far. This is useful after
772C<incr_parse> died, in which case the input buffer and incremental parser
773state is left unchanged, to skip the text parsed so far and to reset the
774parse state.
775
776The difference to C<incr_reset> is that only text until the parse error
777occured is removed.
778
779=item $json->incr_reset
780
781This completely resets the incremental parser, that is, after this call,
782it will be as if the parser had never parsed anything.
783
784This is useful if you want to repeatedly parse JSON objects and want to
785ignore any trailing data, which means you have to reset the parser after
786each successful decode.
787
788=back
789
790=head2 LIMITATIONS
791
792All options that affect decoding are supported, except
793C<allow_nonref>. The reason for this is that it cannot be made to
794work sensibly: JSON objects and arrays are self-delimited, i.e. you can concatenate
795them back to back and still decode them perfectly. This does not hold true
796for JSON numbers, however.
797
798For example, is the string C<1> a single JSON number, or is it simply the
799start of C<12>? Or is C<12> a single JSON number, or the concatenation
800of C<1> and C<2>? In neither case you can tell, and this is why JSON::XS
801takes the conservative route and disallows this case.
802
803=head2 EXAMPLES
804
805Some examples will make all this clearer. First, a simple example that
806works similarly to C<decode_prefix>: We want to decode the JSON object at
807the start of a string and identify the portion after the JSON object:
808
809 my $text = "[1,2,3] hello";
810
811 my $json = new JSON::XS;
812
813 my $obj = $json->incr_parse ($text)
814 or die "expected JSON object or array at beginning of string";
815
816 my $tail = $json->incr_text;
817 # $tail now contains " hello"
818
819Easy, isn't it?
820
821Now for a more complicated example: Imagine a hypothetical protocol where
822you read some requests from a TCP stream, and each request is a JSON
823array, without any separation between them (in fact, it is often useful to
824use newlines as "separators", as these get interpreted as whitespace at
825the start of the JSON text, which makes it possible to test said protocol
826with C<telnet>...).
827
828Here is how you'd do it (it is trivial to write this in an event-based
829manner):
830
831 my $json = new JSON::XS;
832
833 # read some data from the socket
834 while (sysread $socket, my $buf, 4096) {
835
836 # split and decode as many requests as possible
837 for my $request ($json->incr_parse ($buf)) {
838 # act on the $request
839 }
840 }
841
842Another complicated example: Assume you have a string with JSON objects
843or arrays, all separated by (optional) comma characters (e.g. C<[1],[2],
844[3]>). To parse them, we have to skip the commas between the JSON texts,
845and here is where the lvalue-ness of C<incr_text> comes in useful:
846
847 my $text = "[1],[2], [3]";
848 my $json = new JSON::XS;
849
850 # void context, so no parsing done
851 $json->incr_parse ($text);
852
853 # now extract as many objects as possible. note the
854 # use of scalar context so incr_text can be called.
855 while (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
856 # do something with $obj
857
858 # now skip the optional comma
859 $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* , //x;
860 }
861
862Now lets go for a very complex example: Assume that you have a gigantic
863JSON array-of-objects, many gigabytes in size, and you want to parse it,
864but you cannot load it into memory fully (this has actually happened in
865the real world :).
866
867Well, you lost, you have to implement your own JSON parser. But JSON::XS
868can still help you: You implement a (very simple) array parser and let
869JSON decode the array elements, which are all full JSON objects on their
870own (this wouldn't work if the array elements could be JSON numbers, for
871example):
872
873 my $json = new JSON::XS;
874
875 # open the monster
876 open my $fh, "<bigfile.json"
877 or die "bigfile: $!";
878
879 # first parse the initial "["
880 for (;;) {
881 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
882 or die "read error: $!";
883 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
884
885 # Exit the loop once we found and removed(!) the initial "[".
886 # In essence, we are (ab-)using the $json object as a simple scalar
887 # we append data to.
888 last if $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* \[ //x;
889 }
890
891 # now we have the skipped the initial "[", so continue
892 # parsing all the elements.
893 for (;;) {
894 # in this loop we read data until we got a single JSON object
895 for (;;) {
896 if (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
897 # do something with $obj
898 last;
899 }
900
901 # add more data
902 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
903 or die "read error: $!";
904 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
905 }
906
907 # in this loop we read data until we either found and parsed the
908 # separating "," between elements, or the final "]"
909 for (;;) {
910 # first skip whitespace
911 $json->incr_text =~ s/^\s*//;
912
913 # if we find "]", we are done
914 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^\]//) {
915 print "finished.\n";
916 exit;
917 }
918
919 # if we find ",", we can continue with the next element
920 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^,//) {
921 last;
922 }
923
924 # if we find anything else, we have a parse error!
925 if (length $json->incr_text) {
926 die "parse error near ", $json->incr_text;
927 }
928
929 # else add more data
930 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
931 or die "read error: $!";
932 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
933 }
934
935This is a complex example, but most of the complexity comes from the fact
936that we are trying to be correct (bear with me if I am wrong, I never ran
937the above example :).
938
939
940
449=head1 MAPPING 941=head1 MAPPING
450 942
451This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and 943This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
452vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most 944vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
453circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics 945circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
454(what you put in comes out as something equivalent). 946(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
455 947
456For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions, 948For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
457lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppcercase I<Perl> 949lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppercase I<Perl>
458refers to the abstract Perl language itself. 950refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
459 951
460 952
461=head2 JSON -> PERL 953=head2 JSON -> PERL
462 954
463=over 4 955=over 4
464 956
465=item object 957=item object
466 958
467A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object 959A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
468keys is preserved (JSON does not preserver object key ordering itself). 960keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself).
469 961
470=item array 962=item array
471 963
472A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl. 964A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
473 965
477are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual 969are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual
478decoding is necessary. 970decoding is necessary.
479 971
480=item number 972=item number
481 973
482A JSON number becomes either an integer or numeric (floating point) 974A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
483scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On the 975string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On
484Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all the 976the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
485conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and might 977the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
486represent more values exactly than (floating point) numbers. 978might represent more values exactly than floating point numbers.
979
980If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
981it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
982a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
983precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in
984which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be
985re-encoded toa JSON string).
986
987Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
988represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
989precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but
990the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number).
487 991
488=item true, false 992=item true, false
489 993
490These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>, 994These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>,
491respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers 995respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers
492C<1> and C<0>. You can check wether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using 996C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using
493the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function. 997the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function.
494 998
495=item null 999=item null
496 1000
497A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl. 1001A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
528Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an 1032Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
529exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and 1033exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
530C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can 1034C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can
531also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability. 1035also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.
532 1036
533 to_json [\0,JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true] 1037 encode_json [\0, JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true]
534 1038
535=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false 1039=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false
536 1040
537These special values become JSON true and JSON false values, 1041These special values become JSON true and JSON false values,
538respectively. You cna alos use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want. 1042respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want.
539 1043
540=item blessed objects 1044=item blessed objects
541 1045
542Blessed objects are not allowed. JSON::XS currently tries to encode their 1046Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON. See the
543underlying representation (hash- or arrayref), but this behaviour might 1047C<allow_blessed> and C<convert_blessed> methods on various options on
544change in future versions. 1048how to deal with this: basically, you can choose between throwing an
1049exception, encoding the reference as if it weren't blessed, or provide
1050your own serialiser method.
545 1051
546=item simple scalars 1052=item simple scalars
547 1053
548Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most 1054Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
549difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as 1055difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
550JSON null value, scalars that have last been used in a string context 1056JSON C<null> values, scalars that have last been used in a string context
551before encoding as JSON strings and anything else as number value: 1057before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value:
552 1058
553 # dump as number 1059 # dump as number
554 to_json [2] # yields [2] 1060 encode_json [2] # yields [2]
555 to_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17] 1061 encode_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
556 my $value = 5; to_json [$value] # yields [5] 1062 my $value = 5; encode_json [$value] # yields [5]
557 1063
558 # used as string, so dump as string 1064 # used as string, so dump as string
559 print $value; 1065 print $value;
560 to_json [$value] # yields ["5"] 1066 encode_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
561 1067
562 # undef becomes null 1068 # undef becomes null
563 to_json [undef] # yields [null] 1069 encode_json [undef] # yields [null]
564 1070
565You can force the type to be a string by stringifying it: 1071You can force the type to be a JSON string by stringifying it:
566 1072
567 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number 1073 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
568 "$x"; # stringified 1074 "$x"; # stringified
569 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify 1075 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
570 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often 1076 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
571 1077
572You can force the type to be a number by numifying it: 1078You can force the type to be a JSON number by numifying it:
573 1079
574 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string 1080 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
575 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number 1081 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
576 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choise is yours. 1082 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choice is yours.
577 1083
578You can not currently output JSON booleans or force the type in other, 1084You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me
579less obscure, ways. Tell me if you need this capability. 1085if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed
1086:).
580 1087
581=back 1088=back
582 1089
583 1090
584=head1 COMPARISON 1091=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES
585 1092
586As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing 1093The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify
587JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the 1094encodings or codesets - C<utf8>, C<latin1> and C<ascii>. There seems to be
588problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules, 1095some confusion on what these do, so here is a short comparison:
589followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer 1096
590from any of these problems or limitations. 1097C<utf8> controls whether the JSON text created by C<encode> (and expected
1098by C<decode>) is UTF-8 encoded or not, while C<latin1> and C<ascii> only
1099control whether C<encode> escapes character values outside their respective
1100codeset range. Neither of these flags conflict with each other, although
1101some combinations make less sense than others.
1102
1103Care has been taken to make all flags symmetrical with respect to
1104C<encode> and C<decode>, that is, texts encoded with any combination of
1105these flag values will be correctly decoded when the same flags are used
1106- in general, if you use different flag settings while encoding vs. when
1107decoding you likely have a bug somewhere.
1108
1109Below comes a verbose discussion of these flags. Note that a "codeset" is
1110simply an abstract set of character-codepoint pairs, while an encoding
1111takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into
1112octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding,
1113and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at
1114the same time, which can be confusing.
591 1115
592=over 4 1116=over 4
593 1117
594=item JSON 1.07 1118=item C<utf8> flag disabled
595 1119
596Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl). 1120When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate
1121and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode
1122values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such
1123characters are decoded as-is, no canges to them will be done, except
1124"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters,
1125respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do
1126funny/weird/dumb stuff).
597 1127
598Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles unicode values is 1128This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you
599undocumented. One can get far by feeding it unicode strings and doing 1129want to have UTF-16 encoded JSON texts) or when some other layer does
600en-/decoding oneself, but unicode escapes are not working properly). 1130the encoding for you (for example, when printing to a terminal using a
1131filehandle that transparently encodes to UTF-8 you certainly do NOT want
1132to UTF-8 encode your data first and have Perl encode it another time).
601 1133
602No roundtripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g. 1134=item C<utf8> flag enabled
603the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will
604decode into the number 2.
605 1135
606=item JSON::PC 0.01 1136If the C<utf8>-flag is enabled, C<encode>/C<decode> will encode all
1137characters using the corresponding UTF-8 multi-byte sequence, and will
1138expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character"
1139of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow
1140that.
607 1141
608Very fast. 1142The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you
1143will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded
1144octet/binary string in Perl.
609 1145
610Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling. 1146=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled
611 1147
612No roundtripping. 1148With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters
1149with ordinal values > 255 (> 127 with C<ascii>) and encode the remaining
1150characters as specified by the C<utf8> flag.
613 1151
614Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic 1152If C<utf8> is disabled, then the result is also correctly encoded in those
615values will make it croak). 1153character sets (as both are proper subsets of Unicode, meaning that a
1154Unicode string with all character values < 256 is the same thing as a
1155ISO-8859-1 string, and a Unicode string with all character values < 128 is
1156the same thing as an ASCII string in Perl).
616 1157
617Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}> 1158If C<utf8> is enabled, you still get a correct UTF-8-encoded string,
618which is not a valid JSON text. 1159regardless of these flags, just some more characters will be escaped using
1160C<\uXXXX> then before.
619 1161
620Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 1162Note that ISO-8859-1-I<encoded> strings are not compatible with UTF-8
621getting fixed). 1163encoding, while ASCII-encoded strings are. That is because the ISO-8859-1
1164encoding is NOT a subset of UTF-8 (despite the ISO-8859-1 I<codeset> being
1165a subset of Unicode), while ASCII is.
622 1166
623=item JSON::Syck 0.21 1167Surprisingly, C<decode> will ignore these flags and so treat all input
1168values as governed by the C<utf8> flag. If it is disabled, this allows you
1169to decode ISO-8859-1- and ASCII-encoded strings, as both strict subsets of
1170Unicode. If it is enabled, you can correctly decode UTF-8 encoded strings.
624 1171
625Very buggy (often crashes). 1172So neither C<latin1> nor C<ascii> are incompatible with the C<utf8> flag -
1173they only govern when the JSON output engine escapes a character or not.
626 1174
627Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much 1175The main use for C<latin1> is to relatively efficiently store binary data
628undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a 1176as JSON, at the expense of breaking compatibility with most JSON decoders.
629single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
630generate ASCII-only JSON texts).
631 1177
632Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode 1178The main use for C<ascii> is to force the output to not contain characters
633escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to 1179with values > 127, which means you can interpret the resulting string
634I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour). 1180as UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ASCII, KOI8-R or most about any character set and
635 11818-bit-encoding, and still get the same data structure back. This is useful
636No roundtripping (simple cases work, but this depends on wether the scalar 1182when your channel for JSON transfer is not 8-bit clean or the encoding
637value was used in a numeric context or not). 1183might be mangled in between (e.g. in mail), and works because ASCII is a
638 1184proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world.
639Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state.
640
641Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
642getting fixed).
643
644Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
645return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
646issue: imagine two banks transfering money between each other using
647JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
648while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
649good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
650the transaction will still not succeed).
651
652=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
653
654Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
655
656Undocumented unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
657still don't get parsed properly).
658
659Very inflexible.
660
661No roundtripping.
662
663Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
664result in nothing being output)
665
666Does not check input for validity.
667 1185
668=back 1186=back
669 1187
670 1188
1189=head2 JSON and ECMAscript
1190
1191JSON syntax is based on how literals are represented in javascript (the
1192not-standardised predecessor of ECMAscript) which is presumably why it is
1193called "JavaScript Object Notation".
1194
1195However, JSON is not a subset (and also not a superset of course) of
1196ECMAscript (the standard) or javascript (whatever browsers actually
1197implement).
1198
1199If you want to use javascript's C<eval> function to "parse" JSON, you
1200might run into parse errors for valid JSON texts, or the resulting data
1201structure might not be queryable:
1202
1203One of the problems is that U+2028 and U+2029 are valid characters inside
1204JSON strings, but are not allowed in ECMAscript string literals, so the
1205following Perl fragment will not output something that can be guaranteed
1206to be parsable by javascript's C<eval>:
1207
1208 use JSON::XS;
1209
1210 print encode_json [chr 0x2028];
1211
1212The right fix for this is to use a proper JSON parser in your javascript
1213programs, and not rely on C<eval> (see for example Douglas Crockford's
1214F<json2.js> parser).
1215
1216If this is not an option, you can, as a stop-gap measure, simply encode to
1217ASCII-only JSON:
1218
1219 use JSON::XS;
1220
1221 print JSON::XS->new->ascii->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
1222
1223Note that this will enlarge the resulting JSON text quite a bit if you
1224have many non-ASCII characters. You might be tempted to run some regexes
1225to only escape U+2028 and U+2029, e.g.:
1226
1227 # DO NOT USE THIS!
1228 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
1229 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa8/\\u2028/g; # escape U+2028
1230 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa9/\\u2029/g; # escape U+2029
1231 print $json;
1232
1233Note that I<this is a bad idea>: the above only works for U+2028 and
1234U+2029 and thus only for fully ECMAscript-compliant parsers. Many existing
1235javascript implementations, however, have issues with other characters as
1236well - using C<eval> naively simply I<will> cause problems.
1237
1238Another problem is that some javascript implementations reserve
1239some property names for their own purposes (which probably makes
1240them non-ECMAscript-compliant). For example, Iceweasel reserves the
1241C<__proto__> property name for it's own purposes.
1242
1243If that is a problem, you could parse try to filter the resulting JSON
1244output for these property strings, e.g.:
1245
1246 $json =~ s/"__proto__"\s*:/"__proto__renamed":/g;
1247
1248This works because C<__proto__> is not valid outside of strings, so every
1249occurence of C<"__proto__"\s*:> must be a string used as property name.
1250
1251If you know of other incompatibilities, please let me know.
1252
1253
671=head2 JSON and YAML 1254=head2 JSON and YAML
672 1255
673You often hear that JSON is a subset (or a close subset) of YAML. This is, 1256You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
674however, a mass hysteria and very far from the truth. In general, there is 1257hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing),
675no way to configure JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML. 1258so let me state it clearly: I<in general, there is no way to configure
1259JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML> that works in all
1260cases.
676 1261
677If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this 1262If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
678algorithm (subject to change in future versions): 1263algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
679 1264
680 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1); 1265 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
681 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n"; 1266 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
682 1267
683This will usually generate JSON texts that also parse as valid 1268This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
684YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key 1269YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
685lengths that JSON doesn't have, so you should make sure that your hash 1270lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible
1271unicode handling, so you should make sure that your hash keys are
686keys are noticably shorter than the 1024 characters YAML allows. 1272noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows and that
1273you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the Unicode BMP
1274(basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/> sequences in
1275strings (which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate, but other JSON
1276generators might).
687 1277
688There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of. In general 1278There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML
1279specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In
689you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice versa, 1280general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice
690or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are high 1281versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are
691that you will run into severe interoperability problems. 1282high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you
1283least expect it.
1284
1285=over 4
1286
1287=item (*)
1288
1289I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the
1290authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him
1291acknowledging that the actual incompatibilities exist. As I was personally
1292bitten by this "JSON is YAML" lie, I refused and said I will continue to
1293educate people about these issues, so others do not run into the same
1294problem again and again. After this, Brian called me a (quote)I<complete
1295and worthless idiot>(unquote).
1296
1297In my opinion, instead of pressuring and insulting people who actually
1298clarify issues with YAML and the wrong statements of some of its
1299proponents, I would kindly suggest reading the JSON spec (which is not
1300that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and
1301educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the
1302real compatibility for many I<years> and trying to silence people who
1303point out that it isn't true.
1304
1305=back
692 1306
693 1307
694=head2 SPEED 1308=head2 SPEED
695 1309
696It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following 1310It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
697tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program 1311tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program
698in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own 1312in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
699system. 1313system.
700 1314
701First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short 1315First comes a comparison between various modules using
702single-line JSON string: 1316a very short single-line JSON string (also available at
1317L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>).
703 1318
704 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], \ 1319 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1",
705 "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, true, false]} 1320 "we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7,
1321 true, false]}
706 1322
707It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses 1323It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
708the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface 1324the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
709with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables 1325with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
710shrink). Higher is better: 1326shrink). Higher is better:
711 1327
712 Storable | 15779.925 | 14169.946 |
713 -----------+------------+------------+
714 module | encode | decode | 1328 module | encode | decode |
715 -----------|------------|------------| 1329 -----------|------------|------------|
716 JSON | 4990.842 | 4088.813 | 1330 JSON 1.x | 4990.842 | 4088.813 |
717 JSON::DWIW | 51653.990 | 71575.154 | 1331 JSON::DWIW | 51653.990 | 71575.154 |
718 JSON::PC | 65948.176 | 74631.744 | 1332 JSON::PC | 65948.176 | 74631.744 |
719 JSON::PP | 8931.652 | 3817.168 | 1333 JSON::PP | 8931.652 | 3817.168 |
720 JSON::Syck | 24877.248 | 27776.848 | 1334 JSON::Syck | 24877.248 | 27776.848 |
721 JSON::XS | 388361.481 | 227951.304 | 1335 JSON::XS | 388361.481 | 227951.304 |
723 JSON::XS/3 | 338250.323 | 218453.333 | 1337 JSON::XS/3 | 338250.323 | 218453.333 |
724 Storable | 16500.016 | 135300.129 | 1338 Storable | 16500.016 | 135300.129 |
725 -----------+------------+------------+ 1339 -----------+------------+------------+
726 1340
727That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding, 1341That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
728about three times faster on decoding, and over fourty times faster 1342about three times faster on decoding, and over forty times faster
729than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares 1343than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares
730favourably to Storable for small amounts of data. 1344favourably to Storable for small amounts of data.
731 1345
732Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals 1346Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
733search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg): 1347search API (L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/long.json>).
734 1348
735 module | encode | decode | 1349 module | encode | decode |
736 -----------|------------|------------| 1350 -----------|------------|------------|
737 JSON | 55.260 | 34.971 | 1351 JSON 1.x | 55.260 | 34.971 |
738 JSON::DWIW | 825.228 | 1082.513 | 1352 JSON::DWIW | 825.228 | 1082.513 |
739 JSON::PC | 3571.444 | 2394.829 | 1353 JSON::PC | 3571.444 | 2394.829 |
740 JSON::PP | 210.987 | 32.574 | 1354 JSON::PP | 210.987 | 32.574 |
741 JSON::Syck | 552.551 | 787.544 | 1355 JSON::Syck | 552.551 | 787.544 |
742 JSON::XS | 5780.463 | 4854.519 | 1356 JSON::XS | 5780.463 | 4854.519 |
746 -----------+------------+------------+ 1360 -----------+------------+------------+
747 1361
748Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly 1362Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
749decodes faster). 1363decodes faster).
750 1364
751On large strings containing lots of high unicode characters, some modules 1365On large strings containing lots of high Unicode characters, some modules
752(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result 1366(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
753will be broken due to missing (or wrong) unicode handling. Others refuse 1367will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse
754to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair 1368to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
755comparison table for that case. 1369comparison table for that case.
756 1370
757 1371
758=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 1372=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
764any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am 1378any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
765trying hard on making that true, but you never know. 1379trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
766 1380
767Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should 1381Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
768limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your 1382limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
769resources run out, thats just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that 1383resources run out, that's just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
770can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is 1384can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
771usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode 1385usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
772it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON 1386it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
773text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you 1387text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
774might want to check the size before you accept the string. 1388might want to check the size before you accept the string.
775 1389
776Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and 1390Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
777arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64 1391arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
778machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but 1392machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
779only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak 1393only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
780to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. to be 1394to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. To be
781conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process 1395conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
782has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the 1396has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
783C<max_depth> method. 1397C<max_depth> method.
784 1398
785And last but least, something else could bomb you that I forgot to think 1399Something else could bomb you, too, that I forgot to think of. In that
786of. In that case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, 1400case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, though...
787though... 1401
1402Also keep in mind that JSON::XS might leak contents of your Perl data
1403structures in its error messages, so when you serialise sensitive
1404information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS
1405will not end up in front of untrusted eyes.
788 1406
789If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption 1407If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
790by javascript scripts in a browser you should have a look at 1408by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
791L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see wether 1409L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see whether
792you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser 1410you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser
793design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major 1411design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major
794browser developers care only for features, not about doing security 1412browser developers care only for features, not about getting security
795right). 1413right).
796 1414
797 1415
1416=head1 THREADS
1417
1418This module is I<not> guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no
1419plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the
1420horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated
1421process simulations - use fork, it's I<much> faster, cheaper, better).
1422
1423(It might actually work, but you have been warned).
1424
1425
798=head1 BUGS 1426=head1 BUGS
799 1427
800While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does 1428While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
801not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is 1429not mean it's bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. If you
802still relatively early in its development. If you keep reporting bugs they 1430keep reporting bugs they will be fixed swiftly, though.
803will be fixed swiftly, though. 1431
1432Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting
1433service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason.
804 1434
805=cut 1435=cut
806 1436
807our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" }; 1437our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
808our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" }; 1438our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
825 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 }, 1455 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
826 fallback => 1; 1456 fallback => 1;
827 1457
8281; 14581;
829 1459
1460=head1 SEE ALSO
1461
1462The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments.
1463
830=head1 AUTHOR 1464=head1 AUTHOR
831 1465
832 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1466 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
833 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1467 http://home.schmorp.de/
834 1468

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