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Revision 1.13 by root, Fri Mar 23 18:37:30 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.114 by root, Wed Jan 21 05:34:08 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 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
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.
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
30reports for other reasons. 52reports for other reasons.
31 53
32See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules.
33
34See 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
35vice versa. 55vice versa.
36 56
37=head2 FEATURES 57=head2 FEATURES
38 58
39=over 4 59=over 4
40 60
41=item * correct handling of unicode issues 61=item * correct Unicode handling
42 62
43This 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
44it does so. 64so, and even documents what "correct" means.
45 65
46=item * round-trip integrity 66=item * round-trip integrity
47 67
48When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported 68When you serialise a perl data structure using only data types supported
49by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. 69by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level.
50(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2"). 70(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks
71like a number). There minor I<are> exceptions to this, read the MAPPING
72section below to learn about those.
51 73
52=item * strict checking of JSON correctness 74=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
53 75
54There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON strings by default, 76There 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 77and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
56feature). 78feature).
57 79
58=item * fast 80=item * fast
59 81
60Compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably in terms 82Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable,
61of speed, too. 83this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too.
62 84
63=item * simple to use 85=item * simple to use
64 86
65This 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
66interface. 88oriented interface interface.
67 89
68=item * reasonably versatile output formats 90=item * reasonably versatile output formats
69 91
70You can choose between the most compact guarenteed single-line format 92You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format
71possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format (for 93possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ASCII format
72when your transport is not 8-bit clean), or a pretty-printed format (for 94(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 95Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
74whatever way you like. 96stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
75 97
76=back 98=back
77 99
78=cut 100=cut
79 101
80package JSON::XS; 102package JSON::XS;
81 103
82BEGIN { 104no warnings;
105use strict;
106
83 $VERSION = '0.3'; 107our $VERSION = '2.231';
84 @ISA = qw(Exporter); 108our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
85 109
86 @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json); 110our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json to_json from_json);
87 require Exporter;
88 111
112sub to_json($) {
89 require XSLoader; 113 require Carp;
90 XSLoader::load JSON::XS::, $VERSION; 114 Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::to_json has been renamed to encode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call");
91} 115}
92 116
117sub from_json($) {
118 require Carp;
119 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");
120}
121
122use Exporter;
123use XSLoader;
124
93=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 125=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
94 126
95The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are 127The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are
96exported by default: 128exported by default:
97 129
98=over 4 130=over 4
99 131
100=item $json_string = to_json $perl_scalar 132=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar
101 133
102Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to 134Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string
103a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains 135(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error.
104octets only). Croaks on error.
105 136
106This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar) >>. 137This function call is functionally identical to:
107 138
139 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
140
141Except being faster.
142
108=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_string 143=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text
109 144
110The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to 145The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries
111parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON string, returning the resulting simple 146to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting
112scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 147reference. Croaks on error.
113 148
114This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_string) >>. 149This function call is functionally identical to:
150
151 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
152
153Except being faster.
154
155=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar
156
157Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or
158JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively
159and are used to represent JSON C<true> and C<false> values in Perl.
160
161See MAPPING, below, for more information on how JSON values are mapped to
162Perl.
115 163
116=back 164=back
165
166
167=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL
168
169Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on
170how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs.
171
172=over 4
173
174=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255.
175
176This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a
177Perl string - very natural.
178
179=item 2. Perl does I<not> associate an encoding with your strings.
180
181... until you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or
182printing the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your
183string as locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending
184on various settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your
185data, it is I<use> that decides encoding, not any magical meta data.
186
187=item 3. The internal utf-8 flag has no meaning with regards to the
188encoding of your string.
189
190Just ignore that flag unless you debug a Perl bug, a module written in
191XS or want to dive into the internals of perl. Otherwise it will only
192confuse you, as, despite the name, it says nothing about how your string
193is encoded. You can have Unicode strings with that flag set, with that
194flag clear, and you can have binary data with that flag set and that flag
195clear. Other possibilities exist, too.
196
197If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't
198exist.
199
200=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be
201validly interpreted as a Unicode code point.
202
203If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a
204Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string.
205
206=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string.
207
208It's a fact. Learn to live with it.
209
210=back
211
212I hope this helps :)
213
117 214
118=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE 215=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
119 216
120The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or 217The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
121decoding style, within the limits of supported formats. 218decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
128strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>. 225strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>.
129 226
130The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can 227The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can
131be chained: 228be chained:
132 229
133 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8(1)->space_after(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 230 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
134 => {"a": [1, 2]} 231 => {"a": [1, 2]}
135 232
136=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable]) 233=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
137 234
235=item $enabled = $json->get_ascii
236
138If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will 237If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
139not generate characters outside the code range C<0..127>. Any unicode 238generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
140characters outside that range will be escaped using either a single 239Unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
141\uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence, as per 240single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
142RFC4627. 241as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
242Unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
243or any other superset of ASCII.
143 244
144If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode 245If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
145characters unless necessary. 246characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
247in a faster and more compact format.
146 248
249See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
250document.
251
252The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
253transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
254contain any 8 bit characters.
255
147 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode (chr 0x10401) 256 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
148 => \ud801\udc01 257 => ["\ud801\udc01"]
258
259=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
260
261=item $enabled = $json->get_latin1
262
263If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
264the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
265outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
266latin1-encoded JSON text or a native Unicode string. The C<decode> method
267will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
268expects Unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
269
270If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
271characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
272
273See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
274document.
275
276The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
277text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
278size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
279in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
280transferring), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
281you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
282in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
283
284 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
285 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
149 286
150=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable]) 287=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
151 288
289=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8
290
152If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode 291If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
153the JSON string into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the 292the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
154C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please 293C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
155note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the 294note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
156range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. 295range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
296versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
297and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
157 298
158If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON 299If 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 300string 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 301Unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
161to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module. 302to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
162 303
304See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
305document.
306
163Example, output UTF-16-encoded JSON: 307Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
308
309 use Encode;
310 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
311
312Example, decode UTF-32LE-encoded JSON:
313
314 use Encode;
315 $object = JSON::XS->new->decode (decode "UTF-32LE", $jsontext);
164 316
165=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable]) 317=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable])
166 318
167This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and 319This 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 320C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to
179 ] 331 ]
180 } 332 }
181 333
182=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable]) 334=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
183 335
336=item $enabled = $json->get_indent
337
184If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline 338If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
185format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair 339format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
186into its own line, identing them properly. 340into its own line, indenting them properly.
187 341
188If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the 342If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
189resulting JSON strings is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>. 343resulting JSON text is guaranteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
190 344
191This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 345This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
192 346
193=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable]) 347=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
348
349=item $enabled = $json->get_space_before
194 350
195If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 351If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
196optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects. 352optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
197 353
198If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 354If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
199space at those places. 355space at those places.
200 356
201This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. You will also most 357This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. You will also
202likely combine this setting with C<space_after>. 358most likely combine this setting with C<space_after>.
203 359
204Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled: 360Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
205 361
206 {"key" :"value"} 362 {"key" :"value"}
207 363
208=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable]) 364=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
365
366=item $enabled = $json->get_space_after
209 367
210If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 368If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
211optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects 369optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
212and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array 370and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
213members. 371members.
214 372
215If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 373If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
216space at those places. 374space at those places.
217 375
218This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 376This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
219 377
220Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled: 378Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
221 379
222 {"key": "value"} 380 {"key": "value"}
223 381
382=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])
383
384=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed
385
386If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
387extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
388affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
389JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
390parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files,
391resource files etc.)
392
393If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept
394valid JSON texts.
395
396Currently accepted extensions are:
397
398=over 4
399
400=item * list items can have an end-comma
401
402JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This
403can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to
404quickly append elements, so this extension accepts comma at the end of
405such items not just between them:
406
407 [
408 1,
409 2, <- this comma not normally allowed
410 ]
411 {
412 "k1": "v1",
413 "k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed
414 }
415
416=item * shell-style '#'-comments
417
418Whenever JSON allows whitespace, shell-style comments are additionally
419allowed. They are terminated by the first carriage-return or line-feed
420character, after which more white-space and comments are allowed.
421
422 [
423 1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
424 # neither this one...
425 ]
426
427=back
428
224=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable]) 429=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
430
431=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical
225 432
226If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects 433If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
227by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead. 434by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
228 435
229If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value 436If 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 437pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
231of the same script). 438of the same script).
232 439
233This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as 440This 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, 441the 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, 442the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
236as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl. 443as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
237 444
238This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 445This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
239 446
240=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable]) 447=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
448
449=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref
241 450
242If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a 451If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
243non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value, 452non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
244which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON 453which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
245values instead of croaking. 454values instead of croaking.
246 455
247If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't 456If 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 457passed 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 458or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a
250JSON object or array. 459JSON object or array.
251 460
252Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>, 461Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>,
253resulting in an invalid JSON text: 462resulting in an invalid JSON text:
254 463
255 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!") 464 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
256 => "Hello, World!" 465 => "Hello, World!"
257 466
467=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable])
468
469=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown
470
471If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode> will I<not> throw an
472exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for
473example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C<null> value. Note
474that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by
475c<allow_nonref>.
476
477If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
478exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON.
479
480This option does not affect C<decode> in any way, and it is recommended to
481leave it off unless you know your communications partner.
482
483=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
484
485=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
486
487If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
488barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the
489B<convert_blessed> option will decide whether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>
490disabled or no C<TO_JSON> method found) or a representation of the
491object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<TO_JSON> method found) is being
492encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
493
494If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
495exception when it encounters a blessed object.
496
497=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
498
499=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed
500
501If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
502blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
503on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context
504and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no
505C<TO_JSON> method is found, the value of C<allow_blessed> will decide what
506to do.
507
508The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
509returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
510way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
511(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
512methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
513usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json>
514function or method.
515
516This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the
517future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are
518enabled by this setting.
519
520If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what
521to do when a blessed object is found.
522
523=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
524
525When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
526time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the
527newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which
528need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid
529aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns
530an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the
531original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down
532decoding considerably.
533
534When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
535be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
536way.
537
538Example, convert all JSON objects into the integer 5:
539
540 my $js = JSON::XS->new->filter_json_object (sub { 5 });
541 # returns [5]
542 $js->decode ('[{}]')
543 # throw an exception because allow_nonref is not enabled
544 # so a lone 5 is not allowed.
545 $js->decode ('{"a":1, "b":2}');
546
547=item $json = $json->filter_json_single_key_object ($key [=> $coderef->($value)])
548
549Works remotely similar to C<filter_json_object>, but is only called for
550JSON objects having a single key named C<$key>.
551
552This C<$coderef> is called before the one specified via
553C<filter_json_object>, if any. It gets passed the single value in the JSON
554object. If it returns a single value, it will be inserted into the data
555structure. If it returns nothing (not even C<undef> but the empty list),
556the callback from C<filter_json_object> will be called next, as if no
557single-key callback were specified.
558
559If C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, the corresponding callback will be
560disabled. There can only ever be one callback for a given key.
561
562As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
563one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
564objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
565as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
566as JSON gets (it's basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
567support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
568like a serialised Perl hash.
569
570Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
571C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
572things like C<__class_md5sum(classname)__>, to reduce the risk of clashing
573with real hashes.
574
575Example, decode JSON objects of the form C<< { "__widget__" => <id> } >>
576into the corresponding C<< $WIDGET{<id>} >> object:
577
578 # return whatever is in $WIDGET{5}:
579 JSON::XS
580 ->new
581 ->filter_json_single_key_object (__widget__ => sub {
582 $WIDGET{ $_[0] }
583 })
584 ->decode ('{"__widget__": 5')
585
586 # this can be used with a TO_JSON method in some "widget" class
587 # for serialisation to json:
588 sub WidgetBase::TO_JSON {
589 my ($self) = @_;
590
591 unless ($self->{id}) {
592 $self->{id} = ..get..some..id..;
593 $WIDGET{$self->{id}} = $self;
594 }
595
596 { __widget__ => $self->{id} }
597 }
598
258=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable]) 599=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
259 600
601=item $enabled = $json->get_shrink
602
260Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for 603Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
261strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either 604strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
262C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save 605C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
263memory when your JSON strings are either very very long or you have many 606memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
264short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form 607short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form
265if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called 608if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called
266UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less 609UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less
267space in general. 610space in general (and some buggy Perl or C code might even rely on that
611internal representation being used).
268 612
613The actual definition of what shrink does might change in future versions,
614but it will always try to save space at the expense of time.
615
269If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will be shrunk-to-fit, 616If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will
270while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be shrunk-to-fit. 617be shrunk-to-fit, while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be
618shrunk-to-fit.
271 619
272If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used. 620If 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. 621If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster.
274 622
275In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting 623In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting
276strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats 624strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
277internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space. 625internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
278 626
627=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
628
629=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth
630
631Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
632or decoding. If a higher nesting level is detected in JSON text or a Perl
633data structure, then the encoder and decoder will stop and croak at that
634point.
635
636Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
637needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
638characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
639given character in a string.
640
641Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
642that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
643
644If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be used, which
645is rarely useful.
646
647Note that nesting is implemented by recursion in C. The default value has
648been chosen to be as large as typical operating systems allow without
649crashing.
650
651See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
652
653=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
654
655=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size
656
657Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
658being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
659is called on a string that is longer then this many bytes, it will not
660attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
661effect on C<encode> (yet).
662
663If no argument is given, the limit check will be deactivated (same as when
664C<0> is specified).
665
666See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
667
279=item $json_string = $json->encode ($perl_scalar) 668=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
280 669
281Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference 670Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference
282to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be 671to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be
283converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays 672converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays
284become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined 673become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined
285Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true> 674Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>
286nor C<false> values will be generated. 675nor C<false> values will be generated.
287 676
288=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_string) 677=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text)
289 678
290The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON string and tries to parse it, 679The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it,
291returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 680returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
292 681
293JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become 682JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become
294Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes 683Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes
295C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>. 684C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>.
296 685
686=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
687
688This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception
689when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will
690silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed
691so far.
692
693This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol
694(which is not the brightest thing to do in the first place) and you need
695to know where the JSON text ends.
696
697 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
698 => ([], 3)
699
297=back 700=back
701
702
703=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING
704
705In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON
706texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting
707Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a
708JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has
709a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to
710using C<decode_prefix> to see if a full JSON object is available, but
711is much more efficient (and can be implemented with a minimum of method
712calls).
713
714JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text once it is sure it
715has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very simple but
716truly incremental parser. This means that it sometimes won't stop as
717early as the full parser, for example, it doesn't detect parenthese
718mismatches. The only thing it guarantees is that it starts decoding as
719soon as a syntactically valid JSON text has been seen. This means you need
720to set resource limits (e.g. C<max_size>) to ensure the parser will stop
721parsing in the presence if syntax errors.
722
723The following methods implement this incremental parser.
724
725=over 4
726
727=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string])
728
729This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and
730extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these
731functions are optional).
732
733If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already
734existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object.
735
736After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply
737return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text
738in as many chunks as you want.
739
740If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract
741exactly I<one> JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this
742object, otherwise it will return C<undef>. If there is a parse error,
743this method will croak just as C<decode> would do (one can then use
744C<incr_skip> to skip the errornous part). This is the most common way of
745using the method.
746
747And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects
748from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list
749otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators between the JSON
750objects or arrays, instead they must be concatenated back-to-back. If
751an error occurs, an exception will be raised as in the scalar context
752case. Note that in this case, any previously-parsed JSON texts will be
753lost.
754
755=item $lvalue_string = $json->incr_text
756
757This method returns the currently stored JSON fragment as an lvalue, that
758is, you can manipulate it. This I<only> works when a preceding call to
759C<incr_parse> in I<scalar context> successfully returned an object. Under
760all other circumstances you must not call this function (I mean it.
761although in simple tests it might actually work, it I<will> fail under
762real world conditions). As a special exception, you can also call this
763method before having parsed anything.
764
765This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a
766JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text
767(such as commas).
768
769=item $json->incr_skip
770
771This will reset the state of the incremental parser and will remove
772the parsed text from the input buffer so far. This is useful after
773C<incr_parse> died, in which case the input buffer and incremental parser
774state is left unchanged, to skip the text parsed so far and to reset the
775parse state.
776
777The difference to C<incr_reset> is that only text until the parse error
778occured is removed.
779
780=item $json->incr_reset
781
782This completely resets the incremental parser, that is, after this call,
783it will be as if the parser had never parsed anything.
784
785This is useful if you want to repeatedly parse JSON objects and want to
786ignore any trailing data, which means you have to reset the parser after
787each successful decode.
788
789=back
790
791=head2 LIMITATIONS
792
793All options that affect decoding are supported, except
794C<allow_nonref>. The reason for this is that it cannot be made to
795work sensibly: JSON objects and arrays are self-delimited, i.e. you can concatenate
796them back to back and still decode them perfectly. This does not hold true
797for JSON numbers, however.
798
799For example, is the string C<1> a single JSON number, or is it simply the
800start of C<12>? Or is C<12> a single JSON number, or the concatenation
801of C<1> and C<2>? In neither case you can tell, and this is why JSON::XS
802takes the conservative route and disallows this case.
803
804=head2 EXAMPLES
805
806Some examples will make all this clearer. First, a simple example that
807works similarly to C<decode_prefix>: We want to decode the JSON object at
808the start of a string and identify the portion after the JSON object:
809
810 my $text = "[1,2,3] hello";
811
812 my $json = new JSON::XS;
813
814 my $obj = $json->incr_parse ($text)
815 or die "expected JSON object or array at beginning of string";
816
817 my $tail = $json->incr_text;
818 # $tail now contains " hello"
819
820Easy, isn't it?
821
822Now for a more complicated example: Imagine a hypothetical protocol where
823you read some requests from a TCP stream, and each request is a JSON
824array, without any separation between them (in fact, it is often useful to
825use newlines as "separators", as these get interpreted as whitespace at
826the start of the JSON text, which makes it possible to test said protocol
827with C<telnet>...).
828
829Here is how you'd do it (it is trivial to write this in an event-based
830manner):
831
832 my $json = new JSON::XS;
833
834 # read some data from the socket
835 while (sysread $socket, my $buf, 4096) {
836
837 # split and decode as many requests as possible
838 for my $request ($json->incr_parse ($buf)) {
839 # act on the $request
840 }
841 }
842
843Another complicated example: Assume you have a string with JSON objects
844or arrays, all separated by (optional) comma characters (e.g. C<[1],[2],
845[3]>). To parse them, we have to skip the commas between the JSON texts,
846and here is where the lvalue-ness of C<incr_text> comes in useful:
847
848 my $text = "[1],[2], [3]";
849 my $json = new JSON::XS;
850
851 # void context, so no parsing done
852 $json->incr_parse ($text);
853
854 # now extract as many objects as possible. note the
855 # use of scalar context so incr_text can be called.
856 while (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
857 # do something with $obj
858
859 # now skip the optional comma
860 $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* , //x;
861 }
862
863Now lets go for a very complex example: Assume that you have a gigantic
864JSON array-of-objects, many gigabytes in size, and you want to parse it,
865but you cannot load it into memory fully (this has actually happened in
866the real world :).
867
868Well, you lost, you have to implement your own JSON parser. But JSON::XS
869can still help you: You implement a (very simple) array parser and let
870JSON decode the array elements, which are all full JSON objects on their
871own (this wouldn't work if the array elements could be JSON numbers, for
872example):
873
874 my $json = new JSON::XS;
875
876 # open the monster
877 open my $fh, "<bigfile.json"
878 or die "bigfile: $!";
879
880 # first parse the initial "["
881 for (;;) {
882 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
883 or die "read error: $!";
884 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
885
886 # Exit the loop once we found and removed(!) the initial "[".
887 # In essence, we are (ab-)using the $json object as a simple scalar
888 # we append data to.
889 last if $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* \[ //x;
890 }
891
892 # now we have the skipped the initial "[", so continue
893 # parsing all the elements.
894 for (;;) {
895 # in this loop we read data until we got a single JSON object
896 for (;;) {
897 if (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
898 # do something with $obj
899 last;
900 }
901
902 # add more data
903 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
904 or die "read error: $!";
905 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
906 }
907
908 # in this loop we read data until we either found and parsed the
909 # separating "," between elements, or the final "]"
910 for (;;) {
911 # first skip whitespace
912 $json->incr_text =~ s/^\s*//;
913
914 # if we find "]", we are done
915 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^\]//) {
916 print "finished.\n";
917 exit;
918 }
919
920 # if we find ",", we can continue with the next element
921 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^,//) {
922 last;
923 }
924
925 # if we find anything else, we have a parse error!
926 if (length $json->incr_text) {
927 die "parse error near ", $json->incr_text;
928 }
929
930 # else add more data
931 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
932 or die "read error: $!";
933 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
934 }
935
936This is a complex example, but most of the complexity comes from the fact
937that we are trying to be correct (bear with me if I am wrong, I never ran
938the above example :).
939
940
298 941
299=head1 MAPPING 942=head1 MAPPING
300 943
301This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and 944This 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 945vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
303circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics 946circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
304(what you put in comes out as something equivalent). 947(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
305 948
306For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions, 949For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
307lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppcercase I<Perl> 950lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppercase I<Perl>
308refers to the abstract Perl language itself. 951refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
309 952
953
310=head2 JSON -> PERL 954=head2 JSON -> PERL
311 955
312=over 4 956=over 4
313 957
314=item object 958=item object
315 959
316A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object 960A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
317keys is preserved. 961keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself).
318 962
319=item array 963=item array
320 964
321A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl. 965A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
322 966
326are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual 970are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual
327decoding is necessary. 971decoding is necessary.
328 972
329=item number 973=item number
330 974
331A JSON number becomes either an integer or numeric (floating point) 975A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
332scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On the 976string 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 977the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
334conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and might 978the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
335represent more values exactly than (floating point) numbers. 979might represent more values exactly than floating point numbers.
980
981If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
982it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
983a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
984precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in
985which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be
986re-encoded toa JSON string).
987
988Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
989represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
990precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but
991the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number).
336 992
337=item true, false 993=item true, false
338 994
339These JSON atoms become C<0>, C<1>, respectively. Information is lost in 995These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>,
340this process. Future versions might represent those values differently, 996respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers
341but they will be guarenteed to act like these integers would normally in 997C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using
342Perl. 998the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function.
343 999
344=item null 1000=item null
345 1001
346A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl. 1002A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
347 1003
348=back 1004=back
1005
349 1006
350=head2 PERL -> JSON 1007=head2 PERL -> JSON
351 1008
352The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a 1009The 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 1010truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by
356=over 4 1013=over 4
357 1014
358=item hash references 1015=item hash references
359 1016
360Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering 1017Perl 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 1018in 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 1019pseudo-random order that can change between runs of the same program but
363within the single run of a program. JSON::XS can optionally sort the hash 1020stays generally the same within a single run of a program. JSON::XS can
364keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so the same datastructure 1021optionally sort the hash keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so
365will serialise to the same JSON text (given same settings and version of 1022the same datastructure will serialise to the same JSON text (given same
366JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead. 1023settings and version of JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead
1024and is only rarely useful, e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text
1025against another for equality.
367 1026
368=item array references 1027=item array references
369 1028
370Perl array references become JSON arrays. 1029Perl array references become JSON arrays.
371 1030
1031=item other references
1032
1033Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
1034exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
1035C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can
1036also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.
1037
1038 encode_json [\0, JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true]
1039
1040=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false
1041
1042These special values become JSON true and JSON false values,
1043respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want.
1044
372=item blessed objects 1045=item blessed objects
373 1046
374Blessed objects are not allowed. JSON::XS currently tries to encode their 1047Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON. See the
375underlying representation (hash- or arrayref), but this behaviour might 1048C<allow_blessed> and C<convert_blessed> methods on various options on
376change in future versions. 1049how to deal with this: basically, you can choose between throwing an
1050exception, encoding the reference as if it weren't blessed, or provide
1051your own serialiser method.
377 1052
378=item simple scalars 1053=item simple scalars
379 1054
380Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most 1055Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
381difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as 1056difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
382JSON null value, scalars that have last been used in a string context 1057JSON C<null> values, scalars that have last been used in a string context
383before encoding as JSON strings and anything else as number value: 1058before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value:
384 1059
385 # dump as number 1060 # dump as number
386 to_json [2] # yields [2] 1061 encode_json [2] # yields [2]
387 to_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17] 1062 encode_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
388 my $value = 5; to_json [$value] # yields [5] 1063 my $value = 5; encode_json [$value] # yields [5]
389 1064
390 # used as string, so dump as string 1065 # used as string, so dump as string
391 print $value; 1066 print $value;
392 to_json [$value] # yields ["5"] 1067 encode_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
393 1068
394 # undef becomes null 1069 # undef becomes null
395 to_json [undef] # yields [null] 1070 encode_json [undef] # yields [null]
396 1071
397You can force the type to be a string by stringifying it: 1072You can force the type to be a JSON string by stringifying it:
398 1073
399 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number 1074 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
400 "$x"; # stringified 1075 "$x"; # stringified
401 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify 1076 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
402 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often 1077 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
403 1078
404You can force the type to be a number by numifying it: 1079You can force the type to be a JSON number by numifying it:
405 1080
406 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string 1081 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
407 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number 1082 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
408 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choise is yours. 1083 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choice is yours.
409 1084
410You can not currently output JSON booleans or force the type in other, 1085You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me
411less obscure, ways. Tell me if you need this capability. 1086if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed
412 1087:).
413=item circular data structures
414
415Those will be encoded until memory or stackspace runs out.
416 1088
417=back 1089=back
418 1090
419=head1 COMPARISON
420 1091
421As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing 1092=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES
422JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the 1093
423problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules, 1094The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify
424followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer 1095encodings or codesets - C<utf8>, C<latin1> and C<ascii>. There seems to be
425from any of these problems or limitations. 1096some confusion on what these do, so here is a short comparison:
1097
1098C<utf8> controls whether the JSON text created by C<encode> (and expected
1099by C<decode>) is UTF-8 encoded or not, while C<latin1> and C<ascii> only
1100control whether C<encode> escapes character values outside their respective
1101codeset range. Neither of these flags conflict with each other, although
1102some combinations make less sense than others.
1103
1104Care has been taken to make all flags symmetrical with respect to
1105C<encode> and C<decode>, that is, texts encoded with any combination of
1106these flag values will be correctly decoded when the same flags are used
1107- in general, if you use different flag settings while encoding vs. when
1108decoding you likely have a bug somewhere.
1109
1110Below comes a verbose discussion of these flags. Note that a "codeset" is
1111simply an abstract set of character-codepoint pairs, while an encoding
1112takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into
1113octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding,
1114and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at
1115the same time, which can be confusing.
426 1116
427=over 4 1117=over 4
428 1118
429=item JSON 1.07 1119=item C<utf8> flag disabled
430 1120
431Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl). 1121When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate
1122and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode
1123values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such
1124characters are decoded as-is, no canges to them will be done, except
1125"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters,
1126respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do
1127funny/weird/dumb stuff).
432 1128
433Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles unicode values is 1129This 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 1130want to have UTF-16 encoded JSON texts) or when some other layer does
435en-/decoding oneself, but unicode escapes are not working properly). 1131the encoding for you (for example, when printing to a terminal using a
1132filehandle that transparently encodes to UTF-8 you certainly do NOT want
1133to UTF-8 encode your data first and have Perl encode it another time).
436 1134
437No roundtripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g. 1135=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 1136
441=item JSON::PC 0.01 1137If the C<utf8>-flag is enabled, C<encode>/C<decode> will encode all
1138characters using the corresponding UTF-8 multi-byte sequence, and will
1139expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character"
1140of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow
1141that.
442 1142
443Very fast. 1143The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you
1144will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded
1145octet/binary string in Perl.
444 1146
445Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling. 1147=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled
446 1148
447No roundtripping. 1149With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters
1150with ordinal values > 255 (> 127 with C<ascii>) and encode the remaining
1151characters as specified by the C<utf8> flag.
448 1152
449Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic 1153If C<utf8> is disabled, then the result is also correctly encoded in those
450values will make it croak). 1154character sets (as both are proper subsets of Unicode, meaning that a
1155Unicode string with all character values < 256 is the same thing as a
1156ISO-8859-1 string, and a Unicode string with all character values < 128 is
1157the same thing as an ASCII string in Perl).
451 1158
452Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}> 1159If C<utf8> is enabled, you still get a correct UTF-8-encoded string,
453which is not a valid JSON string. 1160regardless of these flags, just some more characters will be escaped using
1161C<\uXXXX> then before.
454 1162
455Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 1163Note that ISO-8859-1-I<encoded> strings are not compatible with UTF-8
456getting fixed). 1164encoding, while ASCII-encoded strings are. That is because the ISO-8859-1
1165encoding is NOT a subset of UTF-8 (despite the ISO-8859-1 I<codeset> being
1166a subset of Unicode), while ASCII is.
457 1167
458=item JSON::Syck 0.21 1168Surprisingly, C<decode> will ignore these flags and so treat all input
1169values as governed by the C<utf8> flag. If it is disabled, this allows you
1170to decode ISO-8859-1- and ASCII-encoded strings, as both strict subsets of
1171Unicode. If it is enabled, you can correctly decode UTF-8 encoded strings.
459 1172
460Very buggy (often crashes). 1173So neither C<latin1> nor C<ascii> are incompatible with the C<utf8> flag -
1174they only govern when the JSON output engine escapes a character or not.
461 1175
462Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much 1176The 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 1177as 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 1178
467Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode 1179The 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 1180with values > 127, which means you can interpret the resulting string
469I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour). 1181as UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ASCII, KOI8-R or most about any character set and
470 11828-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 1183when your channel for JSON transfer is not 8-bit clean or the encoding
472value was used in a numeric context or not). 1184might be mangled in between (e.g. in mail), and works because ASCII is a
473 1185proper 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 1186
503=back 1187=back
1188
1189
1190=head2 JSON and YAML
1191
1192You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
1193hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing),
1194so let me state it clearly: I<in general, there is no way to configure
1195JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML> that works in all
1196cases.
1197
1198If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
1199algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
1200
1201 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
1202 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
1203
1204This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
1205YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
1206lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible
1207unicode handling, so you should make sure that your hash keys are
1208noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows and that
1209you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the Unicode BMP
1210(basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/> sequences in
1211strings (which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate, but other JSON
1212generators might).
1213
1214There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML
1215specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In
1216general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice
1217versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are
1218high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you
1219least expect it.
1220
1221=over 4
1222
1223=item (*)
1224
1225I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the
1226authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him
1227acknowledging that the actual incompatibilities exist. As I was personally
1228bitten by this "JSON is YAML" lie, I refused and said I will continue to
1229educate people about these issues, so others do not run into the same
1230problem again and again. After this, Brian called me a (quote)I<complete
1231and worthless idiot>(unquote).
1232
1233In my opinion, instead of pressuring and insulting people who actually
1234clarify issues with YAML and the wrong statements of some of its
1235proponents, I would kindly suggest reading the JSON spec (which is not
1236that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and
1237educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the
1238real compatibility for many I<years> and trying to silence people who
1239point out that it isn't true.
1240
1241=back
1242
504 1243
505=head2 SPEED 1244=head2 SPEED
506 1245
507It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following 1246It 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 1247tables. 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 1248in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
510system. 1249system.
511 1250
512First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short JSON 1251First comes a comparison between various modules using
513string (83 bytes), showing the number of encodes/decodes per second 1252a very short single-line JSON string (also available at
1253L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>).
1254
1255 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1",
1256 "we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7,
1257 true, false]}
1258
1259It 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 1260the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
515interface with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled). Higher is 1261with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
516better: 1262shrink). Higher is better:
517 1263
518 module | encode | decode | 1264 module | encode | decode |
519 -----------|------------|------------| 1265 -----------|------------|------------|
520 JSON | 14006 | 6820 | 1266 JSON 1.x | 4990.842 | 4088.813 |
521 JSON::DWIW | 200937 | 120386 | 1267 JSON::DWIW | 51653.990 | 71575.154 |
522 JSON::PC | 85065 | 129366 | 1268 JSON::PC | 65948.176 | 74631.744 |
523 JSON::Syck | 59898 | 44232 | 1269 JSON::PP | 8931.652 | 3817.168 |
524 JSON::XS | 1171478 | 342435 | 1270 JSON::Syck | 24877.248 | 27776.848 |
525 JSON::XS/2 | 730760 | 328714 | 1271 JSON::XS | 388361.481 | 227951.304 |
1272 JSON::XS/2 | 227951.304 | 218453.333 |
1273 JSON::XS/3 | 338250.323 | 218453.333 |
1274 Storable | 16500.016 | 135300.129 |
526 -----------+------------+------------+ 1275 -----------+------------+------------+
527 1276
528That is, JSON::XS is 6 times faster than than JSON::DWIW and about 80 1277That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
1278about three times faster on decoding, and over forty times faster
529times faster than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. 1279than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares
1280favourably to Storable for small amounts of data.
530 1281
531Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals 1282Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
532search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg): 1283search API (L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/long.json>).
533 1284
534 module | encode | decode | 1285 module | encode | decode |
535 -----------|------------|------------| 1286 -----------|------------|------------|
536 JSON | 673 | 38 | 1287 JSON 1.x | 55.260 | 34.971 |
537 JSON::DWIW | 5271 | 770 | 1288 JSON::DWIW | 825.228 | 1082.513 |
538 JSON::PC | 9901 | 2491 | 1289 JSON::PC | 3571.444 | 2394.829 |
539 JSON::Syck | 2360 | 786 | 1290 JSON::PP | 210.987 | 32.574 |
540 JSON::XS | 37398 | 3202 | 1291 JSON::Syck | 552.551 | 787.544 |
541 JSON::XS/2 | 13765 | 3153 | 1292 JSON::XS | 5780.463 | 4854.519 |
1293 JSON::XS/2 | 3869.998 | 4798.975 |
1294 JSON::XS/3 | 5862.880 | 4798.975 |
1295 Storable | 4445.002 | 5235.027 |
542 -----------+------------+------------+ 1296 -----------+------------+------------+
543 1297
544Again, JSON::XS leads by far in the encoding case, while still beating 1298Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
545every other module in the decoding case. 1299decodes faster).
546 1300
547On large strings containing lots of unicode characters, some modules 1301On 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 1302(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 1303will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse
550properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair comparison table for that 1304to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
551case. 1305comparison table for that case.
552 1306
553=head1 RESOURCE LIMITS
554 1307
555JSON::XS does not impose any limits on the size of JSON texts or Perl 1308=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
556values they represent - if your machine can handle it, JSON::XS will 1309
557encode or decode it. Future versions might optionally impose structure 1310When you are using JSON in a protocol, talking to untrusted potentially
558depth and memory use resource limits. 1311hostile creatures requires relatively few measures.
1312
1313First of all, your JSON decoder should be secure, that is, should not have
1314any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
1315trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
1316
1317Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
1318limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
1319resources run out, that's just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
1320can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
1321usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
1322it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
1323text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
1324might want to check the size before you accept the string.
1325
1326Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
1327arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
1328machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
1329only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
1330to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. To be
1331conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
1332has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
1333C<max_depth> method.
1334
1335Something else could bomb you, too, that I forgot to think of. In that
1336case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, though...
1337
1338Also keep in mind that JSON::XS might leak contents of your Perl data
1339structures in its error messages, so when you serialise sensitive
1340information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS
1341will not end up in front of untrusted eyes.
1342
1343If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
1344by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
1345L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see whether
1346you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser
1347design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major
1348browser developers care only for features, not about getting security
1349right).
1350
1351
1352=head1 THREADS
1353
1354This module is I<not> guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no
1355plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the
1356horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated
1357process simulations - use fork, it's I<much> faster, cheaper, better).
1358
1359(It might actually work, but you have been warned).
1360
559 1361
560=head1 BUGS 1362=head1 BUGS
561 1363
562While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does 1364While 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 1365not 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 1366keep reporting bugs they will be fixed swiftly, though.
565be fixed swiftly, though. 1367
1368Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting
1369service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason.
566 1370
567=cut 1371=cut
568 1372
1373our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
1374our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
1375
1376sub true() { $true }
1377sub false() { $false }
1378
1379sub is_bool($) {
1380 UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::XS::Boolean"
1381# or UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::Literal"
1382}
1383
1384XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION;
1385
1386package JSON::XS::Boolean;
1387
1388use overload
1389 "0+" => sub { ${$_[0]} },
1390 "++" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} + 1 },
1391 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
1392 fallback => 1;
1393
5691; 13941;
1395
1396=head1 SEE ALSO
1397
1398The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments.
570 1399
571=head1 AUTHOR 1400=head1 AUTHOR
572 1401
573 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1402 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
574 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1403 http://home.schmorp.de/

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