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Revision 1.170 by root, Thu Nov 15 22:35:35 2018 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast
4
3=encoding utf-8 5=encoding utf-8
4
5JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast
6 6
7JSON::XS - 正しくて高速な JSON シリアライザ/デシリアライザ 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) 8 (http://fleur.hio.jp/perldoc/mix/lib/JSON/XS.html)
9 9
10=head1 SYNOPSIS 10=head1 SYNOPSIS
35 35
36This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its 36This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its
37primary 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
38I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C. 38I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C.
39 39
40Beginning with version 2.0 of the JSON module, when both JSON and
41JSON::XS are installed, then JSON will fall back on JSON::XS (this can be
42overriden) with no overhead due to emulation (by inheritign constructor
43and methods). If JSON::XS is not available, it will fall back to the
44compatible JSON::PP module as backend, so using JSON instead of JSON::XS
45gives you a portable JSON API that can be fast when you need and doesn't
46require a C compiler when that is a problem.
47
48As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason
49to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON
50modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases
51their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
52reports for other reasons.
53
54See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules.
55
56See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and 40See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and
57vice versa. 41vice versa.
58 42
59=head2 FEATURES 43=head2 FEATURES
60 44
61=over 4 45=over
62 46
63=item * correct Unicode handling 47=item * correct Unicode handling
64 48
65This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does 49This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does
66so, and even documents what "correct" means. 50so, and even documents what "correct" means.
67 51
68=item * round-trip integrity 52=item * round-trip integrity
69 53
70When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported 54When you serialise a perl data structure using only data types supported
71by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. 55by JSON and Perl, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl
72(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks 56level. (e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because
73like a number). There minor I<are> exceptions to this, read the MAPPING 57it looks like a number). There I<are> minor exceptions to this, read the
74section below to learn about those. 58MAPPING section below to learn about those.
75 59
76=item * strict checking of JSON correctness 60=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
77 61
78There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default, 62There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
79and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security 63and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
84Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable, 68Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable,
85this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too. 69this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too.
86 70
87=item * simple to use 71=item * simple to use
88 72
89This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an objetc 73This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an object
90oriented interface interface. 74oriented interface.
91 75
92=item * reasonably versatile output formats 76=item * reasonably versatile output formats
93 77
94You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format 78You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format
95possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format 79possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ASCII format
96(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole 80(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
97Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that 81Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
98stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like. 82stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
99 83
100=back 84=back
101 85
102=cut 86=cut
103 87
104package JSON::XS; 88package JSON::XS;
105 89
106use strict; 90use common::sense;
107 91
108our $VERSION = '2.1'; 92our $VERSION = '4.0';
109our @ISA = qw(Exporter); 93our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
110 94
111our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json to_json from_json); 95our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json);
112
113sub to_json($) {
114 require Carp;
115 Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::to_json has been renamed to encode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call");
116}
117
118sub from_json($) {
119 require Carp;
120 Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::from_json has been renamed to decode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call");
121}
122 96
123use Exporter; 97use Exporter;
124use XSLoader; 98use XSLoader;
125 99
100use Types::Serialiser ();
101
126=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 102=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
127 103
128The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are 104The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are
129exported by default: 105exported by default:
130 106
131=over 4 107=over
132 108
133=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar 109=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar
134 110
135Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string 111Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string
136(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error. 112(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error.
137 113
138This function call is functionally identical to: 114This function call is functionally identical to:
139 115
140 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar) 116 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
141 117
142except being faster. 118Except being faster.
143 119
144=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text 120=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text
145 121
146The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries 122The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects a UTF-8 (binary) string and tries
147to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting 123to parse that as a UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting
148reference. Croaks on error. 124reference. Croaks on error.
149 125
150This function call is functionally identical to: 126This function call is functionally identical to:
151 127
152 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text) 128 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
153 129
154except being faster. 130Except being faster.
155
156=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar
157
158Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or
159JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively
160and are used to represent JSON C<true> and C<false> values in Perl.
161
162See MAPPING, below, for more information on how JSON values are mapped to
163Perl.
164 131
165=back 132=back
166 133
167 134
168=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL 135=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL
169 136
170Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on 137Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on
171how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs. 138how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs.
172 139
173=over 4 140=over
174 141
175=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255. 142=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255.
176 143
177This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a 144This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a
178Perl string - very natural. 145Perl string - very natural.
197 164
198If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't 165If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't
199exist. 166exist.
200 167
201=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be 168=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be
202validly interpreted as a Unicode codepoint. 169validly interpreted as a Unicode code point.
203 170
204If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a 171If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a
205Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string. 172Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string.
206 173
207=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string. 174=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string.
216=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE 183=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
217 184
218The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or 185The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
219decoding style, within the limits of supported formats. 186decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
220 187
221=over 4 188=over
222 189
223=item $json = new JSON::XS 190=item $json = new JSON::XS
224 191
225Creates a new JSON::XS object that can be used to de/encode JSON 192Creates a new JSON::XS object that can be used to de/encode JSON
226strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>. 193strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>
194(with the exception of C<allow_nonref>, which defaults to I<enabled> since
195version C<4.0>).
227 196
228The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can 197The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can
229be chained: 198be chained:
230 199
231 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 200 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
289 258
290=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8 259=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8
291 260
292If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode 261If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
293the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the 262the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
294C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please 263C<decode> method expects to be handed a UTF-8-encoded string. Please
295note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the 264note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
296range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future 265range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
297versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16 266versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
298and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627. 267and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
299 268
384 353
385=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed 354=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed
386 355
387If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some 356If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
388extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be 357extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
389affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid 358affected in any way. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
390JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to 359JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
391parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files, 360parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files,
392resource files etc.) 361resource files etc.)
393 362
394If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept 363If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept
395valid JSON texts. 364valid JSON texts.
396 365
397Currently accepted extensions are: 366Currently accepted extensions are:
398 367
399=over 4 368=over
400 369
401=item * list items can have an end-comma 370=item * list items can have an end-comma
402 371
403JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This 372JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This
404can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to 373can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to
423 [ 392 [
424 1, # this comment not allowed in JSON 393 1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
425 # neither this one... 394 # neither this one...
426 ] 395 ]
427 396
397=item * literal ASCII TAB characters in strings
398
399Literal ASCII TAB characters are now allowed in strings (and treated as
400C<\t>).
401
402 [
403 "Hello\tWorld",
404 "Hello<TAB>World", # literal <TAB> would not normally be allowed
405 ]
406
428=back 407=back
429 408
430=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable]) 409=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
431 410
432=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical 411=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical
434If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects 413If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
435by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead. 414by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
436 415
437If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value 416If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
438pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs 417pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
439of the same script). 418of the same script, and can change even within the same run from 5.18
419onwards).
440 420
441This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as 421This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
442the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled, 422the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
443the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data, 423the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
444as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl. 424as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
445 425
446This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. 426This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
447 427
428This setting has currently no effect on tied hashes.
429
448=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable]) 430=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
449 431
450=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref 432=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref
433
434Unlike other boolean options, this opotion is enabled by default beginning
435with version C<4.0>. See L<SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS> for the gory details.
451 436
452If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a 437If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
453non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value, 438non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
454which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON 439which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
455values instead of croaking. 440values instead of croaking.
457If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't 442If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't
458passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON texts must either be an object 443passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON texts must either be an object
459or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a 444or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a
460JSON object or array. 445JSON object or array.
461 446
462Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>, 447Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value without enabled C<allow_nonref>,
463resulting in an invalid JSON text: 448resulting in an error:
464 449
465 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!") 450 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref (0)->encode ("Hello, World!")
466 => "Hello, World!" 451 => hash- or arrayref expected...
452
453=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable])
454
455=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown
456
457If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode> will I<not> throw an
458exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for
459example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C<null> value. Note
460that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by
461c<allow_nonref>.
462
463If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
464exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON.
465
466This option does not affect C<decode> in any way, and it is recommended to
467leave it off unless you know your communications partner.
467 468
468=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable]) 469=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
469 470
470=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed 471=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
471 472
473See L<OBJECT SERIALISATION> for details.
474
472If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not 475If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
473barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the 476barf when it encounters a blessed reference that it cannot convert
474B<convert_blessed> option will decide whether C<null> (C<convert_blessed> 477otherwise. Instead, a JSON C<null> value is encoded instead of the object.
475disabled or no C<TO_JSON> method found) or a representation of the
476object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<TO_JSON> method found) is being
477encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
478 478
479If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an 479If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
480exception when it encounters a blessed object. 480exception when it encounters a blessed object that it cannot convert
481otherwise.
482
483This setting has no effect on C<decode>.
481 484
482=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable]) 485=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
483 486
484=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed 487=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed
488
489See L<OBJECT SERIALISATION> for details.
485 490
486If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a 491If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
487blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method 492blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
488on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context 493on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context and
489and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no 494the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object.
490C<TO_JSON> method is found, the value of C<allow_blessed> will decide what
491to do.
492 495
493The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON> 496The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
494returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same 497returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
495way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle 498way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
496(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other 499(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
497methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are 500methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
498usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json> 501usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json>
499function or method. 502function or method.
500 503
501This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the 504If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will not consider
502future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are 505this type of conversion.
503enabled by this setting.
504 506
505If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what 507This setting has no effect on C<decode>.
506to do when a blessed object is found. 508
509=item $json = $json->allow_tags ([$enable])
510
511=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_tags
512
513See L<OBJECT SERIALISATION> for details.
514
515If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
516blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<FREEZE> method on
517the object's class. If found, it will be used to serialise the object into
518a nonstandard tagged JSON value (that JSON decoders cannot decode).
519
520It also causes C<decode> to parse such tagged JSON values and deserialise
521them via a call to the C<THAW> method.
522
523If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will not consider
524this type of conversion, and tagged JSON values will cause a parse error
525in C<decode>, as if tags were not part of the grammar.
507 526
508=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)]) 527=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
509 528
510When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each 529When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
511time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the 530time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to
512newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which 531the newly-created hash. If the code reference returns a single scalar
513need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid 532(which need not be a reference), this value (or rather a copy of it) is
514aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns 533inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns an empty
515an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the 534list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the original
516original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down 535deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down decoding
517decoding considerably. 536considerably.
518 537
519When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will 538When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
520be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any 539be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
521way. 540way.
522 541
612=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth]) 631=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
613 632
614=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth 633=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth
615 634
616Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding 635Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
617or decoding. If the JSON text or Perl data structure has an equal or 636or decoding. If a higher nesting level is detected in JSON text or a Perl
618higher nesting level then this limit, then the encoder and decoder will 637data structure, then the encoder and decoder will stop and croak at that
619stop and croak at that point. 638point.
620 639
621Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder 640Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
622needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[> 641needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
623characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a 642characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
624given character in a string. 643given character in a string.
625 644
626Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures 645Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
627that the object is only a single hash/object or array. 646that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
628 647
629The argument to C<max_depth> will be rounded up to the next highest power
630of two. If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be 648If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be used, which
631used, which is rarely useful. 649is rarely useful.
650
651Note that nesting is implemented by recursion in C. The default value has
652been chosen to be as large as typical operating systems allow without
653crashing.
632 654
633See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful. 655See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
634 656
635=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size]) 657=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
636 658
637=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size 659=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size
638 660
639Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is 661Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
640being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode> 662being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
641is called on a string longer then this number of characters it will not 663is called on a string that is longer then this many bytes, it will not
642attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no 664attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
643effect on C<encode> (yet). 665effect on C<encode> (yet).
644 666
645The argument to C<max_size> will be rounded up to the next B<highest> 667If no argument is given, the limit check will be deactivated (same as when
646power of two (so may be more than requested). If no argument is given, the 668C<0> is specified).
647limit check will be deactivated (same as when C<0> is specified).
648 669
649See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful. 670See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
650 671
651=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar) 672=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
652 673
653Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference 674Converts the given Perl value or data structure to its JSON
654to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be 675representation. Croaks on error.
655converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays
656become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined
657Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>
658nor C<false> values will be generated.
659 676
660=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text) 677=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text)
661 678
662The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it, 679The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it,
663returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 680returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
664
665JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become
666Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes
667C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>.
668 681
669=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text) 682=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
670 683
671This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception 684This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception
672when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will 685when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will
673silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed 686silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed
674so far. 687so far.
675 688
676This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol 689This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol
677(which is not the brightest thing to do in the first place) and you need
678to know where the JSON text ends. 690and you need to know where the JSON text ends.
679 691
680 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail") 692 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
681 => ([], 3) 693 => ([1], 3)
682 694
683=back 695=back
696
697
698=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING
699
700In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON
701texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting
702Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a
703JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has
704a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to
705using C<decode_prefix> to see if a full JSON object is available, but
706is much more efficient (and can be implemented with a minimum of method
707calls).
708
709JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text once it is sure it
710has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very simple but
711truly incremental parser. This means that it sometimes won't stop as
712early as the full parser, for example, it doesn't detect mismatched
713parentheses. The only thing it guarantees is that it starts decoding as
714soon as a syntactically valid JSON text has been seen. This means you need
715to set resource limits (e.g. C<max_size>) to ensure the parser will stop
716parsing in the presence if syntax errors.
717
718The following methods implement this incremental parser.
719
720=over
721
722=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string])
723
724This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and
725extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these
726functions are optional).
727
728If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already
729existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object.
730
731After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply
732return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text
733in as many chunks as you want.
734
735If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract
736exactly I<one> JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this
737object, otherwise it will return C<undef>. If there is a parse error,
738this method will croak just as C<decode> would do (one can then use
739C<incr_skip> to skip the erroneous part). This is the most common way of
740using the method.
741
742And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects
743from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list
744otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators (other than
745whitespace) between the JSON objects or arrays, instead they must be
746concatenated back-to-back. If an error occurs, an exception will be
747raised as in the scalar context case. Note that in this case, any
748previously-parsed JSON texts will be lost.
749
750Example: Parse some JSON arrays/objects in a given string and return
751them.
752
753 my @objs = JSON::XS->new->incr_parse ("[5][7][1,2]");
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
765That means you can only use this function to look at or manipulate text
766before or after complete JSON objects, not while the parser is in the
767middle of parsing a JSON object.
768
769This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a
770JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text
771(such as commas).
772
773=item $json->incr_skip
774
775This will reset the state of the incremental parser and will remove
776the parsed text from the input buffer so far. This is useful after
777C<incr_parse> died, in which case the input buffer and incremental parser
778state is left unchanged, to skip the text parsed so far and to reset the
779parse state.
780
781The difference to C<incr_reset> is that only text until the parse error
782occurred is removed.
783
784=item $json->incr_reset
785
786This completely resets the incremental parser, that is, after this call,
787it will be as if the parser had never parsed anything.
788
789This is useful if you want to repeatedly parse JSON objects and want to
790ignore any trailing data, which means you have to reset the parser after
791each successful decode.
792
793=back
794
795=head2 LIMITATIONS
796
797The incremental parser is a non-exact parser: it works by gathering as
798much text as possible that I<could> be a valid JSON text, followed by
799trying to decode it.
800
801That means it sometimes needs to read more data than strictly necessary to
802diagnose an invalid JSON text. For example, after parsing the following
803fragment, the parser I<could> stop with an error, as this fragment
804I<cannot> be the beginning of a valid JSON text:
805
806 [,
807
808In reality, hopwever, the parser might continue to read data until a
809length limit is exceeded or it finds a closing bracket.
810
811=head2 EXAMPLES
812
813Some examples will make all this clearer. First, a simple example that
814works similarly to C<decode_prefix>: We want to decode the JSON object at
815the start of a string and identify the portion after the JSON object:
816
817 my $text = "[1,2,3] hello";
818
819 my $json = new JSON::XS;
820
821 my $obj = $json->incr_parse ($text)
822 or die "expected JSON object or array at beginning of string";
823
824 my $tail = $json->incr_text;
825 # $tail now contains " hello"
826
827Easy, isn't it?
828
829Now for a more complicated example: Imagine a hypothetical protocol where
830you read some requests from a TCP stream, and each request is a JSON
831array, without any separation between them (in fact, it is often useful to
832use newlines as "separators", as these get interpreted as whitespace at
833the start of the JSON text, which makes it possible to test said protocol
834with C<telnet>...).
835
836Here is how you'd do it (it is trivial to write this in an event-based
837manner):
838
839 my $json = new JSON::XS;
840
841 # read some data from the socket
842 while (sysread $socket, my $buf, 4096) {
843
844 # split and decode as many requests as possible
845 for my $request ($json->incr_parse ($buf)) {
846 # act on the $request
847 }
848 }
849
850Another complicated example: Assume you have a string with JSON objects
851or arrays, all separated by (optional) comma characters (e.g. C<[1],[2],
852[3]>). To parse them, we have to skip the commas between the JSON texts,
853and here is where the lvalue-ness of C<incr_text> comes in useful:
854
855 my $text = "[1],[2], [3]";
856 my $json = new JSON::XS;
857
858 # void context, so no parsing done
859 $json->incr_parse ($text);
860
861 # now extract as many objects as possible. note the
862 # use of scalar context so incr_text can be called.
863 while (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
864 # do something with $obj
865
866 # now skip the optional comma
867 $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* , //x;
868 }
869
870Now lets go for a very complex example: Assume that you have a gigantic
871JSON array-of-objects, many gigabytes in size, and you want to parse it,
872but you cannot load it into memory fully (this has actually happened in
873the real world :).
874
875Well, you lost, you have to implement your own JSON parser. But JSON::XS
876can still help you: You implement a (very simple) array parser and let
877JSON decode the array elements, which are all full JSON objects on their
878own (this wouldn't work if the array elements could be JSON numbers, for
879example):
880
881 my $json = new JSON::XS;
882
883 # open the monster
884 open my $fh, "<bigfile.json"
885 or die "bigfile: $!";
886
887 # first parse the initial "["
888 for (;;) {
889 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
890 or die "read error: $!";
891 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
892
893 # Exit the loop once we found and removed(!) the initial "[".
894 # In essence, we are (ab-)using the $json object as a simple scalar
895 # we append data to.
896 last if $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* \[ //x;
897 }
898
899 # now we have the skipped the initial "[", so continue
900 # parsing all the elements.
901 for (;;) {
902 # in this loop we read data until we got a single JSON object
903 for (;;) {
904 if (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
905 # do something with $obj
906 last;
907 }
908
909 # add more data
910 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
911 or die "read error: $!";
912 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
913 }
914
915 # in this loop we read data until we either found and parsed the
916 # separating "," between elements, or the final "]"
917 for (;;) {
918 # first skip whitespace
919 $json->incr_text =~ s/^\s*//;
920
921 # if we find "]", we are done
922 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^\]//) {
923 print "finished.\n";
924 exit;
925 }
926
927 # if we find ",", we can continue with the next element
928 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^,//) {
929 last;
930 }
931
932 # if we find anything else, we have a parse error!
933 if (length $json->incr_text) {
934 die "parse error near ", $json->incr_text;
935 }
936
937 # else add more data
938 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
939 or die "read error: $!";
940 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
941 }
942
943This is a complex example, but most of the complexity comes from the fact
944that we are trying to be correct (bear with me if I am wrong, I never ran
945the above example :).
946
684 947
685 948
686=head1 MAPPING 949=head1 MAPPING
687 950
688This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and 951This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
695refers to the abstract Perl language itself. 958refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
696 959
697 960
698=head2 JSON -> PERL 961=head2 JSON -> PERL
699 962
700=over 4 963=over
701 964
702=item object 965=item object
703 966
704A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object 967A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
705keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself). 968keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself).
725If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent 988If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
726it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as 989it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
727a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of 990a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
728precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in 991precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in
729which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be 992which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be
730re-encoded toa JSON string). 993re-encoded to a JSON string).
731 994
732Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be 995Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
733represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of 996represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
734precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but 997precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but
735the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number). 998the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number).
736 999
1000Note that precision is not accuracy - binary floating point values cannot
1001represent most decimal fractions exactly, and when converting from and to
1002floating point, JSON::XS only guarantees precision up to but not including
1003the least significant bit.
1004
737=item true, false 1005=item true, false
738 1006
739These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>, 1007These JSON atoms become C<Types::Serialiser::true> and
740respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers 1008C<Types::Serialiser::false>, respectively. They are overloaded to act
741C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using 1009almost exactly like the numbers C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether
742the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function. 1010a scalar is a JSON boolean by using the C<Types::Serialiser::is_bool>
1011function (after C<use Types::Serialier>, of course).
743 1012
744=item null 1013=item null
745 1014
746A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl. 1015A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
1016
1017=item shell-style comments (C<< # I<text> >>)
1018
1019As a nonstandard extension to the JSON syntax that is enabled by the
1020C<relaxed> setting, shell-style comments are allowed. They can start
1021anywhere outside strings and go till the end of the line.
1022
1023=item tagged values (C<< (I<tag>)I<value> >>).
1024
1025Another nonstandard extension to the JSON syntax, enabled with the
1026C<allow_tags> setting, are tagged values. In this implementation, the
1027I<tag> must be a perl package/class name encoded as a JSON string, and the
1028I<value> must be a JSON array encoding optional constructor arguments.
1029
1030See L<OBJECT SERIALISATION>, below, for details.
747 1031
748=back 1032=back
749 1033
750 1034
751=head2 PERL -> JSON 1035=head2 PERL -> JSON
752 1036
753The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a 1037The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a
754truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by 1038truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by
755a Perl value. 1039a Perl value.
756 1040
757=over 4 1041=over
758 1042
759=item hash references 1043=item hash references
760 1044
761Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering 1045Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent
762in hash keys (or JSON objects), they will usually be encoded in a 1046ordering in hash keys (or JSON objects), they will usually be encoded
763pseudo-random order that can change between runs of the same program but 1047in a pseudo-random order. JSON::XS can optionally sort the hash keys
764stays generally the same within a single run of a program. JSON::XS can 1048(determined by the I<canonical> flag), so the same datastructure will
765optionally sort the hash keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so 1049serialise to the same JSON text (given same settings and version of
766the same datastructure will serialise to the same JSON text (given same 1050JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead and is only rarely useful,
767settings and version of JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead 1051e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text against another for equality.
768and is only rarely useful, e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text
769against another for equality.
770 1052
771=item array references 1053=item array references
772 1054
773Perl array references become JSON arrays. 1055Perl array references become JSON arrays.
774 1056
775=item other references 1057=item other references
776 1058
777Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an 1059Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
778exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and 1060exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
779C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can 1061C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON.
780also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.
781 1062
1063Since C<JSON::XS> uses the boolean model from L<Types::Serialiser>, you
1064can also C<use Types::Serialiser> and then use C<Types::Serialiser::false>
1065and C<Types::Serialiser::true> to improve readability.
1066
1067 use Types::Serialiser;
782 encode_json [\0,JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true] 1068 encode_json [\0, Types::Serialiser::true] # yields [false,true]
783 1069
784=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false 1070=item Types::Serialiser::true, Types::Serialiser::false
785 1071
786These special values become JSON true and JSON false values, 1072These special values from the L<Types::Serialiser> module become JSON true
787respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want. 1073and JSON false values, respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0>
1074directly if you want.
788 1075
789=item blessed objects 1076=item blessed objects
790 1077
791Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON. See the 1078Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON, but C<JSON::XS>
792C<allow_blessed> and C<convert_blessed> methods on various options on 1079allows various ways of handling objects. See L<OBJECT SERIALISATION>,
793how to deal with this: basically, you can choose between throwing an 1080below, for details.
794exception, encoding the reference as if it weren't blessed, or provide
795your own serialiser method.
796 1081
797=item simple scalars 1082=item simple scalars
798 1083
799Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most 1084Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
800difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as 1085difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
828 1113
829You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me 1114You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me
830if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed 1115if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed
831:). 1116:).
832 1117
1118Note that numerical precision has the same meaning as under Perl (so
1119binary to decimal conversion follows the same rules as in Perl, which
1120can differ to other languages). Also, your perl interpreter might expose
1121extensions to the floating point numbers of your platform, such as
1122infinities or NaN's - these cannot be represented in JSON, and it is an
1123error to pass those in.
1124
833=back 1125=back
1126
1127=head2 OBJECT SERIALISATION
1128
1129As JSON cannot directly represent Perl objects, you have to choose between
1130a pure JSON representation (without the ability to deserialise the object
1131automatically again), and a nonstandard extension to the JSON syntax,
1132tagged values.
1133
1134=head3 SERIALISATION
1135
1136What happens when C<JSON::XS> encounters a Perl object depends on the
1137C<allow_blessed>, C<convert_blessed> and C<allow_tags> settings, which are
1138used in this order:
1139
1140=over
1141
1142=item 1. C<allow_tags> is enabled and the object has a C<FREEZE> method.
1143
1144In this case, C<JSON::XS> uses the L<Types::Serialiser> object
1145serialisation protocol to create a tagged JSON value, using a nonstandard
1146extension to the JSON syntax.
1147
1148This works by invoking the C<FREEZE> method on the object, with the first
1149argument being the object to serialise, and the second argument being the
1150constant string C<JSON> to distinguish it from other serialisers.
1151
1152The C<FREEZE> method can return any number of values (i.e. zero or
1153more). These values and the paclkage/classname of the object will then be
1154encoded as a tagged JSON value in the following format:
1155
1156 ("classname")[FREEZE return values...]
1157
1158e.g.:
1159
1160 ("URI")["http://www.google.com/"]
1161 ("MyDate")[2013,10,29]
1162 ("ImageData::JPEG")["Z3...VlCg=="]
1163
1164For example, the hypothetical C<My::Object> C<FREEZE> method might use the
1165objects C<type> and C<id> members to encode the object:
1166
1167 sub My::Object::FREEZE {
1168 my ($self, $serialiser) = @_;
1169
1170 ($self->{type}, $self->{id})
1171 }
1172
1173=item 2. C<convert_blessed> is enabled and the object has a C<TO_JSON> method.
1174
1175In this case, the C<TO_JSON> method of the object is invoked in scalar
1176context. It must return a single scalar that can be directly encoded into
1177JSON. This scalar replaces the object in the JSON text.
1178
1179For example, the following C<TO_JSON> method will convert all L<URI>
1180objects to JSON strings when serialised. The fatc that these values
1181originally were L<URI> objects is lost.
1182
1183 sub URI::TO_JSON {
1184 my ($uri) = @_;
1185 $uri->as_string
1186 }
1187
1188=item 3. C<allow_blessed> is enabled.
1189
1190The object will be serialised as a JSON null value.
1191
1192=item 4. none of the above
1193
1194If none of the settings are enabled or the respective methods are missing,
1195C<JSON::XS> throws an exception.
1196
1197=back
1198
1199=head3 DESERIALISATION
1200
1201For deserialisation there are only two cases to consider: either
1202nonstandard tagging was used, in which case C<allow_tags> decides,
1203or objects cannot be automatically be deserialised, in which
1204case you can use postprocessing or the C<filter_json_object> or
1205C<filter_json_single_key_object> callbacks to get some real objects our of
1206your JSON.
1207
1208This section only considers the tagged value case: I a tagged JSON object
1209is encountered during decoding and C<allow_tags> is disabled, a parse
1210error will result (as if tagged values were not part of the grammar).
1211
1212If C<allow_tags> is enabled, C<JSON::XS> will look up the C<THAW> method
1213of the package/classname used during serialisation (it will not attempt
1214to load the package as a Perl module). If there is no such method, the
1215decoding will fail with an error.
1216
1217Otherwise, the C<THAW> method is invoked with the classname as first
1218argument, the constant string C<JSON> as second argument, and all the
1219values from the JSON array (the values originally returned by the
1220C<FREEZE> method) as remaining arguments.
1221
1222The method must then return the object. While technically you can return
1223any Perl scalar, you might have to enable the C<enable_nonref> setting to
1224make that work in all cases, so better return an actual blessed reference.
1225
1226As an example, let's implement a C<THAW> function that regenerates the
1227C<My::Object> from the C<FREEZE> example earlier:
1228
1229 sub My::Object::THAW {
1230 my ($class, $serialiser, $type, $id) = @_;
1231
1232 $class->new (type => $type, id => $id)
1233 }
834 1234
835 1235
836=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES 1236=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES
837 1237
838The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify 1238The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify
856takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into 1256takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into
857octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding, 1257octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding,
858and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at 1258and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at
859the same time, which can be confusing. 1259the same time, which can be confusing.
860 1260
861=over 4 1261=over
862 1262
863=item C<utf8> flag disabled 1263=item C<utf8> flag disabled
864 1264
865When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate 1265When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate
866and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode 1266and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode
867values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such 1267values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such
868characters are decoded as-is, no canges to them will be done, except 1268characters are decoded as-is, no changes to them will be done, except
869"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters, 1269"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters,
870respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do 1270respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do
871funny/weird/dumb stuff). 1271funny/weird/dumb stuff).
872 1272
873This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you 1273This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you
883expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character" 1283expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character"
884of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow 1284of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow
885that. 1285that.
886 1286
887The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you 1287The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you
888will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded 1288will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get a UTF-8 encoded
889octet/binary string in Perl. 1289octet/binary string in Perl.
890 1290
891=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled 1291=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled
892 1292
893With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters 1293With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters
929proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world. 1329proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world.
930 1330
931=back 1331=back
932 1332
933 1333
934=head1 COMPARISON 1334=head2 JSON and ECMAscript
935 1335
936As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing 1336JSON syntax is based on how literals are represented in javascript (the
937JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the 1337not-standardised predecessor of ECMAscript) which is presumably why it is
938problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules, 1338called "JavaScript Object Notation".
939followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer
940from any of these problems or limitations.
941 1339
942=over 4 1340However, JSON is not a subset (and also not a superset of course) of
1341ECMAscript (the standard) or javascript (whatever browsers actually
1342implement).
943 1343
944=item JSON 2.xx 1344If you want to use javascript's C<eval> function to "parse" JSON, you
1345might run into parse errors for valid JSON texts, or the resulting data
1346structure might not be queryable:
945 1347
946A marvellous piece of engineering, this module either uses JSON::XS 1348One of the problems is that U+2028 and U+2029 are valid characters inside
947directly when available (so will be 100% compatible with it, including 1349JSON strings, but are not allowed in ECMAscript string literals, so the
948speed), or it uses JSON::PP, which is basically JSON::XS translated to 1350following Perl fragment will not output something that can be guaranteed
949Pure Perl, which should be 100% compatible with JSON::XS, just a bit 1351to be parsable by javascript's C<eval>:
950slower.
951 1352
952You cannot really lose by using this module, especially as it tries very 1353 use JSON::XS;
953hard to work even with ancient Perl versions, while JSON::XS does not.
954 1354
955=item JSON 1.07 1355 print encode_json [chr 0x2028];
956 1356
957Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl). 1357The right fix for this is to use a proper JSON parser in your javascript
1358programs, and not rely on C<eval> (see for example Douglas Crockford's
1359F<json2.js> parser).
958 1360
959Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles Unicode values is 1361If this is not an option, you can, as a stop-gap measure, simply encode to
960undocumented. One can get far by feeding it Unicode strings and doing 1362ASCII-only JSON:
961en-/decoding oneself, but Unicode escapes are not working properly).
962 1363
963No round-tripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g. 1364 use JSON::XS;
964the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will
965decode into the number 2.
966 1365
967=item JSON::PC 0.01 1366 print JSON::XS->new->ascii->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
968 1367
969Very fast. 1368Note that this will enlarge the resulting JSON text quite a bit if you
1369have many non-ASCII characters. You might be tempted to run some regexes
1370to only escape U+2028 and U+2029, e.g.:
970 1371
971Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling. 1372 # DO NOT USE THIS!
1373 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
1374 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa8/\\u2028/g; # escape U+2028
1375 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa9/\\u2029/g; # escape U+2029
1376 print $json;
972 1377
973No round-tripping. 1378Note that I<this is a bad idea>: the above only works for U+2028 and
1379U+2029 and thus only for fully ECMAscript-compliant parsers. Many existing
1380javascript implementations, however, have issues with other characters as
1381well - using C<eval> naively simply I<will> cause problems.
974 1382
975Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic 1383Another problem is that some javascript implementations reserve
976values will make it croak). 1384some property names for their own purposes (which probably makes
1385them non-ECMAscript-compliant). For example, Iceweasel reserves the
1386C<__proto__> property name for its own purposes.
977 1387
978Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}> 1388If that is a problem, you could parse try to filter the resulting JSON
979which is not a valid JSON text. 1389output for these property strings, e.g.:
980 1390
981Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 1391 $json =~ s/"__proto__"\s*:/"__proto__renamed":/g;
982getting fixed).
983 1392
984=item JSON::Syck 0.21 1393This works because C<__proto__> is not valid outside of strings, so every
1394occurrence of C<"__proto__"\s*:> must be a string used as property name.
985 1395
986Very buggy (often crashes). 1396If you know of other incompatibilities, please let me know.
987
988Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much
989undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a
990single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
991generate ASCII-only JSON texts).
992
993Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (Unicode
994escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to
995I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour).
996
997No round-tripping (simple cases work, but this depends on whether the scalar
998value was used in a numeric context or not).
999
1000Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state.
1001
1002Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
1003getting fixed).
1004
1005Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
1006return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
1007issue: imagine two banks transferring money between each other using
1008JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
1009while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
1010good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
1011the transaction will still not succeed).
1012
1013=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
1014
1015Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
1016
1017Undocumented Unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
1018still don't get parsed properly).
1019
1020Very inflexible.
1021
1022No round-tripping.
1023
1024Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
1025result in nothing being output)
1026
1027Does not check input for validity.
1028
1029=back
1030 1397
1031 1398
1032=head2 JSON and YAML 1399=head2 JSON and YAML
1033 1400
1034You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass 1401You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
1044 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n"; 1411 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
1045 1412
1046This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid 1413This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
1047YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key 1414YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
1048lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible 1415lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible
1049unicode handling, so you should make sure that your hash keys are 1416unicode character escape syntax, so you should make sure that your hash
1050noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows and that 1417keys are noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows
1051you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the Unicode BMP 1418and that you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the
1052(basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/> sequences in 1419Unicode BMP (basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/>
1053strings (which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate, but other JSON 1420sequences in strings (which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate, but
1054generators might). 1421other JSON generators might).
1055 1422
1056There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML 1423There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML
1057specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In 1424specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In
1058general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice 1425general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice
1059versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are 1426versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are
1060high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you 1427high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you
1061least expect it. 1428least expect it.
1062 1429
1063=over 4 1430=over
1064 1431
1065=item (*) 1432=item (*)
1066 1433
1067I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the 1434I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the
1068authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him 1435authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him
1078that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and 1445that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and
1079educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the 1446educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the
1080real compatibility for many I<years> and trying to silence people who 1447real compatibility for many I<years> and trying to silence people who
1081point out that it isn't true. 1448point out that it isn't true.
1082 1449
1450Addendum/2009: the YAML 1.2 spec is still incompatible with JSON, even
1451though the incompatibilities have been documented (and are known to Brian)
1452for many years and the spec makes explicit claims that YAML is a superset
1453of JSON. It would be so easy to fix, but apparently, bullying people and
1454corrupting userdata is so much easier.
1455
1083=back 1456=back
1084 1457
1085 1458
1086=head2 SPEED 1459=head2 SPEED
1087 1460
1092 1465
1093First comes a comparison between various modules using 1466First comes a comparison between various modules using
1094a very short single-line JSON string (also available at 1467a very short single-line JSON string (also available at
1095L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>). 1468L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>).
1096 1469
1097 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], \ 1470 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1",
1098 "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, true, false]} 1471 "we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7,
1472 1, 0]}
1099 1473
1100It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses 1474It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
1101the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface 1475the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
1102with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables 1476with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
1103shrink). Higher is better: 1477shrink. JSON::DWIW/DS uses the deserialise function, while JSON::DWIW::FJ
1478uses the from_json method). Higher is better:
1104 1479
1105 module | encode | decode | 1480 module | encode | decode |
1106 -----------|------------|------------| 1481 --------------|------------|------------|
1107 JSON 1.x | 4990.842 | 4088.813 | 1482 JSON::DWIW/DS | 86302.551 | 102300.098 |
1108 JSON::DWIW | 51653.990 | 71575.154 | 1483 JSON::DWIW/FJ | 86302.551 | 75983.768 |
1109 JSON::PC | 65948.176 | 74631.744 | 1484 JSON::PP | 15827.562 | 6638.658 |
1110 JSON::PP | 8931.652 | 3817.168 | 1485 JSON::Syck | 63358.066 | 47662.545 |
1111 JSON::Syck | 24877.248 | 27776.848 | 1486 JSON::XS | 511500.488 | 511500.488 |
1112 JSON::XS | 388361.481 | 227951.304 | 1487 JSON::XS/2 | 291271.111 | 388361.481 |
1113 JSON::XS/2 | 227951.304 | 218453.333 | 1488 JSON::XS/3 | 361577.931 | 361577.931 |
1114 JSON::XS/3 | 338250.323 | 218453.333 | 1489 Storable | 66788.280 | 265462.278 |
1115 Storable | 16500.016 | 135300.129 |
1116 -----------+------------+------------+ 1490 --------------+------------+------------+
1117 1491
1118That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding, 1492That is, JSON::XS is almost six times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
1119about three times faster on decoding, and over forty times faster 1493about five times faster on decoding, and over thirty to seventy times
1120than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares 1494faster than JSON's pure perl implementation. It also compares favourably
1121favourably to Storable for small amounts of data. 1495to Storable for small amounts of data.
1122 1496
1123Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals 1497Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
1124search API (L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/long.json>). 1498search API (L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/long.json>).
1125 1499
1126 module | encode | decode | 1500 module | encode | decode |
1127 -----------|------------|------------| 1501 --------------|------------|------------|
1128 JSON 1.x | 55.260 | 34.971 | 1502 JSON::DWIW/DS | 1647.927 | 2673.916 |
1129 JSON::DWIW | 825.228 | 1082.513 | 1503 JSON::DWIW/FJ | 1630.249 | 2596.128 |
1130 JSON::PC | 3571.444 | 2394.829 |
1131 JSON::PP | 210.987 | 32.574 | 1504 JSON::PP | 400.640 | 62.311 |
1132 JSON::Syck | 552.551 | 787.544 | 1505 JSON::Syck | 1481.040 | 1524.869 |
1133 JSON::XS | 5780.463 | 4854.519 | 1506 JSON::XS | 20661.596 | 9541.183 |
1134 JSON::XS/2 | 3869.998 | 4798.975 | 1507 JSON::XS/2 | 10683.403 | 9416.938 |
1135 JSON::XS/3 | 5862.880 | 4798.975 | 1508 JSON::XS/3 | 20661.596 | 9400.054 |
1136 Storable | 4445.002 | 5235.027 | 1509 Storable | 19765.806 | 10000.725 |
1137 -----------+------------+------------+ 1510 --------------+------------+------------+
1138 1511
1139Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly 1512Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
1140decodes faster). 1513decodes a bit faster).
1141 1514
1142On large strings containing lots of high Unicode characters, some modules 1515On large strings containing lots of high Unicode characters, some modules
1143(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result 1516(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
1144will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse 1517will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse
1145to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair 1518to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
1181information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS 1554information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS
1182will not end up in front of untrusted eyes. 1555will not end up in front of untrusted eyes.
1183 1556
1184If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption 1557If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
1185by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at 1558by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
1186L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see whether 1559L<http://blog.archive.jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security/> to
1187you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser 1560see whether you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really
1188design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major 1561are browser design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with
1189browser developers care only for features, not about getting security 1562it, as major browser developers care only for features, not about getting
1190right). 1563security right).
1191 1564
1192 1565
1566=head2 "OLD" VS. "NEW" JSON (RFC4627 VS. RFC7159)
1567
1568JSON originally required JSON texts to represent an array or object -
1569scalar values were explicitly not allowed. This has changed, and versions
1570of JSON::XS beginning with C<4.0> reflect this by allowing scalar values
1571by default.
1572
1573One reason why one might not want this is that this removes a fundamental
1574property of JSON texts, namely that they are self-delimited and
1575self-contained, or in other words, you could take any number of "old"
1576JSON texts and paste them together, and the result would be unambiguously
1577parseable:
1578
1579 [1,3]{"k":5}[][null] # four JSON texts, without doubt
1580
1581By allowing scalars, this property is lost: in the following example, is
1582this one JSON text (the number 12) or two JSON texts (the numbers 1 and
15832):
1584
1585 12 # could be 12, or 1 and 2
1586
1587Another lost property of "old" JSON is that no lookahead is required to
1588know the end of a JSON text, i.e. the JSON text definitely ended at the
1589last C<]> or C<}> character, there was no need to read extra characters.
1590
1591For example, a viable network protocol with "old" JSON was to simply
1592exchange JSON texts without delimiter. For "new" JSON, you have to use a
1593suitable delimiter (such as a newline) after every JSON text or ensure you
1594never encode/decode scalar values.
1595
1596Most protocols do work by only transferring arrays or objects, and the
1597easiest way to avoid problems with the "new" JSON definition is to
1598explicitly disallow scalar values in your encoder and decoder:
1599
1600 $json_coder = JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref (0)
1601
1602This is a somewhat unhappy situation, and the blame can fully be put on
1603JSON's inmventor, Douglas Crockford, who unilaterally changed the format
1604in 2006 without consulting the IETF, forcing the IETF to either fork the
1605format or go with it (as I was told, the IETF wasn't amused).
1606
1607
1608=head1 RELATIONSHIP WITH I-JSON
1609
1610JSON is a somewhat sloppily-defined format - it carries around obvious
1611Javascript baggage, such as not really defining number range, probably
1612because Javascript only has one type of numbers: IEEE 64 bit floats
1613("binary64").
1614
1615For this reaosn, RFC7493 defines "Internet JSON", which is a restricted
1616subset of JSON that is supposedly more interoperable on the internet.
1617
1618While C<JSON::XS> does not offer specific support for I-JSON, it of course
1619accepts valid I-JSON and by default implements some of the limitations
1620of I-JSON, such as parsing numbers as perl numbers, which are usually a
1621superset of binary64 numbers.
1622
1623To generate I-JSON, follow these rules:
1624
1625=over
1626
1627=item * always generate UTF-8
1628
1629I-JSON must be encoded in UTF-8, the default for C<encode_json>.
1630
1631=item * numbers should be within IEEE 754 binary64 range
1632
1633Basically all existing perl installations use binary64 to represent
1634floating point numbers, so all you need to do is to avoid large integers.
1635
1636=item * objects must not have duplicate keys
1637
1638This is trivially done, as C<JSON::XS> does not allow duplicate keys.
1639
1640=item * do not generate scalar JSON texts, use C<< ->allow_nonref (0) >>
1641
1642I-JSON strongly requests you to only encode arrays and objects into JSON.
1643
1644=item * times should be strings in ISO 8601 format
1645
1646There are a myriad of modules on CPAN dealing with ISO 8601 - search for
1647C<ISO8601> on CPAN and use one.
1648
1649=item * encode binary data as base64
1650
1651While it's tempting to just dump binary data as a string (and let
1652C<JSON::XS> do the escaping), for I-JSON, it's I<recommended> to encode
1653binary data as base64.
1654
1655=back
1656
1657There are some other considerations - read RFC7493 for the details if
1658interested.
1659
1660
1661=head1 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER MODULES
1662
1663C<JSON::XS> uses the L<Types::Serialiser> module to provide boolean
1664constants. That means that the JSON true and false values will be
1665comaptible to true and false values of other modules that do the same,
1666such as L<JSON::PP> and L<CBOR::XS>.
1667
1668
1669=head1 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER JSON DECODERS
1670
1671As long as you only serialise data that can be directly expressed in JSON,
1672C<JSON::XS> is incapable of generating invalid JSON output (modulo bugs,
1673but C<JSON::XS> has found more bugs in the official JSON testsuite (1)
1674than the official JSON testsuite has found in C<JSON::XS> (0)).
1675
1676When you have trouble decoding JSON generated by this module using other
1677decoders, then it is very likely that you have an encoding mismatch or the
1678other decoder is broken.
1679
1680When decoding, C<JSON::XS> is strict by default and will likely catch all
1681errors. There are currently two settings that change this: C<relaxed>
1682makes C<JSON::XS> accept (but not generate) some non-standard extensions,
1683and C<allow_tags> will allow you to encode and decode Perl objects, at the
1684cost of not outputting valid JSON anymore.
1685
1686=head2 TAGGED VALUE SYNTAX AND STANDARD JSON EN/DECODERS
1687
1688When you use C<allow_tags> to use the extended (and also nonstandard and
1689invalid) JSON syntax for serialised objects, and you still want to decode
1690the generated When you want to serialise objects, you can run a regex
1691to replace the tagged syntax by standard JSON arrays (it only works for
1692"normal" package names without comma, newlines or single colons). First,
1693the readable Perl version:
1694
1695 # if your FREEZE methods return no values, you need this replace first:
1696 $json =~ s/\( \s* (" (?: [^\\":,]+|\\.|::)* ") \s* \) \s* \[\s*\]/[$1]/gx;
1697
1698 # this works for non-empty constructor arg lists:
1699 $json =~ s/\( \s* (" (?: [^\\":,]+|\\.|::)* ") \s* \) \s* \[/[$1,/gx;
1700
1701And here is a less readable version that is easy to adapt to other
1702languages:
1703
1704 $json =~ s/\(\s*("([^\\":,]+|\\.|::)*")\s*\)\s*\[/[$1,/g;
1705
1706Here is an ECMAScript version (same regex):
1707
1708 json = json.replace (/\(\s*("([^\\":,]+|\\.|::)*")\s*\)\s*\[/g, "[$1,");
1709
1710Since this syntax converts to standard JSON arrays, it might be hard to
1711distinguish serialised objects from normal arrays. You can prepend a
1712"magic number" as first array element to reduce chances of a collision:
1713
1714 $json =~ s/\(\s*("([^\\":,]+|\\.|::)*")\s*\)\s*\[/["XU1peReLzT4ggEllLanBYq4G9VzliwKF",$1,/g;
1715
1716And after decoding the JSON text, you could walk the data
1717structure looking for arrays with a first element of
1718C<XU1peReLzT4ggEllLanBYq4G9VzliwKF>.
1719
1720The same approach can be used to create the tagged format with another
1721encoder. First, you create an array with the magic string as first member,
1722the classname as second, and constructor arguments last, encode it as part
1723of your JSON structure, and then:
1724
1725 $json =~ s/\[\s*"XU1peReLzT4ggEllLanBYq4G9VzliwKF"\s*,\s*("([^\\":,]+|\\.|::)*")\s*,/($1)[/g;
1726
1727Again, this has some limitations - the magic string must not be encoded
1728with character escapes, and the constructor arguments must be non-empty.
1729
1730
1193=head1 THREADS 1731=head1 (I-)THREADS
1194 1732
1195This module is I<not> guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no 1733This module is I<not> guaranteed to be ithread (or MULTIPLICITY-) safe
1196plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the 1734and there are no plans to change this. Note that perl's builtin so-called
1197horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated 1735threads/ithreads are officially deprecated and should not be used.
1198process simulations - use fork, it's I<much> faster, cheaper, better).
1199 1736
1200(It might actually work, but you have been warned). 1737
1738=head1 THE PERILS OF SETLOCALE
1739
1740Sometimes people avoid the Perl locale support and directly call the
1741system's setlocale function with C<LC_ALL>.
1742
1743This breaks both perl and modules such as JSON::XS, as stringification of
1744numbers no longer works correctly (e.g. C<$x = 0.1; print "$x"+1> might
1745print C<1>, and JSON::XS might output illegal JSON as JSON::XS relies on
1746perl to stringify numbers).
1747
1748The solution is simple: don't call C<setlocale>, or use it for only those
1749categories you need, such as C<LC_MESSAGES> or C<LC_CTYPE>.
1750
1751If you need C<LC_NUMERIC>, you should enable it only around the code that
1752actually needs it (avoiding stringification of numbers), and restore it
1753afterwards.
1754
1755
1756=head1 SOME HISTORY
1757
1758At the time this module was created there already were a number of JSON
1759modules available on CPAN, so what was the reason to write yet another
1760JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON modules, none of them
1761correctly handled all corner cases, and in most cases their maintainers
1762are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug reports for other
1763reasons.
1764
1765Beginning with version 2.0 of the JSON module, when both JSON and
1766JSON::XS are installed, then JSON will fall back on JSON::XS (this can be
1767overridden) with no overhead due to emulation (by inheriting constructor
1768and methods). If JSON::XS is not available, it will fall back to the
1769compatible JSON::PP module as backend, so using JSON instead of JSON::XS
1770gives you a portable JSON API that can be fast when you need it and
1771doesn't require a C compiler when that is a problem.
1772
1773Somewhere around version 3, this module was forked into
1774C<Cpanel::JSON::XS>, because its maintainer had serious trouble
1775understanding JSON and insisted on a fork with many bugs "fixed" that
1776weren't actually bugs, while spreading FUD about this module without
1777actually giving any details on his accusations. You be the judge, but
1778in my personal opinion, if you want quality, you will stay away from
1779dangerous forks like that.
1201 1780
1202 1781
1203=head1 BUGS 1782=head1 BUGS
1204 1783
1205While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does 1784While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
1206not mean it's bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is 1785not mean it's bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. If you
1207still relatively early in its development. If you keep reporting bugs they 1786keep reporting bugs they will be fixed swiftly, though.
1208will be fixed swiftly, though.
1209 1787
1210Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting 1788Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting
1211service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason. 1789service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason.
1212 1790
1213=cut 1791=cut
1214 1792
1215our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" }; 1793BEGIN {
1216our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" }; 1794 *true = \$Types::Serialiser::true;
1795 *true = \&Types::Serialiser::true;
1796 *false = \$Types::Serialiser::false;
1797 *false = \&Types::Serialiser::false;
1798 *is_bool = \&Types::Serialiser::is_bool;
1217 1799
1218sub true() { $true } 1800 *JSON::XS::Boolean:: = *Types::Serialiser::Boolean::;
1219sub false() { $false }
1220
1221sub is_bool($) {
1222 UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::XS::Boolean"
1223# or UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::Literal"
1224} 1801}
1225 1802
1226XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION; 1803XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION;
1227
1228package JSON::XS::Boolean;
1229
1230use overload
1231 "0+" => sub { ${$_[0]} },
1232 "++" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} + 1 },
1233 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
1234 fallback => 1;
1235
12361;
1237 1804
1238=head1 SEE ALSO 1805=head1 SEE ALSO
1239 1806
1240The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments. 1807The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments.
1241 1808
1244 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1811 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1245 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1812 http://home.schmorp.de/
1246 1813
1247=cut 1814=cut
1248 1815
18161
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