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Revision 1.6 by root, Thu Mar 22 23:24:18 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.147 by root, Tue Oct 29 00:19:08 2013 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;
13
14 # exported functions, they croak on error
15 # and expect/generate UTF-8
16
17 $utf8_encoded_json_text = encode_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;
18 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = decode_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;
19
20 # OO-interface
21
22 $coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;
23 $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);
24 $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);
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.
8 33
9=head1 DESCRIPTION 34=head1 DESCRIPTION
10 35
11This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its 36This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its
12primary 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
13I<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.
14 47
15As 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
16to 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
17modules, 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
18their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug 51their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
19reports for other reasons. 52reports for other reasons.
20 53
21See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules. 54See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and
55vice versa.
22 56
23=head2 FEATURES 57=head2 FEATURES
24 58
25=over 4 59=over 4
26 60
27=item * correct handling of unicode issues 61=item * correct Unicode handling
28 62
29This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how it does so. 63This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does
64so, and even documents what "correct" means.
30 65
31=item * round-trip integrity 66=item * round-trip integrity
32 67
33When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported 68When you serialise a perl data structure using only data types supported
34by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. 69by JSON and Perl, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl
35(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2"). 70level. (e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because
71it looks like a number). There I<are> minor exceptions to this, read the
72MAPPING section below to learn about those.
36 73
37=item * strict checking of JSON correctness 74=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
38 75
39There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON strings by default, 76There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
40and only JSON is accepted as input (the latter is a security feature). 77and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
78feature).
41 79
42=item * fast 80=item * fast
43 81
44compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably. 82Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable,
83this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too.
45 84
46=item * simple to use 85=item * simple to use
47 86
48This 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
49interface. 88oriented interface.
50 89
51=item * reasonably versatile output formats 90=item * reasonably versatile output formats
52 91
53You can choose between the most compact format possible, a pure-ascii 92You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format
54format, or a pretty-printed format. Or you can combine those features in 93possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ASCII format
55whatever way you like. 94(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
95Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
96stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
56 97
57=back 98=back
58 99
59=cut 100=cut
60 101
61package JSON::XS; 102package JSON::XS;
62 103
63BEGIN { 104use common::sense;
105
64 $VERSION = '0.2'; 106our $VERSION = '3.0';
65 @ISA = qw(Exporter); 107our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
66 108
67 @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json); 109our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json);
68 require Exporter;
69 110
70 require XSLoader; 111use Exporter;
71 XSLoader::load JSON::XS::, $VERSION; 112use XSLoader;
72} 113
114use Types::Serialiser ();
73 115
74=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 116=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
75 117
76The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are 118The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are
77exported by default: 119exported by default:
78 120
79=over 4 121=over 4
80 122
81=item $json_string = to_json $perl_scalar 123=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar
82 124
83Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to 125Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string
84a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains 126(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error.
85octets only). Croaks on error.
86 127
87This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8 128This function call is functionally identical to:
88(1)->encode ($perl_scalar) >>.
89 129
130 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
131
132Except being faster.
133
90=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_string 134=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text
91 135
92The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to 136The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries
93parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON string, returning the resulting simple 137to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting
94scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 138reference. Croaks on error.
95 139
96This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8 140This function call is functionally identical to:
97(1)->decode ($json_string) >>. 141
142 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
143
144Except being faster.
98 145
99=back 146=back
147
148
149=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL
150
151Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on
152how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs.
153
154=over 4
155
156=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255.
157
158This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a
159Perl string - very natural.
160
161=item 2. Perl does I<not> associate an encoding with your strings.
162
163... until you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or
164printing the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your
165string as locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending
166on various settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your
167data, it is I<use> that decides encoding, not any magical meta data.
168
169=item 3. The internal utf-8 flag has no meaning with regards to the
170encoding of your string.
171
172Just ignore that flag unless you debug a Perl bug, a module written in
173XS or want to dive into the internals of perl. Otherwise it will only
174confuse you, as, despite the name, it says nothing about how your string
175is encoded. You can have Unicode strings with that flag set, with that
176flag clear, and you can have binary data with that flag set and that flag
177clear. Other possibilities exist, too.
178
179If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't
180exist.
181
182=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be
183validly interpreted as a Unicode code point.
184
185If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a
186Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string.
187
188=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string.
189
190It's a fact. Learn to live with it.
191
192=back
193
194I hope this helps :)
195
100 196
101=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE 197=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
102 198
103The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or 199The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
104decoding style, within the limits of supported formats. 200decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
111strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>. 207strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>.
112 208
113The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can 209The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can
114be chained: 210be chained:
115 211
116 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8(1)->space_after(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 212 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
117 => {"a": [1, 2]} 213 => {"a": [1, 2]}
118 214
119=item $json = $json->ascii ($enable) 215=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
120 216
217=item $enabled = $json->get_ascii
218
121If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will not generate 219If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
122characters outside the code range C<0..127>. Any unicode characters 220generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
123outside that range will be escaped using either a single \uXXXX (BMP 221Unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
124characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence, as per RFC4627. 222single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
223as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
224Unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
225or any other superset of ASCII.
125 226
126If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode 227If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
127characters unless necessary. 228characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
229in a faster and more compact format.
128 230
231See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
232document.
233
234The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
235transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
236contain any 8 bit characters.
237
129 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode (chr 0x10401) 238 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
130 => \ud801\udc01 239 => ["\ud801\udc01"]
131 240
241=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
242
243=item $enabled = $json->get_latin1
244
245If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
246the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
247outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
248latin1-encoded JSON text or a native Unicode string. The C<decode> method
249will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
250expects Unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
251
252If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
253characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
254
255See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
256document.
257
258The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
259text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
260size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
261in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
262transferring), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
263you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
264in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
265
266 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
267 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
268
132=item $json = $json->utf8 ($enable) 269=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
133 270
271=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8
272
134If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will encode the JSON 273If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
135string into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the C<decode> 274the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
136method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please note that 275C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
137UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the range 276note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
138C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. 277range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
278versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
279and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
139 280
140If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON 281If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON
141string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a 282string as a (non-encoded) Unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a
142unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs 283Unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
143to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module. 284to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
144 285
286See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
287document.
288
289Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
290
291 use Encode;
292 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
293
294Example, decode UTF-32LE-encoded JSON:
295
296 use Encode;
297 $object = JSON::XS->new->decode (decode "UTF-32LE", $jsontext);
298
145=item $json = $json->pretty ($enable) 299=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable])
146 300
147This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and 301This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and
148C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to 302C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to
149generate the most readable (or most compact) form possible. 303generate the most readable (or most compact) form possible.
304
305Example, pretty-print some simple structure:
150 306
151 my $json = JSON::XS->new->pretty(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 307 my $json = JSON::XS->new->pretty(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]})
152 => 308 =>
153 { 309 {
154 "a" : [ 310 "a" : [
155 1, 311 1,
156 2 312 2
157 ] 313 ]
158 } 314 }
159 315
160=item $json = $json->indent ($enable) 316=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
161 317
318=item $enabled = $json->get_indent
319
162If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will use a multiline 320If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
163format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair 321format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
164into its own line, identing them properly. 322into its own line, indenting them properly.
165 323
166If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the 324If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
167resulting JSON strings is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>. 325resulting JSON text is guaranteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
168 326
169This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 327This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
170 328
171=item $json = $json->space_before ($enable) 329=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
172 330
331=item $enabled = $json->get_space_before
332
173If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will add an extra 333If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
174optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects. 334optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
175 335
176If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 336If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
177space at those places. 337space at those places.
178 338
179This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. You will also most 339This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. You will also
180likely combine this setting with C<space_after>. 340most likely combine this setting with C<space_after>.
181 341
342Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
343
344 {"key" :"value"}
345
182=item $json = $json->space_after ($enable) 346=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
183 347
348=item $enabled = $json->get_space_after
349
184If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will add an extra 350If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
185optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects 351optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
186and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array 352and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
187members. 353members.
188 354
189If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 355If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
190space at those places. 356space at those places.
191 357
192This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 358This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
193 359
360Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
361
362 {"key": "value"}
363
364=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])
365
366=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed
367
368If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
369extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
370affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
371JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
372parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files,
373resource files etc.)
374
375If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept
376valid JSON texts.
377
378Currently accepted extensions are:
379
380=over 4
381
382=item * list items can have an end-comma
383
384JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This
385can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to
386quickly append elements, so this extension accepts comma at the end of
387such items not just between them:
388
389 [
390 1,
391 2, <- this comma not normally allowed
392 ]
393 {
394 "k1": "v1",
395 "k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed
396 }
397
398=item * shell-style '#'-comments
399
400Whenever JSON allows whitespace, shell-style comments are additionally
401allowed. They are terminated by the first carriage-return or line-feed
402character, after which more white-space and comments are allowed.
403
404 [
405 1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
406 # neither this one...
407 ]
408
409=back
410
194=item $json = $json->canonical ($enable) 411=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
195 412
413=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical
414
196If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects 415If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
197by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead. 416by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
198 417
199If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value 418If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
200pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs 419pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
201of the same script). 420of the same script, and can change even within the same run from 5.18
421onwards).
202 422
203This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as 423This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
204the same JSON string (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled, 424the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
205the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data, 425the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
206as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl. 426as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
207 427
208This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 428This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
209 429
430This setting has currently no effect on tied hashes.
431
210=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ($enable) 432=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
211 433
434=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref
435
212If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method can convert a 436If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
213non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value, 437non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
214which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON 438which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
215values instead of croaking. 439values instead of croaking.
216 440
217If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't 441If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't
218passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON strings must either be an object 442passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON texts must either be an object
219or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a 443or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a
220JSON object or array. 444JSON object or array.
221 445
446Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>,
447resulting in an invalid JSON text:
448
449 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
450 => "Hello, World!"
451
452=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable])
453
454=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown
455
456If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode> will I<not> throw an
457exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for
458example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C<null> value. Note
459that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by
460c<allow_nonref>.
461
462If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
463exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON.
464
465This option does not affect C<decode> in any way, and it is recommended to
466leave it off unless you know your communications partner.
467
468=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
469
470=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
471
472See L<OBJECT SERIALISATION> for details.
473
474If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
475barf when it encounters a blessed reference that it cannot convert
476otherwise. Instead, a JSON C<null> value is encoded instead of the object.
477
478If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
479exception when it encounters a blessed object that it cannot convert
480otherwise.
481
482This setting has no effect on C<decode>.
483
484=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
485
486=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed
487
488See "OBJECT SERIALISATION" for details.
489
490If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
491blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
492on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context and
493the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object.
494
495The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
496returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
497way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
498(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
499methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
500usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json>
501function or method.
502
503If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will not consider
504this type of conversion.
505
506This setting has no effect on C<decode>.
507
508=item $json = $json->allow_tags ([$enable])
509
510=item $enabled = $json->allow_tags
511
512See "OBJECT SERIALISATION" for details.
513
514If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
515blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<FREEZE> method on
516the object's class. If found, it will be used to serialise the object into
517a nonstandard tagged JSON value (that JSON decoders cannot decode).
518
519It also causes C<decode> to parse such tagged JSON values and deserialise
520them via a call to the C<THAW> method.
521
522If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will not consider
523this type of conversion, and tagged JSON values will cause a parse error
524in C<decode>, as if tags were not part of the grammar.
525
526=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
527
528When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
529time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the
530newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which
531need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid
532aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns
533an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the
534original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down
535decoding considerably.
536
537When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
538be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
539way.
540
541Example, convert all JSON objects into the integer 5:
542
543 my $js = JSON::XS->new->filter_json_object (sub { 5 });
544 # returns [5]
545 $js->decode ('[{}]')
546 # throw an exception because allow_nonref is not enabled
547 # so a lone 5 is not allowed.
548 $js->decode ('{"a":1, "b":2}');
549
550=item $json = $json->filter_json_single_key_object ($key [=> $coderef->($value)])
551
552Works remotely similar to C<filter_json_object>, but is only called for
553JSON objects having a single key named C<$key>.
554
555This C<$coderef> is called before the one specified via
556C<filter_json_object>, if any. It gets passed the single value in the JSON
557object. If it returns a single value, it will be inserted into the data
558structure. If it returns nothing (not even C<undef> but the empty list),
559the callback from C<filter_json_object> will be called next, as if no
560single-key callback were specified.
561
562If C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, the corresponding callback will be
563disabled. There can only ever be one callback for a given key.
564
565As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
566one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
567objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
568as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
569as JSON gets (it's basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
570support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
571like a serialised Perl hash.
572
573Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
574C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
575things like C<__class_md5sum(classname)__>, to reduce the risk of clashing
576with real hashes.
577
578Example, decode JSON objects of the form C<< { "__widget__" => <id> } >>
579into the corresponding C<< $WIDGET{<id>} >> object:
580
581 # return whatever is in $WIDGET{5}:
582 JSON::XS
583 ->new
584 ->filter_json_single_key_object (__widget__ => sub {
585 $WIDGET{ $_[0] }
586 })
587 ->decode ('{"__widget__": 5')
588
589 # this can be used with a TO_JSON method in some "widget" class
590 # for serialisation to json:
591 sub WidgetBase::TO_JSON {
592 my ($self) = @_;
593
594 unless ($self->{id}) {
595 $self->{id} = ..get..some..id..;
596 $WIDGET{$self->{id}} = $self;
597 }
598
599 { __widget__ => $self->{id} }
600 }
601
602=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
603
604=item $enabled = $json->get_shrink
605
606Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
607strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
608C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
609memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
610short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form
611if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called
612UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less
613space in general (and some buggy Perl or C code might even rely on that
614internal representation being used).
615
616The actual definition of what shrink does might change in future versions,
617but it will always try to save space at the expense of time.
618
619If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will
620be shrunk-to-fit, while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be
621shrunk-to-fit.
622
623If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used.
624If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster.
625
626In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting
627strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
628internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
629
630=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
631
632=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth
633
634Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
635or decoding. If a higher nesting level is detected in JSON text or a Perl
636data structure, then the encoder and decoder will stop and croak at that
637point.
638
639Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
640needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
641characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
642given character in a string.
643
644Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
645that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
646
647If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be used, which
648is rarely useful.
649
650Note that nesting is implemented by recursion in C. The default value has
651been chosen to be as large as typical operating systems allow without
652crashing.
653
654See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
655
656=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
657
658=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size
659
660Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
661being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
662is called on a string that is longer then this many bytes, it will not
663attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
664effect on C<encode> (yet).
665
666If no argument is given, the limit check will be deactivated (same as when
667C<0> is specified).
668
669See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
670
222=item $json_string = $json->encode ($perl_scalar) 671=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
223 672
224Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference 673Converts the given Perl value or data structure to its JSON
225to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be 674representation. Croaks on error.
226converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays
227become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined
228Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>
229nor C<false> values will be generated.
230 675
231=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_string) 676=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text)
232 677
233The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON string and tries to parse it, 678The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it,
234returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 679returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
235 680
236JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become 681=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
237Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes 682
238C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>. 683This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception
684when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will
685silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed
686so far.
687
688This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol
689and you need to know where the JSON text ends.
690
691 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
692 => ([], 3)
239 693
240=back 694=back
241 695
242=head1 COMPARISON
243 696
244As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing 697=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING
245JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the 698
246problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules, 699In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON
247followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer 700texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting
248from any of these problems or limitations. 701Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a
702JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has
703a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to
704using C<decode_prefix> to see if a full JSON object is available, but
705is much more efficient (and can be implemented with a minimum of method
706calls).
707
708JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text once it is sure it
709has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very simple but
710truly incremental parser. This means that it sometimes won't stop as
711early as the full parser, for example, it doesn't detect mismatched
712parentheses. The only thing it guarantees is that it starts decoding as
713soon as a syntactically valid JSON text has been seen. This means you need
714to set resource limits (e.g. C<max_size>) to ensure the parser will stop
715parsing in the presence if syntax errors.
716
717The following methods implement this incremental parser.
249 718
250=over 4 719=over 4
251 720
252=item JSON 1.07 721=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string])
253 722
254Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl). 723This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and
724extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these
725functions are optional).
255 726
256Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles unicode values is 727If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already
257undocumented. One can get far by feeding it unicode strings and doing 728existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object.
258en-/decoding oneself, but unicode escapes are not working properly).
259 729
260No roundtripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g. 730After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply
261the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will 731return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text
262decode into the number 2. 732in as many chunks as you want.
263 733
264=item JSON::PC 0.01 734If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract
735exactly I<one> JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this
736object, otherwise it will return C<undef>. If there is a parse error,
737this method will croak just as C<decode> would do (one can then use
738C<incr_skip> to skip the erroneous part). This is the most common way of
739using the method.
265 740
266Very fast. 741And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects
742from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list
743otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators between the JSON
744objects or arrays, instead they must be concatenated back-to-back. If
745an error occurs, an exception will be raised as in the scalar context
746case. Note that in this case, any previously-parsed JSON texts will be
747lost.
267 748
268Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling. 749Example: Parse some JSON arrays/objects in a given string and return
750them.
269 751
270No roundtripping. 752 my @objs = JSON::XS->new->incr_parse ("[5][7][1,2]");
271 753
272Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic 754=item $lvalue_string = $json->incr_text
273values will make it croak).
274 755
275Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}> 756This method returns the currently stored JSON fragment as an lvalue, that
276which is not a valid JSON string. 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.
277 763
278Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 764This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a
279getting fixed). 765JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text
766(such as commas).
280 767
281=item JSON::Syck 0.21 768=item $json->incr_skip
282 769
283Very buggy (often crashes). 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.
284 775
285Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much 776The difference to C<incr_reset> is that only text until the parse error
286undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a 777occurred is removed.
287single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
288generate ASCII-only JSON strings).
289 778
290Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode 779=item $json->incr_reset
291escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to
292I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour).
293 780
294No roundtripping (simple cases work, but this depends on wether the scalar 781This completely resets the incremental parser, that is, after this call,
295value was used in a numeric context or not). 782it will be as if the parser had never parsed anything.
296 783
297Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state. 784This is useful if you want to repeatedly parse JSON objects and want to
298 785ignore any trailing data, which means you have to reset the parser after
299Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 786each successful decode.
300getting fixed).
301
302Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
303return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
304issue: imagine two banks transfering money between each other using
305JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
306while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
307good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
308the transaction will still not succeed).
309
310=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
311
312Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
313
314Undocumented unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
315still don't get parsed properly).
316
317Very inflexible.
318
319No roundtripping.
320
321Does not generate valid JSON (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
322result in nothing being output)
323
324Does not check input for validity.
325 787
326=back 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 work
794sensibly: JSON objects and arrays are self-delimited, i.e. you can
795concatenate them back to back and still decode them perfectly. This does
796not hold true for 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
941=head1 MAPPING
942
943This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
944vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
945circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
946(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
947
948For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
949lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppercase I<Perl>
950refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
951
952
953=head2 JSON -> PERL
954
955=over 4
956
957=item object
958
959A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
960keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself).
961
962=item array
963
964A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
965
966=item string
967
968A JSON string becomes a string scalar in Perl - Unicode codepoints in JSON
969are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual
970decoding is necessary.
971
972=item number
973
974A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
975string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On
976the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
977the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
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 to a 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).
991
992Note that precision is not accuracy - binary floating point values cannot
993represent most decimal fractions exactly, and when converting from and to
994floating point, JSON::XS only guarantees precision up to but not including
995the least significant bit.
996
997=item true, false
998
999These JSON atoms become C<Types::Serialiser::true> and
1000C<Types::Serialiser::false>, respectively. They are overloaded to act
1001almost exactly like the numbers C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether
1002a scalar is a JSON boolean by using the C<Types::Serialiser::is_bool>
1003function (after C<use Types::Serialier>, of course).
1004
1005=item null
1006
1007A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
1008
1009=item shell-style comments (C<< # I<text> >>)
1010
1011As a nonstandard extension to the JSON syntax that is enabled by the
1012C<relaxed> setting, shell-style comments are allowed. They can start
1013anywhere outside strings and go till the end of the line.
1014
1015=item tagged values (C<< (I<tag>)I<value> >>).
1016
1017Another nonstandard extension to the JSON syntax, enabled with the
1018C<allow_tags> setting, are tagged values. In this implementation, the
1019I<tag> must be a perl package/class name encoded as a JSON string, and the
1020I<value> must be a JSON array encoding optional constructor arguments.
1021
1022See "OBJECT SERIALISATION", below, for details.
1023
1024=back
1025
1026
1027=head2 PERL -> JSON
1028
1029The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a
1030truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by
1031a Perl value.
1032
1033=over 4
1034
1035=item hash references
1036
1037Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent
1038ordering in hash keys (or JSON objects), they will usually be encoded
1039in a pseudo-random order. JSON::XS can optionally sort the hash keys
1040(determined by the I<canonical> flag), so the same datastructure will
1041serialise to the same JSON text (given same settings and version of
1042JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead and is only rarely useful,
1043e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text against another for equality.
1044
1045=item array references
1046
1047Perl array references become JSON arrays.
1048
1049=item other references
1050
1051Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
1052exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
1053C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON.
1054
1055Since C<JSON::XS> uses the boolean model from L<Types::Serialiser>, you
1056can also C<use Types::Serialiser> and then use C<Types::Serialiser::false>
1057and C<Types::Serialiser::true> to improve readability.
1058
1059 use Types::Serialiser;
1060 encode_json [\0, Types::Serialiser::true] # yields [false,true]
1061
1062=item Types::Serialiser::true, Types::Serialiser::false
1063
1064These special values from the L<Types::Serialiser> module become JSON true
1065and JSON false values, respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0>
1066directly if you want.
1067
1068=item blessed objects
1069
1070Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON, but C<JSON::XS>
1071allows various ways of handling objects. See "OBJECT SERIALISATION",
1072below, for details.
1073
1074=item simple scalars
1075
1076Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
1077difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
1078JSON C<null> values, scalars that have last been used in a string context
1079before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value:
1080
1081 # dump as number
1082 encode_json [2] # yields [2]
1083 encode_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
1084 my $value = 5; encode_json [$value] # yields [5]
1085
1086 # used as string, so dump as string
1087 print $value;
1088 encode_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
1089
1090 # undef becomes null
1091 encode_json [undef] # yields [null]
1092
1093You can force the type to be a JSON string by stringifying it:
1094
1095 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
1096 "$x"; # stringified
1097 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
1098 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
1099
1100You can force the type to be a JSON number by numifying it:
1101
1102 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
1103 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
1104 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choice is yours.
1105
1106You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me
1107if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed
1108:).
1109
1110Note that numerical precision has the same meaning as under Perl (so
1111binary to decimal conversion follows the same rules as in Perl, which
1112can differ to other languages). Also, your perl interpreter might expose
1113extensions to the floating point numbers of your platform, such as
1114infinities or NaN's - these cannot be represented in JSON, and it is an
1115error to pass those in.
1116
1117=back
1118
1119=head2 OBJECT SERIALISATION
1120
1121As JSON cannot directly represent Perl objects, you have to choose between
1122a pure JSON representation (without the ability to deserialise the object
1123automatically again), and a nonstandard extension to the JSON syntax,
1124tagged values.
1125
1126=head3 SERIALISATION
1127
1128What happens when C<JSON::XS> encounters a Perl object depends on the
1129C<allow_blessed>, C<convert_blessed> and C<allow_tags> settings, which are
1130used in this order:
1131
1132=over 4
1133
1134=item 1. C<allow_tags> is enabled and object has a C<FREEZE> method.
1135
1136In this case, C<JSON::XS> uses the L<Types::Serialiser> object
1137serialisation protocol to create a tagged JSON value, using a nonstandard
1138extension to the JSON syntax.
1139
1140This works by invoking the C<FREEZE> method on the object, with the first
1141argument being the object to serialise, and the second argument being the
1142constant string C<JSON> to distinguish it from other serialisers.
1143
1144The C<FREEZE> method can return any number of values (i.e. zero or
1145more). These values and the paclkage/classname of the object will then be
1146encoded as a tagged JSON value in the following format:
1147
1148 ("classname")[FREEZE return values...]
1149
1150For example, the hypothetical C<My::Object> C<FREEZE> method might use the
1151objects C<type> and C<id> members to encode the object:
1152
1153 sub My::Object::FREEZE {
1154 my ($self, $serialiser) = @_;
1155
1156 ($self->{type}, $self->{id})
1157 }
1158
1159=item 2. C<convert_blessed> is enabled and object has a C<TO_JSON> method.
1160
1161In this case, the C<TO_JSON> method of the object is invoked in scalar
1162context. It must return a single scalar that can be directly encoded into
1163JSON. This scalar replaces the object in the JSON text.
1164
1165For example, the following C<TO_JSON> method will convert all L<URI>
1166objects to JSON strings when serialised. The fatc that these values
1167originally were L<URI> objects is lost.
1168
1169 sub URI::TO_JSON {
1170 my ($uri) = @_;
1171 $uri->as_string
1172 }
1173
1174=item 3. C<allow_blessed> is enabled.
1175
1176The object will be serialised as a JSON null value.
1177
1178=item 4. none of the above
1179
1180If none of the settings are enabled or the respective methods are missing,
1181C<JSON::XS> throws an exception.
1182
1183=back
1184
1185=head3 DESERIALISATION
1186
1187For deserialisation there are only two cases to consider: either
1188nonstandard tagging was used, in which case C<allow_tags> decides,
1189or objects cannot be automatically be deserialised, in which
1190case you can use postprocessing or the C<filter_json_object> or
1191C<filter_json_single_key_object> callbacks to get some real objects our of
1192your JSON.
1193
1194This section only considers the tagged value case: I a tagged JSON object
1195is encountered during decoding and C<allow_tags> is disabled, a parse
1196error will result (as if tagged values were not part of the grammar).
1197
1198If C<allow_tags> is enabled, C<JSON::XS> will look up the C<THAW> method
1199of the package/classname used during serialisation (it will not attempt
1200to load the package as a Perl module). If there is no such method, the
1201decoding will fail with an error.
1202
1203Otherwise, the C<THAW> method is invoked with the classname as first
1204argument, the constant string C<JSON> as second argument, and all the
1205values from the JSON array (the values originally returned by the
1206C<FREEZE> method) as remaining arguments.
1207
1208The method must then return the object. While technically you can return
1209any Perl scalar, you might have to enable the C<enable_nonref> setting to
1210make that work in all cases, so better return an actual blessed reference.
1211
1212As an example, let's implement a C<THAW> function that regenerates the
1213C<My::Object> from the C<FREEZE> example earlier:
1214
1215 sub My::Object::THAW {
1216 my ($class, $serialiser, $type, $id) = @_;
1217
1218 $class->new (type => $type, id => $id)
1219 }
1220
1221
1222=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES
1223
1224The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify
1225encodings or codesets - C<utf8>, C<latin1> and C<ascii>. There seems to be
1226some confusion on what these do, so here is a short comparison:
1227
1228C<utf8> controls whether the JSON text created by C<encode> (and expected
1229by C<decode>) is UTF-8 encoded or not, while C<latin1> and C<ascii> only
1230control whether C<encode> escapes character values outside their respective
1231codeset range. Neither of these flags conflict with each other, although
1232some combinations make less sense than others.
1233
1234Care has been taken to make all flags symmetrical with respect to
1235C<encode> and C<decode>, that is, texts encoded with any combination of
1236these flag values will be correctly decoded when the same flags are used
1237- in general, if you use different flag settings while encoding vs. when
1238decoding you likely have a bug somewhere.
1239
1240Below comes a verbose discussion of these flags. Note that a "codeset" is
1241simply an abstract set of character-codepoint pairs, while an encoding
1242takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into
1243octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding,
1244and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at
1245the same time, which can be confusing.
1246
1247=over 4
1248
1249=item C<utf8> flag disabled
1250
1251When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate
1252and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode
1253values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such
1254characters are decoded as-is, no changes to them will be done, except
1255"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters,
1256respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do
1257funny/weird/dumb stuff).
1258
1259This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you
1260want to have UTF-16 encoded JSON texts) or when some other layer does
1261the encoding for you (for example, when printing to a terminal using a
1262filehandle that transparently encodes to UTF-8 you certainly do NOT want
1263to UTF-8 encode your data first and have Perl encode it another time).
1264
1265=item C<utf8> flag enabled
1266
1267If the C<utf8>-flag is enabled, C<encode>/C<decode> will encode all
1268characters using the corresponding UTF-8 multi-byte sequence, and will
1269expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character"
1270of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow
1271that.
1272
1273The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you
1274will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded
1275octet/binary string in Perl.
1276
1277=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled
1278
1279With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters
1280with ordinal values > 255 (> 127 with C<ascii>) and encode the remaining
1281characters as specified by the C<utf8> flag.
1282
1283If C<utf8> is disabled, then the result is also correctly encoded in those
1284character sets (as both are proper subsets of Unicode, meaning that a
1285Unicode string with all character values < 256 is the same thing as a
1286ISO-8859-1 string, and a Unicode string with all character values < 128 is
1287the same thing as an ASCII string in Perl).
1288
1289If C<utf8> is enabled, you still get a correct UTF-8-encoded string,
1290regardless of these flags, just some more characters will be escaped using
1291C<\uXXXX> then before.
1292
1293Note that ISO-8859-1-I<encoded> strings are not compatible with UTF-8
1294encoding, while ASCII-encoded strings are. That is because the ISO-8859-1
1295encoding is NOT a subset of UTF-8 (despite the ISO-8859-1 I<codeset> being
1296a subset of Unicode), while ASCII is.
1297
1298Surprisingly, C<decode> will ignore these flags and so treat all input
1299values as governed by the C<utf8> flag. If it is disabled, this allows you
1300to decode ISO-8859-1- and ASCII-encoded strings, as both strict subsets of
1301Unicode. If it is enabled, you can correctly decode UTF-8 encoded strings.
1302
1303So neither C<latin1> nor C<ascii> are incompatible with the C<utf8> flag -
1304they only govern when the JSON output engine escapes a character or not.
1305
1306The main use for C<latin1> is to relatively efficiently store binary data
1307as JSON, at the expense of breaking compatibility with most JSON decoders.
1308
1309The main use for C<ascii> is to force the output to not contain characters
1310with values > 127, which means you can interpret the resulting string
1311as UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ASCII, KOI8-R or most about any character set and
13128-bit-encoding, and still get the same data structure back. This is useful
1313when your channel for JSON transfer is not 8-bit clean or the encoding
1314might be mangled in between (e.g. in mail), and works because ASCII is a
1315proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world.
1316
1317=back
1318
1319
1320=head2 JSON and ECMAscript
1321
1322JSON syntax is based on how literals are represented in javascript (the
1323not-standardised predecessor of ECMAscript) which is presumably why it is
1324called "JavaScript Object Notation".
1325
1326However, JSON is not a subset (and also not a superset of course) of
1327ECMAscript (the standard) or javascript (whatever browsers actually
1328implement).
1329
1330If you want to use javascript's C<eval> function to "parse" JSON, you
1331might run into parse errors for valid JSON texts, or the resulting data
1332structure might not be queryable:
1333
1334One of the problems is that U+2028 and U+2029 are valid characters inside
1335JSON strings, but are not allowed in ECMAscript string literals, so the
1336following Perl fragment will not output something that can be guaranteed
1337to be parsable by javascript's C<eval>:
1338
1339 use JSON::XS;
1340
1341 print encode_json [chr 0x2028];
1342
1343The right fix for this is to use a proper JSON parser in your javascript
1344programs, and not rely on C<eval> (see for example Douglas Crockford's
1345F<json2.js> parser).
1346
1347If this is not an option, you can, as a stop-gap measure, simply encode to
1348ASCII-only JSON:
1349
1350 use JSON::XS;
1351
1352 print JSON::XS->new->ascii->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
1353
1354Note that this will enlarge the resulting JSON text quite a bit if you
1355have many non-ASCII characters. You might be tempted to run some regexes
1356to only escape U+2028 and U+2029, e.g.:
1357
1358 # DO NOT USE THIS!
1359 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
1360 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa8/\\u2028/g; # escape U+2028
1361 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa9/\\u2029/g; # escape U+2029
1362 print $json;
1363
1364Note that I<this is a bad idea>: the above only works for U+2028 and
1365U+2029 and thus only for fully ECMAscript-compliant parsers. Many existing
1366javascript implementations, however, have issues with other characters as
1367well - using C<eval> naively simply I<will> cause problems.
1368
1369Another problem is that some javascript implementations reserve
1370some property names for their own purposes (which probably makes
1371them non-ECMAscript-compliant). For example, Iceweasel reserves the
1372C<__proto__> property name for its own purposes.
1373
1374If that is a problem, you could parse try to filter the resulting JSON
1375output for these property strings, e.g.:
1376
1377 $json =~ s/"__proto__"\s*:/"__proto__renamed":/g;
1378
1379This works because C<__proto__> is not valid outside of strings, so every
1380occurrence of C<"__proto__"\s*:> must be a string used as property name.
1381
1382If you know of other incompatibilities, please let me know.
1383
1384
1385=head2 JSON and YAML
1386
1387You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
1388hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing),
1389so let me state it clearly: I<in general, there is no way to configure
1390JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML> that works in all
1391cases.
1392
1393If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
1394algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
1395
1396 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
1397 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
1398
1399This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
1400YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
1401lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible
1402unicode character escape syntax, so you should make sure that your hash
1403keys are noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows
1404and that you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the
1405Unicode BMP (basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/>
1406sequences in strings (which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate, but
1407other JSON generators might).
1408
1409There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML
1410specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In
1411general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice
1412versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are
1413high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you
1414least expect it.
1415
1416=over 4
1417
1418=item (*)
1419
1420I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the
1421authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him
1422acknowledging that the actual incompatibilities exist. As I was personally
1423bitten by this "JSON is YAML" lie, I refused and said I will continue to
1424educate people about these issues, so others do not run into the same
1425problem again and again. After this, Brian called me a (quote)I<complete
1426and worthless idiot>(unquote).
1427
1428In my opinion, instead of pressuring and insulting people who actually
1429clarify issues with YAML and the wrong statements of some of its
1430proponents, I would kindly suggest reading the JSON spec (which is not
1431that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and
1432educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the
1433real compatibility for many I<years> and trying to silence people who
1434point out that it isn't true.
1435
1436Addendum/2009: the YAML 1.2 spec is still incompatible with JSON, even
1437though the incompatibilities have been documented (and are known to Brian)
1438for many years and the spec makes explicit claims that YAML is a superset
1439of JSON. It would be so easy to fix, but apparently, bullying people and
1440corrupting userdata is so much easier.
1441
1442=back
1443
327 1444
328=head2 SPEED 1445=head2 SPEED
329 1446
330It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following 1447It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
331tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program 1448tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program
332in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own 1449in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
333system. 1450system.
334 1451
335First is a comparison between various modules using a very simple JSON 1452First comes a comparison between various modules using
1453a very short single-line JSON string (also available at
1454L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>).
1455
1456 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1",
1457 "we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7,
1458 1, 0]}
1459
336string, showing the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS is 1460It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
337the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 is the OO interface with 1461the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
338pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled). 1462with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
1463shrink. JSON::DWIW/DS uses the deserialise function, while JSON::DWIW::FJ
1464uses the from_json method). Higher is better:
339 1465
340 module | encode | decode | 1466 module | encode | decode |
341 -----------|------------|------------| 1467 --------------|------------|------------|
342 JSON | 14006 | 6820 | 1468 JSON::DWIW/DS | 86302.551 | 102300.098 |
343 JSON::DWIW | 200937 | 120386 | 1469 JSON::DWIW/FJ | 86302.551 | 75983.768 |
344 JSON::PC | 85065 | 129366 | 1470 JSON::PP | 15827.562 | 6638.658 |
345 JSON::Syck | 59898 | 44232 | 1471 JSON::Syck | 63358.066 | 47662.545 |
346 JSON::XS | 1171478 | 342435 | 1472 JSON::XS | 511500.488 | 511500.488 |
347 JSON::XS/2 | 730760 | 328714 | 1473 JSON::XS/2 | 291271.111 | 388361.481 |
1474 JSON::XS/3 | 361577.931 | 361577.931 |
1475 Storable | 66788.280 | 265462.278 |
348 -----------+------------+------------+ 1476 --------------+------------+------------+
349 1477
350That is, JSON::XS is 6 times faster than than JSON::DWIW and about 80 1478That is, JSON::XS is almost six times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
351times faster than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. 1479about five times faster on decoding, and over thirty to seventy times
1480faster than JSON's pure perl implementation. It also compares favourably
1481to Storable for small amounts of data.
352 1482
353Using a longer test string (roughly 8KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals 1483Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
354search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg): 1484search API (L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/long.json>).
355 1485
356 module | encode | decode | 1486 module | encode | decode |
357 -----------|------------|------------| 1487 --------------|------------|------------|
358 JSON | 673 | 38 | 1488 JSON::DWIW/DS | 1647.927 | 2673.916 |
359 JSON::DWIW | 5271 | 770 | 1489 JSON::DWIW/FJ | 1630.249 | 2596.128 |
360 JSON::PC | 9901 | 2491 | 1490 JSON::PP | 400.640 | 62.311 |
361 JSON::Syck | 2360 | 786 | 1491 JSON::Syck | 1481.040 | 1524.869 |
362 JSON::XS | 37398 | 3202 | 1492 JSON::XS | 20661.596 | 9541.183 |
363 JSON::XS/2 | 13765 | 3153 | 1493 JSON::XS/2 | 10683.403 | 9416.938 |
1494 JSON::XS/3 | 20661.596 | 9400.054 |
1495 Storable | 19765.806 | 10000.725 |
364 -----------+------------+------------+ 1496 --------------+------------+------------+
365 1497
366Again, JSON::XS leads by far in the encoding case, while still beating 1498Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
367every other module in the decoding case. 1499decodes a bit faster).
368 1500
369Last example is an almost 8MB large hash with many large binary values 1501On large strings containing lots of high Unicode characters, some modules
370(PNG files), resulting in a lot of escaping: 1502(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
1503will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse
1504to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
1505comparison table for that case.
1506
1507
1508=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1509
1510When you are using JSON in a protocol, talking to untrusted potentially
1511hostile creatures requires relatively few measures.
1512
1513First of all, your JSON decoder should be secure, that is, should not have
1514any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
1515trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
1516
1517Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
1518limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
1519resources run out, that's just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
1520can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
1521usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
1522it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
1523text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
1524might want to check the size before you accept the string.
1525
1526Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
1527arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
1528machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
1529only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
1530to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. To be
1531conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
1532has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
1533C<max_depth> method.
1534
1535Something else could bomb you, too, that I forgot to think of. In that
1536case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, though...
1537
1538Also keep in mind that JSON::XS might leak contents of your Perl data
1539structures in its error messages, so when you serialise sensitive
1540information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS
1541will not end up in front of untrusted eyes.
1542
1543If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
1544by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
1545L<http://blog.archive.jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security/> to
1546see whether you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really
1547are browser design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with
1548it, as major browser developers care only for features, not about getting
1549security right).
1550
1551
1552=head1 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER MODULES
1553
1554C<JSON::XS> uses the L<Types::Serialiser> module to provide boolean
1555constants. That means that the JSON true and false values will be
1556comaptible to true and false values of iother modules that do the same,
1557such as L<JSON::PP> and L<CBOR::XS>.
1558
1559
1560=head1 THREADS
1561
1562This module is I<not> guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no
1563plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the
1564horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated
1565process simulations - use fork, it's I<much> faster, cheaper, better).
1566
1567(It might actually work, but you have been warned).
1568
1569
1570=head1 THE PERILS OF SETLOCALE
1571
1572Sometimes people avoid the Perl locale support and directly call the
1573system's setlocale function with C<LC_ALL>.
1574
1575This breaks both perl and modules such as JSON::XS, as stringification of
1576numbers no longer works correctly (e.g. C<$x = 0.1; print "$x"+1> might
1577print C<1>, and JSON::XS might output illegal JSON as JSON::XS relies on
1578perl to stringify numbers).
1579
1580The solution is simple: don't call C<setlocale>, or use it for only those
1581categories you need, such as C<LC_MESSAGES> or C<LC_CTYPE>.
1582
1583If you need C<LC_NUMERIC>, you should enable it only around the code that
1584actually needs it (avoiding stringification of numbers), and restore it
1585afterwards.
1586
371 1587
372=head1 BUGS 1588=head1 BUGS
373 1589
374While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does 1590While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
375not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is 1591not mean it's bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. If you
376still very young and not well-tested. If you keep reporting bugs they will 1592keep reporting bugs they will be fixed swiftly, though.
377be fixed swiftly, though. 1593
1594Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting
1595service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason.
378 1596
379=cut 1597=cut
380 1598
3811; 1599BEGIN {
1600 *true = \$Types::Serialiser::true;
1601 *true = \&Types::Serialiser::true;
1602 *false = \$Types::Serialiser::false;
1603 *false = \&Types::Serialiser::false;
1604 *is_bool = \&Types::Serialiser::is_bool;
1605
1606 *JSON::XS::Boolean:: = *Types::Serialiser::Boolean::;
1607}
1608
1609XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION;
1610
1611=head1 SEE ALSO
1612
1613The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments.
382 1614
383=head1 AUTHOR 1615=head1 AUTHOR
384 1616
385 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1617 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
386 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1618 http://home.schmorp.de/
387 1619
388=cut 1620=cut
389 1621
16221
1623

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