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Revision 1.2 by root, Thu Mar 22 17:28:50 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.56 by root, Thu Jul 26 11:33:35 2007 UTC

3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast 3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast
4 4
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 5=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 6
7 use JSON::XS; 7 use JSON::XS;
8
9 # exported functions, they croak on error
10 # and expect/generate UTF-8
11
12 $utf8_encoded_json_text = to_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;
13 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = from_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;
14
15 # OO-interface
16
17 $coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;
18 $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);
19 $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);
8 20
9=head1 DESCRIPTION 21=head1 DESCRIPTION
10 22
11This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its 23This 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 24primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be
18their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug 30their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
19reports for other reasons. 31reports for other reasons.
20 32
21See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules. 33See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules.
22 34
35See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and
36vice versa.
37
23=head2 FEATURES 38=head2 FEATURES
24 39
25=over 4 40=over 4
26 41
27=item * correct handling of unicode issues 42=item * correct unicode handling
28 43
29This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how it does so. 44This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how and when
45it does so.
30 46
31=item * round-trip integrity 47=item * round-trip integrity
32 48
33When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported 49When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported
34by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. 50by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level.
35(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2"). 51(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks
52like a number).
36 53
37=item * strict checking of JSON correctness 54=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
38 55
39There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON strings by default, 56There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
40and only JSON is accepted as input (the latter is a security feature). 57and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
58feature).
41 59
42=item * fast 60=item * fast
43 61
44compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably. 62Compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably in terms
63of speed, too.
45 64
46=item * simple to use 65=item * simple to use
47 66
48This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO 67This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO
49interface. 68interface.
50 69
51=item * reasonably versatile output formats 70=item * reasonably versatile output formats
52 71
53You can choose between the most compact format possible, a pure-ascii 72You can choose between the most compact guarenteed single-line format
54format, or a pretty-printed format. Or you can combine those features in 73possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format
55whatever way you like. 74(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
75unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
76stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
56 77
57=back 78=back
58 79
59=cut 80=cut
60 81
61package JSON::XS; 82package JSON::XS;
62 83
63BEGIN { 84use strict;
85
64 $VERSION = '0.1'; 86our $VERSION = '1.43';
65 @ISA = qw(Exporter); 87our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
66 88
67 @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json); 89our @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json);
68 require Exporter;
69 90
70 require XSLoader; 91use Exporter;
71 XSLoader::load JSON::XS::, $VERSION; 92use XSLoader;
72}
73 93
74=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 94=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
75 95
76The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are 96The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are
77exported by default: 97exported by default:
78 98
79=over 4 99=over 4
80 100
81=item $json_string = to_json $perl_scalar 101=item $json_text = to_json $perl_scalar
82 102
83Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to 103Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to
84a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains 104a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains
85octets only). Croaks on error. 105octets only). Croaks on error.
86 106
87This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8 107This function call is functionally identical to:
88(1)->encode ($perl_scalar) >>.
89 108
109 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
110
111except being faster.
112
90=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_string 113=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_text
91 114
92The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to 115The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to
93parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON string, returning the resulting simple 116parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting simple
94scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 117scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
95 118
96This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8 119This function call is functionally identical to:
97(1)->decode ($json_string) >>. 120
121 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
122
123except being faster.
124
125=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar
126
127Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or
128JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively
129and are used to represent JSON C<true> and C<false> values in Perl.
130
131See MAPPING, below, for more information on how JSON values are mapped to
132Perl.
98 133
99=back 134=back
135
100 136
101=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE 137=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
102 138
103The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or 139The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
104decoding style, within the limits of supported formats. 140decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
111strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>. 147strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>.
112 148
113The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can 149The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can
114be chained: 150be chained:
115 151
116 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8(1)->pretty(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 152 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
117 => {"a" : [1, 2]} 153 => {"a": [1, 2]}
118 154
119=item $json = $json->ascii ($enable) 155=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
120 156
121If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will not generate 157If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
122characters outside the code range C<0..127>. Any unicode characters 158generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
123outside that range will be escaped using either a single \uXXXX (BMP 159unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
124characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence, as per RFC4627. 160single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
161as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
162unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
163or any other superset of ASCII.
125 164
126If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode 165If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
127characters unless necessary. 166characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
167in a faster and more compact format.
128 168
169The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
170transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
171contain any 8 bit characters.
172
173 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
174 => ["\ud801\udc01"]
175
176=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
177
178If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
179the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
180outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
181latin1-encoded JSON text or a native unicode string. The C<decode> method
182will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
183expects unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
184
185If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
186characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
187
188The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
189text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
190size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
191in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
192transfering), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
193you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
194in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
195
196 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
197 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
198
129=item $json = $json->utf8 ($enable) 199=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
130 200
131If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will encode the JSON 201If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
132string into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the C<decode> 202the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
133method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please note that 203C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
134UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the range 204note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
135C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. 205range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
206versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
207and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
136 208
137If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON 209If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON
138string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a 210string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a
139unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs 211unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
140to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module. 212to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
141 213
214Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
215
216 use Encode;
217 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
218
219Example, decode UTF-32LE-encoded JSON:
220
221 use Encode;
222 $object = JSON::XS->new->decode (decode "UTF-32LE", $jsontext);
223
142=item $json = $json->pretty ($enabla) 224=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable])
143 225
144This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and 226This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and
145C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) settings in one call to 227C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to
146generate the most readable (or most compact) form possible. 228generate the most readable (or most compact) form possible.
147 229
230Example, pretty-print some simple structure:
231
232 my $json = JSON::XS->new->pretty(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]})
233 =>
234 {
235 "a" : [
236 1,
237 2
238 ]
239 }
240
148=item $json = $json->indent ($enable) 241=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
149 242
150If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will use a multiline 243If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
151format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair 244format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
152into its own line, identing them properly. 245into its own line, identing them properly.
153 246
154If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the 247If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
155resulting JSON strings is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>. 248resulting JSON text is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
156 249
157This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 250This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
158 251
159=item $json = $json->space_before ($enable) 252=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
160 253
161If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will add an extra 254If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
162optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects. 255optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
163 256
164If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 257If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
165space at those places. 258space at those places.
166 259
167This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. You will also most 260This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. You will also
168likely combine this setting with C<space_after>. 261most likely combine this setting with C<space_after>.
169 262
263Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
264
265 {"key" :"value"}
266
170=item $json = $json->space_after ($enable) 267=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
171 268
172If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will add an extra 269If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
173optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects 270optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
174and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array 271and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
175members. 272members.
176 273
177If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 274If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
178space at those places. 275space at those places.
179 276
180This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 277This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
181 278
279Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
280
281 {"key": "value"}
282
182=item $json = $json->canonical ($enable) 283=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
183 284
184If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects 285If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
185by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead. 286by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
186 287
187If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value 288If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
188pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs 289pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
189of the same script). 290of the same script).
190 291
191This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as 292This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
192the same JSON string (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled, 293the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
193the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data, 294the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
194as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl. 295as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
195 296
196This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 297This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
197 298
299=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
300
301If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
302non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
303which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
304values instead of croaking.
305
306If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't
307passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON texts must either be an object
308or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a
309JSON object or array.
310
311Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>,
312resulting in an invalid JSON text:
313
314 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
315 => "Hello, World!"
316
317=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
318
319If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
320barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the
321B<convert_blessed> option will decide wether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>
322disabled or no C<to_json> method found) or a representation of the
323object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<to_json> method found) is being
324encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
325
326If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
327exception when it encounters a blessed object.
328
329=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
330
331If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
332blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
333on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context
334and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no
335C<TO_JSON> method is found, the value of C<allow_blessed> will decide what
336to do.
337
338The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
339returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
340way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
341(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
342methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
343usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with the C<to_json>
344function.
345
346This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the
347future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are
348enabled by this setting.
349
350If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what
351to do when a blessed object is found.
352
353=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
354
355When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
356time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the
357newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which
358need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid
359aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns
360an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the
361original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down
362decoding considerably.
363
364When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
365be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
366way.
367
368Example, convert all JSON objects into the integer 5:
369
370 my $js = JSON::XS->new->filter_json_object (sub { 5 });
371 # returns [5]
372 $js->decode ('[{}]')
373 # throw an exception because allow_nonref is not enabled
374 # so a lone 5 is not allowed.
375 $js->decode ('{"a":1, "b":2}');
376
377=item $json = $json->filter_json_single_key_object ($key [=> $coderef->($value)])
378
379Works remotely similar to C<filter_json_object>, but is only called for
380JSON objects having a single key named C<$key>.
381
382This C<$coderef> is called before the one specified via
383C<filter_json_object>, if any. It gets passed the single value in the JSON
384object. If it returns a single value, it will be inserted into the data
385structure. If it returns nothing (not even C<undef> but the empty list),
386the callback from C<filter_json_object> will be called next, as if no
387single-key callback were specified.
388
389If C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, the corresponding callback will be
390disabled. There can only ever be one callback for a given key.
391
392As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
393one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
394objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
395as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
396as JSON gets (its basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
397support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
398like a serialised Perl hash.
399
400Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
401C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
402things like C<__class_md5sum(classname)__>, to reduce the risk of clashing
403with real hashes.
404
405Example, decode JSON objects of the form C<< { "__widget__" => <id> } >>
406into the corresponding C<< $WIDGET{<id>} >> object:
407
408 # return whatever is in $WIDGET{5}:
409 JSON::XS
410 ->new
411 ->filter_json_single_key_object (__widget__ => sub {
412 $WIDGET{ $_[0] }
413 })
414 ->decode ('{"__widget__": 5')
415
416 # this can be used with a TO_JSON method in some "widget" class
417 # for serialisation to json:
418 sub WidgetBase::TO_JSON {
419 my ($self) = @_;
420
421 unless ($self->{id}) {
422 $self->{id} = ..get..some..id..;
423 $WIDGET{$self->{id}} = $self;
424 }
425
426 { __widget__ => $self->{id} }
427 }
428
429=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
430
431Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
432strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
433C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
434memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
435short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form
436if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called
437UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less
438space in general (and some buggy Perl or C code might even rely on that
439internal representation being used).
440
441The actual definition of what shrink does might change in future versions,
442but it will always try to save space at the expense of time.
443
444If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will
445be shrunk-to-fit, while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be
446shrunk-to-fit.
447
448If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used.
449If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster.
450
451In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting
452strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
453internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
454
455=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
456
457Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
458or decoding. If the JSON text or Perl data structure has an equal or
459higher nesting level then this limit, then the encoder and decoder will
460stop and croak at that point.
461
462Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
463needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
464characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
465given character in a string.
466
467Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
468that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
469
470The argument to C<max_depth> will be rounded up to the next highest power
471of two. If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be
472used, which is rarely useful.
473
474See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
475
476=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
477
478Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
479being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
480is called on a string longer then this number of characters it will not
481attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
482effect on C<encode> (yet).
483
484The argument to C<max_size> will be rounded up to the next B<highest>
485power of two (so may be more than requested). If no argument is given, the
486limit check will be deactivated (same as when C<0> is specified).
487
488See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
489
198=item $json_string = $json->encode ($perl_scalar) 490=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
199 491
200Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference 492Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference
201to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be 493to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be
202converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays 494converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays
203become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined 495become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined
204Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true> 496Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>
205nor C<false> values will be generated. 497nor C<false> values will be generated.
206 498
207=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_string) 499=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text)
208 500
209The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON string and tries to parse it, 501The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it,
210returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 502returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
211 503
212JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become 504JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become
213Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes 505Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes
214C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>. 506C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>.
215 507
508=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
509
510This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception
511when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will
512silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed
513so far.
514
515This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol
516(which is not the brightest thing to do in the first place) and you need
517to know where the JSON text ends.
518
519 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
520 => ([], 3)
521
216=back 522=back
217 523
524
525=head1 MAPPING
526
527This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
528vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
529circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
530(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
531
532For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
533lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppcercase I<Perl>
534refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
535
536
537=head2 JSON -> PERL
538
539=over 4
540
541=item object
542
543A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
544keys is preserved (JSON does not preserver object key ordering itself).
545
546=item array
547
548A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
549
550=item string
551
552A JSON string becomes a string scalar in Perl - Unicode codepoints in JSON
553are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual
554decoding is necessary.
555
556=item number
557
558A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
559string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On
560the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
561the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
562might represent more values exactly than (floating point) numbers.
563
564If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
565it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
566a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
567precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value.
568
569Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
570represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
571precision.
572
573This might create round-tripping problems as numbers might become strings,
574but as Perl is typeless there is no other way to do it.
575
576=item true, false
577
578These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>,
579respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers
580C<1> and C<0>. You can check wether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using
581the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function.
582
583=item null
584
585A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
586
587=back
588
589
590=head2 PERL -> JSON
591
592The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a
593truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by
594a Perl value.
595
596=over 4
597
598=item hash references
599
600Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering
601in hash keys (or JSON objects), they will usually be encoded in a
602pseudo-random order that can change between runs of the same program but
603stays generally the same within a single run of a program. JSON::XS can
604optionally sort the hash keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so
605the same datastructure will serialise to the same JSON text (given same
606settings and version of JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead
607and is only rarely useful, e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text
608against another for equality.
609
610=item array references
611
612Perl array references become JSON arrays.
613
614=item other references
615
616Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
617exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
618C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can
619also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.
620
621 to_json [\0,JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true]
622
623=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false
624
625These special values become JSON true and JSON false values,
626respectively. You cna alos use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want.
627
628=item blessed objects
629
630Blessed objects are not allowed. JSON::XS currently tries to encode their
631underlying representation (hash- or arrayref), but this behaviour might
632change in future versions.
633
634=item simple scalars
635
636Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
637difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
638JSON null value, scalars that have last been used in a string context
639before encoding as JSON strings and anything else as number value:
640
641 # dump as number
642 to_json [2] # yields [2]
643 to_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
644 my $value = 5; to_json [$value] # yields [5]
645
646 # used as string, so dump as string
647 print $value;
648 to_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
649
650 # undef becomes null
651 to_json [undef] # yields [null]
652
653You can force the type to be a string by stringifying it:
654
655 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
656 "$x"; # stringified
657 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
658 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
659
660You can force the type to be a number by numifying it:
661
662 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
663 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
664 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choise is yours.
665
666You can not currently output JSON booleans or force the type in other,
667less obscure, ways. Tell me if you need this capability.
668
669=back
670
671
672=head1 COMPARISON
673
674As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing
675JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the
676problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules,
677followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer
678from any of these problems or limitations.
679
680=over 4
681
682=item JSON 1.07
683
684Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl).
685
686Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles unicode values is
687undocumented. One can get far by feeding it unicode strings and doing
688en-/decoding oneself, but unicode escapes are not working properly).
689
690No roundtripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g.
691the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will
692decode into the number 2.
693
694=item JSON::PC 0.01
695
696Very fast.
697
698Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling.
699
700No roundtripping.
701
702Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic
703values will make it croak).
704
705Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}>
706which is not a valid JSON text.
707
708Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
709getting fixed).
710
711=item JSON::Syck 0.21
712
713Very buggy (often crashes).
714
715Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much
716undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a
717single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
718generate ASCII-only JSON texts).
719
720Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode
721escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to
722I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour).
723
724No roundtripping (simple cases work, but this depends on wether the scalar
725value was used in a numeric context or not).
726
727Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state.
728
729Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
730getting fixed).
731
732Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
733return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
734issue: imagine two banks transfering money between each other using
735JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
736while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
737good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
738the transaction will still not succeed).
739
740=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
741
742Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
743
744Undocumented unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
745still don't get parsed properly).
746
747Very inflexible.
748
749No roundtripping.
750
751Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
752result in nothing being output)
753
754Does not check input for validity.
755
756=back
757
758
759=head2 JSON and YAML
760
761You often hear that JSON is a subset (or a close subset) of YAML. This is,
762however, a mass hysteria and very far from the truth. In general, there is
763no way to configure JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML.
764
765If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
766algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
767
768 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
769 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
770
771This will usually generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
772YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
773lengths that JSON doesn't have, so you should make sure that your hash
774keys are noticably shorter than the 1024 characters YAML allows.
775
776There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of. In general
777you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice versa,
778or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are high
779that you will run into severe interoperability problems.
780
781
782=head2 SPEED
783
784It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
785tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program
786in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
787system.
788
789First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short
790single-line JSON string:
791
792 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], \
793 "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, true, false]}
794
795It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
796the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
797with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
798shrink). Higher is better:
799
800 Storable | 15779.925 | 14169.946 |
801 -----------+------------+------------+
802 module | encode | decode |
803 -----------|------------|------------|
804 JSON | 4990.842 | 4088.813 |
805 JSON::DWIW | 51653.990 | 71575.154 |
806 JSON::PC | 65948.176 | 74631.744 |
807 JSON::PP | 8931.652 | 3817.168 |
808 JSON::Syck | 24877.248 | 27776.848 |
809 JSON::XS | 388361.481 | 227951.304 |
810 JSON::XS/2 | 227951.304 | 218453.333 |
811 JSON::XS/3 | 338250.323 | 218453.333 |
812 Storable | 16500.016 | 135300.129 |
813 -----------+------------+------------+
814
815That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
816about three times faster on decoding, and over fourty times faster
817than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares
818favourably to Storable for small amounts of data.
819
820Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
821search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg):
822
823 module | encode | decode |
824 -----------|------------|------------|
825 JSON | 55.260 | 34.971 |
826 JSON::DWIW | 825.228 | 1082.513 |
827 JSON::PC | 3571.444 | 2394.829 |
828 JSON::PP | 210.987 | 32.574 |
829 JSON::Syck | 552.551 | 787.544 |
830 JSON::XS | 5780.463 | 4854.519 |
831 JSON::XS/2 | 3869.998 | 4798.975 |
832 JSON::XS/3 | 5862.880 | 4798.975 |
833 Storable | 4445.002 | 5235.027 |
834 -----------+------------+------------+
835
836Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
837decodes faster).
838
839On large strings containing lots of high unicode characters, some modules
840(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
841will be broken due to missing (or wrong) unicode handling. Others refuse
842to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
843comparison table for that case.
844
845
846=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
847
848When you are using JSON in a protocol, talking to untrusted potentially
849hostile creatures requires relatively few measures.
850
851First of all, your JSON decoder should be secure, that is, should not have
852any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
853trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
854
855Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
856limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
857resources run out, thats just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
858can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
859usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
860it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
861text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
862might want to check the size before you accept the string.
863
864Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
865arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
866machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
867only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
868to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. to be
869conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
870has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
871C<max_depth> method.
872
873And last but least, something else could bomb you that I forgot to think
874of. In that case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints,
875though...
876
877If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
878by javascript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
879L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see wether
880you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser
881design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major
882browser developers care only for features, not about doing security
883right).
884
885
886=head1 BUGS
887
888While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
889not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is
890still relatively early in its development. If you keep reporting bugs they
891will be fixed swiftly, though.
892
218=cut 893=cut
894
895our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
896our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
897
898sub true() { $true }
899sub false() { $false }
900
901sub is_bool($) {
902 UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::XS::Boolean"
903# or UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::Literal"
904}
905
906XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION;
907
908package JSON::XS::Boolean;
909
910use overload
911 "0+" => sub { ${$_[0]} },
912 "++" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} + 1 },
913 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
914 fallback => 1;
219 915
2201; 9161;
221 917
222=head1 AUTHOR 918=head1 AUTHOR
223 919

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