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Revision 1.20 by root, Sun Mar 25 00:47:42 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.141 by root, Fri Oct 25 19:53:08 2013 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast 3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast
4 4
5=encoding utf-8
6
7JSON::XS - 正しくて高速な JSON シリアライザ/デシリアライザ
8 (http://fleur.hio.jp/perldoc/mix/lib/JSON/XS.html)
9
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 10=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 11
7 use JSON::XS; 12 use JSON::XS;
8 13
9 # exported functions, croak on error 14 # exported functions, they croak on error
15 # and expect/generate UTF-8
10 16
11 $utf8_encoded_json_text = to_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref; 17 $utf8_encoded_json_text = encode_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;
12 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = from_json $utf8_encoded_json_text; 18 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = decode_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;
13 19
14 # oo-interface 20 # OO-interface
15 21
16 $coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref; 22 $coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;
17 $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar); 23 $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);
18 $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text); 24 $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);
19 25
26 # Note that JSON version 2.0 and above will automatically use JSON::XS
27 # if available, at virtually no speed overhead either, so you should
28 # be able to just:
29
30 use JSON;
31
32 # and do the same things, except that you have a pure-perl fallback now.
33
20=head1 DESCRIPTION 34=head1 DESCRIPTION
21 35
22This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its 36This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its
23primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be 37primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be
24I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C. 38I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C.
39
40Beginning with version 2.0 of the JSON module, when both JSON and
41JSON::XS are installed, then JSON will fall back on JSON::XS (this can be
42overridden) with no overhead due to emulation (by inheriting constructor
43and methods). If JSON::XS is not available, it will fall back to the
44compatible JSON::PP module as backend, so using JSON instead of JSON::XS
45gives you a portable JSON API that can be fast when you need and doesn't
46require a C compiler when that is a problem.
25 47
26As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason 48As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason
27to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON 49to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON
28modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases 50modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases
29their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug 51their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
30reports for other reasons. 52reports for other reasons.
31 53
32See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules.
33
34See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and 54See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and
35vice versa. 55vice versa.
36 56
37=head2 FEATURES 57=head2 FEATURES
38 58
39=over 4 59=over 4
40 60
41=item * correct handling of unicode issues 61=item * correct Unicode handling
42 62
43This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how and when 63This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does
44it does so. 64so, and even documents what "correct" means.
45 65
46=item * round-trip integrity 66=item * round-trip integrity
47 67
48When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported 68When you serialise a perl data structure using only data types supported
49by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. 69by JSON and Perl, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl
50(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2"). 70level. (e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because
71it looks like a number). There I<are> minor exceptions to this, read the
72MAPPING section below to learn about those.
51 73
52=item * strict checking of JSON correctness 74=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
53 75
54There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default, 76There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
55and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security 77and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
56feature). 78feature).
57 79
58=item * fast 80=item * fast
59 81
60Compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably in terms 82Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable,
61of speed, too. 83this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too.
62 84
63=item * simple to use 85=item * simple to use
64 86
65This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO 87This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an object
66interface. 88oriented interface.
67 89
68=item * reasonably versatile output formats 90=item * reasonably versatile output formats
69 91
70You can choose between the most compact guarenteed single-line format 92You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format
71possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format (for 93possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ASCII format
72when your transport is not 8-bit clean), or a pretty-printed format (for 94(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
73when you want to read that stuff). Or you can combine those features in 95Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
74whatever way you like. 96stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
75 97
76=back 98=back
77 99
78=cut 100=cut
79 101
80package JSON::XS; 102package JSON::XS;
81 103
82use strict; 104use common::sense;
83 105
84BEGIN {
85 our $VERSION = '0.7'; 106our $VERSION = 2.34;
86 our @ISA = qw(Exporter); 107our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
87 108
88 our @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json); 109our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json);
89 require Exporter;
90 110
91 require XSLoader; 111use Exporter;
92 XSLoader::load JSON::XS::, $VERSION; 112use XSLoader;
93}
94 113
95=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 114=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
96 115
97The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are 116The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are
98exported by default: 117exported by default:
99 118
100=over 4 119=over 4
101 120
102=item $json_text = to_json $perl_scalar 121=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar
103 122
104Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to 123Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string
105a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains 124(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error.
106octets only). Croaks on error.
107 125
108This function call is functionally identical to: 126This function call is functionally identical to:
109 127
110 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar) 128 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
111 129
112except being faster. 130Except being faster.
113 131
114=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_text 132=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text
115 133
116The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to 134The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries
117parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting simple 135to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting
118scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 136reference. Croaks on error.
119 137
120This function call is functionally identical to: 138This function call is functionally identical to:
121 139
122 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text) 140 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
123 141
124except being faster. 142Except being faster.
143
144=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar
145
146Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or
147JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively
148and are used to represent JSON C<true> and C<false> values in Perl.
149
150See MAPPING, below, for more information on how JSON values are mapped to
151Perl.
125 152
126=back 153=back
154
155
156=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL
157
158Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on
159how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs.
160
161=over 4
162
163=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255.
164
165This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a
166Perl string - very natural.
167
168=item 2. Perl does I<not> associate an encoding with your strings.
169
170... until you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or
171printing the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your
172string as locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending
173on various settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your
174data, it is I<use> that decides encoding, not any magical meta data.
175
176=item 3. The internal utf-8 flag has no meaning with regards to the
177encoding of your string.
178
179Just ignore that flag unless you debug a Perl bug, a module written in
180XS or want to dive into the internals of perl. Otherwise it will only
181confuse you, as, despite the name, it says nothing about how your string
182is encoded. You can have Unicode strings with that flag set, with that
183flag clear, and you can have binary data with that flag set and that flag
184clear. Other possibilities exist, too.
185
186If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't
187exist.
188
189=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be
190validly interpreted as a Unicode code point.
191
192If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a
193Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string.
194
195=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string.
196
197It's a fact. Learn to live with it.
198
199=back
200
201I hope this helps :)
202
127 203
128=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE 204=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
129 205
130The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or 206The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
131decoding style, within the limits of supported formats. 207decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
143 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 219 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
144 => {"a": [1, 2]} 220 => {"a": [1, 2]}
145 221
146=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable]) 222=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
147 223
224=item $enabled = $json->get_ascii
225
148If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not 226If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
149generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any 227generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
150unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a 228Unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
151single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence, 229single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
152as per RFC4627. 230as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
231Unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
232or any other superset of ASCII.
153 233
154If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode 234If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
155characters unless required by the JSON syntax. This results in a faster 235characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
156and more compact format. 236in a faster and more compact format.
237
238See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
239document.
240
241The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
242transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
243contain any 8 bit characters.
157 244
158 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401]) 245 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
159 => ["\ud801\udc01"] 246 => ["\ud801\udc01"]
160 247
248=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
249
250=item $enabled = $json->get_latin1
251
252If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
253the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
254outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
255latin1-encoded JSON text or a native Unicode string. The C<decode> method
256will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
257expects Unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
258
259If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
260characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
261
262See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
263document.
264
265The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
266text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
267size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
268in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
269transferring), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
270you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
271in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
272
273 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
274 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
275
161=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable]) 276=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
277
278=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8
162 279
163If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode 280If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
164the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the 281the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
165C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please 282C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
166note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the 283note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
167range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future 284range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
168versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16 285versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
169and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627. 286and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
170 287
171If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON 288If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON
172string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a 289string as a (non-encoded) Unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a
173unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs 290Unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
174to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module. 291to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
292
293See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
294document.
175 295
176Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON: 296Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
177 297
178 use Encode; 298 use Encode;
179 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object); 299 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
200 ] 320 ]
201 } 321 }
202 322
203=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable]) 323=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
204 324
325=item $enabled = $json->get_indent
326
205If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline 327If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
206format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair 328format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
207into its own line, identing them properly. 329into its own line, indenting them properly.
208 330
209If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the 331If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
210resulting JSON text is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>. 332resulting JSON text is guaranteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
211 333
212This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. 334This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
213 335
214=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable]) 336=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
337
338=item $enabled = $json->get_space_before
215 339
216If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 340If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
217optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects. 341optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
218 342
219If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 343If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
225Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled: 349Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
226 350
227 {"key" :"value"} 351 {"key" :"value"}
228 352
229=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable]) 353=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
354
355=item $enabled = $json->get_space_after
230 356
231If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 357If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
232optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects 358optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
233and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array 359and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
234members. 360members.
240 366
241Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled: 367Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
242 368
243 {"key": "value"} 369 {"key": "value"}
244 370
371=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])
372
373=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed
374
375If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
376extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
377affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
378JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
379parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files,
380resource files etc.)
381
382If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept
383valid JSON texts.
384
385Currently accepted extensions are:
386
387=over 4
388
389=item * list items can have an end-comma
390
391JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This
392can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to
393quickly append elements, so this extension accepts comma at the end of
394such items not just between them:
395
396 [
397 1,
398 2, <- this comma not normally allowed
399 ]
400 {
401 "k1": "v1",
402 "k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed
403 }
404
405=item * shell-style '#'-comments
406
407Whenever JSON allows whitespace, shell-style comments are additionally
408allowed. They are terminated by the first carriage-return or line-feed
409character, after which more white-space and comments are allowed.
410
411 [
412 1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
413 # neither this one...
414 ]
415
416=back
417
245=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable]) 418=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
419
420=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical
246 421
247If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects 422If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
248by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead. 423by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
249 424
250If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value 425If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
251pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs 426pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
252of the same script). 427of the same script, and can change even within the same run from 5.18
428onwards).
253 429
254This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as 430This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
255the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled, 431the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
256the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data, 432the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
257as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl. 433as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
258 434
259This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. 435This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
260 436
437This setting has currently no effect on tied hashes.
438
261=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable]) 439=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
440
441=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref
262 442
263If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a 443If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
264non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value, 444non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
265which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON 445which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
266values instead of croaking. 446values instead of croaking.
274resulting in an invalid JSON text: 454resulting in an invalid JSON text:
275 455
276 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!") 456 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
277 => "Hello, World!" 457 => "Hello, World!"
278 458
459=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable])
460
461=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown
462
463If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode> will I<not> throw an
464exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for
465example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C<null> value. Note
466that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by
467c<allow_nonref>.
468
469If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
470exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON.
471
472This option does not affect C<decode> in any way, and it is recommended to
473leave it off unless you know your communications partner.
474
475=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
476
477=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
478
479If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
480barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the
481B<convert_blessed> option will decide whether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>
482disabled or no C<TO_JSON> method found) or a representation of the
483object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<TO_JSON> method found) is being
484encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
485
486If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
487exception when it encounters a blessed object.
488
489=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
490
491=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed
492
493If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
494blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
495on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context
496and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no
497C<TO_JSON> method is found, the value of C<allow_blessed> will decide what
498to do.
499
500The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
501returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
502way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
503(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
504methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
505usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json>
506function or method.
507
508This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the
509future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are
510enabled by this setting.
511
512If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what
513to do when a blessed object is found.
514
515=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
516
517When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
518time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the
519newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which
520need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid
521aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns
522an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the
523original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down
524decoding considerably.
525
526When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
527be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
528way.
529
530Example, convert all JSON objects into the integer 5:
531
532 my $js = JSON::XS->new->filter_json_object (sub { 5 });
533 # returns [5]
534 $js->decode ('[{}]')
535 # throw an exception because allow_nonref is not enabled
536 # so a lone 5 is not allowed.
537 $js->decode ('{"a":1, "b":2}');
538
539=item $json = $json->filter_json_single_key_object ($key [=> $coderef->($value)])
540
541Works remotely similar to C<filter_json_object>, but is only called for
542JSON objects having a single key named C<$key>.
543
544This C<$coderef> is called before the one specified via
545C<filter_json_object>, if any. It gets passed the single value in the JSON
546object. If it returns a single value, it will be inserted into the data
547structure. If it returns nothing (not even C<undef> but the empty list),
548the callback from C<filter_json_object> will be called next, as if no
549single-key callback were specified.
550
551If C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, the corresponding callback will be
552disabled. There can only ever be one callback for a given key.
553
554As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
555one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
556objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
557as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
558as JSON gets (it's basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
559support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
560like a serialised Perl hash.
561
562Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
563C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
564things like C<__class_md5sum(classname)__>, to reduce the risk of clashing
565with real hashes.
566
567Example, decode JSON objects of the form C<< { "__widget__" => <id> } >>
568into the corresponding C<< $WIDGET{<id>} >> object:
569
570 # return whatever is in $WIDGET{5}:
571 JSON::XS
572 ->new
573 ->filter_json_single_key_object (__widget__ => sub {
574 $WIDGET{ $_[0] }
575 })
576 ->decode ('{"__widget__": 5')
577
578 # this can be used with a TO_JSON method in some "widget" class
579 # for serialisation to json:
580 sub WidgetBase::TO_JSON {
581 my ($self) = @_;
582
583 unless ($self->{id}) {
584 $self->{id} = ..get..some..id..;
585 $WIDGET{$self->{id}} = $self;
586 }
587
588 { __widget__ => $self->{id} }
589 }
590
279=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable]) 591=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
280 592
593=item $enabled = $json->get_shrink
594
281Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for 595Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
282strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either 596strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
283C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save 597C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
284memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many 598memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
285short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form 599short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form
286if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called 600if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called
287UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less 601UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less
288space in general. 602space in general (and some buggy Perl or C code might even rely on that
603internal representation being used).
289 604
605The actual definition of what shrink does might change in future versions,
606but it will always try to save space at the expense of time.
607
290If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will be shrunk-to-fit, 608If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will
291while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be shrunk-to-fit. 609be shrunk-to-fit, while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be
610shrunk-to-fit.
292 611
293If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used. 612If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used.
294If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster. 613If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster.
295 614
296In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting 615In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting
297strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats 616strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
298internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space. 617internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
299 618
619=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
620
621=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth
622
623Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
624or decoding. If a higher nesting level is detected in JSON text or a Perl
625data structure, then the encoder and decoder will stop and croak at that
626point.
627
628Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
629needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
630characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
631given character in a string.
632
633Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
634that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
635
636If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be used, which
637is rarely useful.
638
639Note that nesting is implemented by recursion in C. The default value has
640been chosen to be as large as typical operating systems allow without
641crashing.
642
643See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
644
645=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
646
647=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size
648
649Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
650being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
651is called on a string that is longer then this many bytes, it will not
652attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
653effect on C<encode> (yet).
654
655If no argument is given, the limit check will be deactivated (same as when
656C<0> is specified).
657
658See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
659
300=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar) 660=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
301 661
302Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference 662Converts the given Perl value or data structure to its JSON
303to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be 663representation. Croaks on error.
304converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays
305become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined
306Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>
307nor C<false> values will be generated.
308 664
309=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text) 665=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text)
310 666
311The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it, 667The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it,
312returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 668returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
313 669
314JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become 670=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
315Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes 671
316C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>. 672This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception
673when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will
674silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed
675so far.
676
677This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol
678(which is not the brightest thing to do in the first place) and you need
679to know where the JSON text ends.
680
681 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
682 => ([], 3)
317 683
318=back 684=back
685
686
687=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING
688
689In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON
690texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting
691Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a
692JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has
693a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to
694using C<decode_prefix> to see if a full JSON object is available, but
695is much more efficient (and can be implemented with a minimum of method
696calls).
697
698JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text once it is sure it
699has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very simple but
700truly incremental parser. This means that it sometimes won't stop as
701early as the full parser, for example, it doesn't detect mismatched
702parentheses. The only thing it guarantees is that it starts decoding as
703soon as a syntactically valid JSON text has been seen. This means you need
704to set resource limits (e.g. C<max_size>) to ensure the parser will stop
705parsing in the presence if syntax errors.
706
707The following methods implement this incremental parser.
708
709=over 4
710
711=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string])
712
713This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and
714extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these
715functions are optional).
716
717If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already
718existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object.
719
720After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply
721return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text
722in as many chunks as you want.
723
724If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract
725exactly I<one> JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this
726object, otherwise it will return C<undef>. If there is a parse error,
727this method will croak just as C<decode> would do (one can then use
728C<incr_skip> to skip the erroneous part). This is the most common way of
729using the method.
730
731And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects
732from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list
733otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators between the JSON
734objects or arrays, instead they must be concatenated back-to-back. If
735an error occurs, an exception will be raised as in the scalar context
736case. Note that in this case, any previously-parsed JSON texts will be
737lost.
738
739Example: Parse some JSON arrays/objects in a given string and return
740them.
741
742 my @objs = JSON::XS->new->incr_parse ("[5][7][1,2]");
743
744=item $lvalue_string = $json->incr_text
745
746This method returns the currently stored JSON fragment as an lvalue, that
747is, you can manipulate it. This I<only> works when a preceding call to
748C<incr_parse> in I<scalar context> successfully returned an object. Under
749all other circumstances you must not call this function (I mean it.
750although in simple tests it might actually work, it I<will> fail under
751real world conditions). As a special exception, you can also call this
752method before having parsed anything.
753
754This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a
755JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text
756(such as commas).
757
758=item $json->incr_skip
759
760This will reset the state of the incremental parser and will remove
761the parsed text from the input buffer so far. This is useful after
762C<incr_parse> died, in which case the input buffer and incremental parser
763state is left unchanged, to skip the text parsed so far and to reset the
764parse state.
765
766The difference to C<incr_reset> is that only text until the parse error
767occurred is removed.
768
769=item $json->incr_reset
770
771This completely resets the incremental parser, that is, after this call,
772it will be as if the parser had never parsed anything.
773
774This is useful if you want to repeatedly parse JSON objects and want to
775ignore any trailing data, which means you have to reset the parser after
776each successful decode.
777
778=back
779
780=head2 LIMITATIONS
781
782All options that affect decoding are supported, except
783C<allow_nonref>. The reason for this is that it cannot be made to
784work sensibly: JSON objects and arrays are self-delimited, i.e. you can concatenate
785them back to back and still decode them perfectly. This does not hold true
786for JSON numbers, however.
787
788For example, is the string C<1> a single JSON number, or is it simply the
789start of C<12>? Or is C<12> a single JSON number, or the concatenation
790of C<1> and C<2>? In neither case you can tell, and this is why JSON::XS
791takes the conservative route and disallows this case.
792
793=head2 EXAMPLES
794
795Some examples will make all this clearer. First, a simple example that
796works similarly to C<decode_prefix>: We want to decode the JSON object at
797the start of a string and identify the portion after the JSON object:
798
799 my $text = "[1,2,3] hello";
800
801 my $json = new JSON::XS;
802
803 my $obj = $json->incr_parse ($text)
804 or die "expected JSON object or array at beginning of string";
805
806 my $tail = $json->incr_text;
807 # $tail now contains " hello"
808
809Easy, isn't it?
810
811Now for a more complicated example: Imagine a hypothetical protocol where
812you read some requests from a TCP stream, and each request is a JSON
813array, without any separation between them (in fact, it is often useful to
814use newlines as "separators", as these get interpreted as whitespace at
815the start of the JSON text, which makes it possible to test said protocol
816with C<telnet>...).
817
818Here is how you'd do it (it is trivial to write this in an event-based
819manner):
820
821 my $json = new JSON::XS;
822
823 # read some data from the socket
824 while (sysread $socket, my $buf, 4096) {
825
826 # split and decode as many requests as possible
827 for my $request ($json->incr_parse ($buf)) {
828 # act on the $request
829 }
830 }
831
832Another complicated example: Assume you have a string with JSON objects
833or arrays, all separated by (optional) comma characters (e.g. C<[1],[2],
834[3]>). To parse them, we have to skip the commas between the JSON texts,
835and here is where the lvalue-ness of C<incr_text> comes in useful:
836
837 my $text = "[1],[2], [3]";
838 my $json = new JSON::XS;
839
840 # void context, so no parsing done
841 $json->incr_parse ($text);
842
843 # now extract as many objects as possible. note the
844 # use of scalar context so incr_text can be called.
845 while (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
846 # do something with $obj
847
848 # now skip the optional comma
849 $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* , //x;
850 }
851
852Now lets go for a very complex example: Assume that you have a gigantic
853JSON array-of-objects, many gigabytes in size, and you want to parse it,
854but you cannot load it into memory fully (this has actually happened in
855the real world :).
856
857Well, you lost, you have to implement your own JSON parser. But JSON::XS
858can still help you: You implement a (very simple) array parser and let
859JSON decode the array elements, which are all full JSON objects on their
860own (this wouldn't work if the array elements could be JSON numbers, for
861example):
862
863 my $json = new JSON::XS;
864
865 # open the monster
866 open my $fh, "<bigfile.json"
867 or die "bigfile: $!";
868
869 # first parse the initial "["
870 for (;;) {
871 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
872 or die "read error: $!";
873 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
874
875 # Exit the loop once we found and removed(!) the initial "[".
876 # In essence, we are (ab-)using the $json object as a simple scalar
877 # we append data to.
878 last if $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* \[ //x;
879 }
880
881 # now we have the skipped the initial "[", so continue
882 # parsing all the elements.
883 for (;;) {
884 # in this loop we read data until we got a single JSON object
885 for (;;) {
886 if (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
887 # do something with $obj
888 last;
889 }
890
891 # add more data
892 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
893 or die "read error: $!";
894 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
895 }
896
897 # in this loop we read data until we either found and parsed the
898 # separating "," between elements, or the final "]"
899 for (;;) {
900 # first skip whitespace
901 $json->incr_text =~ s/^\s*//;
902
903 # if we find "]", we are done
904 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^\]//) {
905 print "finished.\n";
906 exit;
907 }
908
909 # if we find ",", we can continue with the next element
910 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^,//) {
911 last;
912 }
913
914 # if we find anything else, we have a parse error!
915 if (length $json->incr_text) {
916 die "parse error near ", $json->incr_text;
917 }
918
919 # else add more data
920 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
921 or die "read error: $!";
922 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
923 }
924
925This is a complex example, but most of the complexity comes from the fact
926that we are trying to be correct (bear with me if I am wrong, I never ran
927the above example :).
928
929
319 930
320=head1 MAPPING 931=head1 MAPPING
321 932
322This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and 933This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
323vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most 934vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
324circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics 935circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
325(what you put in comes out as something equivalent). 936(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
326 937
327For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions, 938For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
328lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppcercase I<Perl> 939lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppercase I<Perl>
329refers to the abstract Perl language itself. 940refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
330 941
942
331=head2 JSON -> PERL 943=head2 JSON -> PERL
332 944
333=over 4 945=over 4
334 946
335=item object 947=item object
336 948
337A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object 949A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
338keys is preserved (JSON does not preserver object key ordering itself). 950keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself).
339 951
340=item array 952=item array
341 953
342A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl. 954A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
343 955
347are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual 959are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual
348decoding is necessary. 960decoding is necessary.
349 961
350=item number 962=item number
351 963
352A JSON number becomes either an integer or numeric (floating point) 964A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
353scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On the 965string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On
354Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all the 966the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
355conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and might 967the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
356represent more values exactly than (floating point) numbers. 968might represent more values exactly than floating point numbers.
969
970If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
971it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
972a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
973precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in
974which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be
975re-encoded to a JSON string).
976
977Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
978represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
979precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but
980the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number).
981
982Note that precision is not accuracy - binary floating point values cannot
983represent most decimal fractions exactly, and when converting from and to
984floating point, JSON::XS only guarantees precision up to but not including
985the least significant bit.
357 986
358=item true, false 987=item true, false
359 988
360These JSON atoms become C<0>, C<1>, respectively. Information is lost in 989These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>,
361this process. Future versions might represent those values differently, 990respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers
362but they will be guarenteed to act like these integers would normally in 991C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using
363Perl. 992the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function.
364 993
365=item null 994=item null
366 995
367A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl. 996A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
368 997
369=back 998=back
999
370 1000
371=head2 PERL -> JSON 1001=head2 PERL -> JSON
372 1002
373The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a 1003The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a
374truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by 1004truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by
377=over 4 1007=over 4
378 1008
379=item hash references 1009=item hash references
380 1010
381Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering 1011Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering
382in hash keys, they will usually be encoded in a pseudo-random order that 1012in hash keys (or JSON objects), they will usually be encoded in a
383can change between runs of the same program but stays generally the same 1013pseudo-random order that can change between runs of the same program but
384within a single run of a program. JSON::XS can optionally sort the hash 1014stays generally the same within a single run of a program. JSON::XS can
385keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so the same datastructure 1015optionally sort the hash keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so
386will serialise to the same JSON text (given same settings and version of 1016the same datastructure will serialise to the same JSON text (given same
387JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead. 1017settings and version of JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead
1018and is only rarely useful, e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text
1019against another for equality.
388 1020
389=item array references 1021=item array references
390 1022
391Perl array references become JSON arrays. 1023Perl array references become JSON arrays.
392 1024
1025=item other references
1026
1027Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
1028exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
1029C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can
1030also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.
1031
1032 encode_json [\0, JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true]
1033
1034=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false
1035
1036These special values become JSON true and JSON false values,
1037respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want.
1038
393=item blessed objects 1039=item blessed objects
394 1040
395Blessed objects are not allowed. JSON::XS currently tries to encode their 1041Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON. See the
396underlying representation (hash- or arrayref), but this behaviour might 1042C<allow_blessed> and C<convert_blessed> methods on various options on
397change in future versions. 1043how to deal with this: basically, you can choose between throwing an
1044exception, encoding the reference as if it weren't blessed, or provide
1045your own serialiser method.
398 1046
399=item simple scalars 1047=item simple scalars
400 1048
401Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most 1049Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
402difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as 1050difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
403JSON null value, scalars that have last been used in a string context 1051JSON C<null> values, scalars that have last been used in a string context
404before encoding as JSON strings and anything else as number value: 1052before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value:
405 1053
406 # dump as number 1054 # dump as number
407 to_json [2] # yields [2] 1055 encode_json [2] # yields [2]
408 to_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17] 1056 encode_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
409 my $value = 5; to_json [$value] # yields [5] 1057 my $value = 5; encode_json [$value] # yields [5]
410 1058
411 # used as string, so dump as string 1059 # used as string, so dump as string
412 print $value; 1060 print $value;
413 to_json [$value] # yields ["5"] 1061 encode_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
414 1062
415 # undef becomes null 1063 # undef becomes null
416 to_json [undef] # yields [null] 1064 encode_json [undef] # yields [null]
417 1065
418You can force the type to be a string by stringifying it: 1066You can force the type to be a JSON string by stringifying it:
419 1067
420 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number 1068 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
421 "$x"; # stringified 1069 "$x"; # stringified
422 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify 1070 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
423 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often 1071 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
424 1072
425You can force the type to be a number by numifying it: 1073You can force the type to be a JSON number by numifying it:
426 1074
427 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string 1075 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
428 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number 1076 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
429 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choise is yours. 1077 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choice is yours.
430 1078
431You can not currently output JSON booleans or force the type in other, 1079You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me
432less obscure, ways. Tell me if you need this capability. 1080if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed
1081:).
433 1082
434=item circular data structures 1083Note that numerical precision has the same meaning as under Perl (so
435 1084binary to decimal conversion follows the same rules as in Perl, which
436Those will be encoded until memory or stackspace runs out. 1085can differ to other languages). Also, your perl interpreter might expose
1086extensions to the floating point numbers of your platform, such as
1087infinities or NaN's - these cannot be represented in JSON, and it is an
1088error to pass those in.
437 1089
438=back 1090=back
439 1091
440=head1 COMPARISON
441 1092
442As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing 1093=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES
443JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the 1094
444problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules, 1095The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify
445followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer 1096encodings or codesets - C<utf8>, C<latin1> and C<ascii>. There seems to be
446from any of these problems or limitations. 1097some confusion on what these do, so here is a short comparison:
1098
1099C<utf8> controls whether the JSON text created by C<encode> (and expected
1100by C<decode>) is UTF-8 encoded or not, while C<latin1> and C<ascii> only
1101control whether C<encode> escapes character values outside their respective
1102codeset range. Neither of these flags conflict with each other, although
1103some combinations make less sense than others.
1104
1105Care has been taken to make all flags symmetrical with respect to
1106C<encode> and C<decode>, that is, texts encoded with any combination of
1107these flag values will be correctly decoded when the same flags are used
1108- in general, if you use different flag settings while encoding vs. when
1109decoding you likely have a bug somewhere.
1110
1111Below comes a verbose discussion of these flags. Note that a "codeset" is
1112simply an abstract set of character-codepoint pairs, while an encoding
1113takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into
1114octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding,
1115and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at
1116the same time, which can be confusing.
447 1117
448=over 4 1118=over 4
449 1119
450=item JSON 1.07 1120=item C<utf8> flag disabled
451 1121
452Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl). 1122When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate
1123and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode
1124values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such
1125characters are decoded as-is, no changes to them will be done, except
1126"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters,
1127respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do
1128funny/weird/dumb stuff).
453 1129
454Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles unicode values is 1130This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you
455undocumented. One can get far by feeding it unicode strings and doing 1131want to have UTF-16 encoded JSON texts) or when some other layer does
456en-/decoding oneself, but unicode escapes are not working properly). 1132the encoding for you (for example, when printing to a terminal using a
1133filehandle that transparently encodes to UTF-8 you certainly do NOT want
1134to UTF-8 encode your data first and have Perl encode it another time).
457 1135
458No roundtripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g. 1136=item C<utf8> flag enabled
459the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will
460decode into the number 2.
461 1137
462=item JSON::PC 0.01 1138If the C<utf8>-flag is enabled, C<encode>/C<decode> will encode all
1139characters using the corresponding UTF-8 multi-byte sequence, and will
1140expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character"
1141of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow
1142that.
463 1143
464Very fast. 1144The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you
1145will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded
1146octet/binary string in Perl.
465 1147
466Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling. 1148=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled
467 1149
468No roundtripping. 1150With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters
1151with ordinal values > 255 (> 127 with C<ascii>) and encode the remaining
1152characters as specified by the C<utf8> flag.
469 1153
470Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic 1154If C<utf8> is disabled, then the result is also correctly encoded in those
471values will make it croak). 1155character sets (as both are proper subsets of Unicode, meaning that a
1156Unicode string with all character values < 256 is the same thing as a
1157ISO-8859-1 string, and a Unicode string with all character values < 128 is
1158the same thing as an ASCII string in Perl).
472 1159
473Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}> 1160If C<utf8> is enabled, you still get a correct UTF-8-encoded string,
474which is not a valid JSON text. 1161regardless of these flags, just some more characters will be escaped using
1162C<\uXXXX> then before.
475 1163
476Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 1164Note that ISO-8859-1-I<encoded> strings are not compatible with UTF-8
477getting fixed). 1165encoding, while ASCII-encoded strings are. That is because the ISO-8859-1
1166encoding is NOT a subset of UTF-8 (despite the ISO-8859-1 I<codeset> being
1167a subset of Unicode), while ASCII is.
478 1168
479=item JSON::Syck 0.21 1169Surprisingly, C<decode> will ignore these flags and so treat all input
1170values as governed by the C<utf8> flag. If it is disabled, this allows you
1171to decode ISO-8859-1- and ASCII-encoded strings, as both strict subsets of
1172Unicode. If it is enabled, you can correctly decode UTF-8 encoded strings.
480 1173
481Very buggy (often crashes). 1174So neither C<latin1> nor C<ascii> are incompatible with the C<utf8> flag -
1175they only govern when the JSON output engine escapes a character or not.
482 1176
483Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much 1177The main use for C<latin1> is to relatively efficiently store binary data
484undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a 1178as JSON, at the expense of breaking compatibility with most JSON decoders.
485single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
486generate ASCII-only JSON texts).
487 1179
488Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode 1180The main use for C<ascii> is to force the output to not contain characters
489escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to 1181with values > 127, which means you can interpret the resulting string
490I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour). 1182as UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ASCII, KOI8-R or most about any character set and
491 11838-bit-encoding, and still get the same data structure back. This is useful
492No roundtripping (simple cases work, but this depends on wether the scalar 1184when your channel for JSON transfer is not 8-bit clean or the encoding
493value was used in a numeric context or not). 1185might be mangled in between (e.g. in mail), and works because ASCII is a
494 1186proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world.
495Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state.
496
497Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
498getting fixed).
499
500Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
501return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
502issue: imagine two banks transfering money between each other using
503JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
504while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
505good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
506the transaction will still not succeed).
507
508=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
509
510Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
511
512Undocumented unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
513still don't get parsed properly).
514
515Very inflexible.
516
517No roundtripping.
518
519Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
520result in nothing being output)
521
522Does not check input for validity.
523 1187
524=back 1188=back
1189
1190
1191=head2 JSON and ECMAscript
1192
1193JSON syntax is based on how literals are represented in javascript (the
1194not-standardised predecessor of ECMAscript) which is presumably why it is
1195called "JavaScript Object Notation".
1196
1197However, JSON is not a subset (and also not a superset of course) of
1198ECMAscript (the standard) or javascript (whatever browsers actually
1199implement).
1200
1201If you want to use javascript's C<eval> function to "parse" JSON, you
1202might run into parse errors for valid JSON texts, or the resulting data
1203structure might not be queryable:
1204
1205One of the problems is that U+2028 and U+2029 are valid characters inside
1206JSON strings, but are not allowed in ECMAscript string literals, so the
1207following Perl fragment will not output something that can be guaranteed
1208to be parsable by javascript's C<eval>:
1209
1210 use JSON::XS;
1211
1212 print encode_json [chr 0x2028];
1213
1214The right fix for this is to use a proper JSON parser in your javascript
1215programs, and not rely on C<eval> (see for example Douglas Crockford's
1216F<json2.js> parser).
1217
1218If this is not an option, you can, as a stop-gap measure, simply encode to
1219ASCII-only JSON:
1220
1221 use JSON::XS;
1222
1223 print JSON::XS->new->ascii->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
1224
1225Note that this will enlarge the resulting JSON text quite a bit if you
1226have many non-ASCII characters. You might be tempted to run some regexes
1227to only escape U+2028 and U+2029, e.g.:
1228
1229 # DO NOT USE THIS!
1230 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
1231 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa8/\\u2028/g; # escape U+2028
1232 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa9/\\u2029/g; # escape U+2029
1233 print $json;
1234
1235Note that I<this is a bad idea>: the above only works for U+2028 and
1236U+2029 and thus only for fully ECMAscript-compliant parsers. Many existing
1237javascript implementations, however, have issues with other characters as
1238well - using C<eval> naively simply I<will> cause problems.
1239
1240Another problem is that some javascript implementations reserve
1241some property names for their own purposes (which probably makes
1242them non-ECMAscript-compliant). For example, Iceweasel reserves the
1243C<__proto__> property name for its own purposes.
1244
1245If that is a problem, you could parse try to filter the resulting JSON
1246output for these property strings, e.g.:
1247
1248 $json =~ s/"__proto__"\s*:/"__proto__renamed":/g;
1249
1250This works because C<__proto__> is not valid outside of strings, so every
1251occurrence of C<"__proto__"\s*:> must be a string used as property name.
1252
1253If you know of other incompatibilities, please let me know.
1254
1255
1256=head2 JSON and YAML
1257
1258You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
1259hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing),
1260so let me state it clearly: I<in general, there is no way to configure
1261JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML> that works in all
1262cases.
1263
1264If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
1265algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
1266
1267 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
1268 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
1269
1270This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
1271YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
1272lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible
1273unicode character escape syntax, so you should make sure that your hash
1274keys are noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows
1275and that you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the
1276Unicode BMP (basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/>
1277sequences in strings (which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate, but
1278other JSON generators might).
1279
1280There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML
1281specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In
1282general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice
1283versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are
1284high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you
1285least expect it.
1286
1287=over 4
1288
1289=item (*)
1290
1291I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the
1292authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him
1293acknowledging that the actual incompatibilities exist. As I was personally
1294bitten by this "JSON is YAML" lie, I refused and said I will continue to
1295educate people about these issues, so others do not run into the same
1296problem again and again. After this, Brian called me a (quote)I<complete
1297and worthless idiot>(unquote).
1298
1299In my opinion, instead of pressuring and insulting people who actually
1300clarify issues with YAML and the wrong statements of some of its
1301proponents, I would kindly suggest reading the JSON spec (which is not
1302that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and
1303educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the
1304real compatibility for many I<years> and trying to silence people who
1305point out that it isn't true.
1306
1307Addendum/2009: the YAML 1.2 spec is still incompatible with JSON, even
1308though the incompatibilities have been documented (and are known to Brian)
1309for many years and the spec makes explicit claims that YAML is a superset
1310of JSON. It would be so easy to fix, but apparently, bullying people and
1311corrupting userdata is so much easier.
1312
1313=back
1314
525 1315
526=head2 SPEED 1316=head2 SPEED
527 1317
528It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following 1318It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
529tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program 1319tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program
530in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own 1320in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
531system. 1321system.
532 1322
533First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short JSON 1323First comes a comparison between various modules using
534string: 1324a very short single-line JSON string (also available at
1325L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>).
535 1326
536 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], "id": null} 1327 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1",
1328 "we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7,
1329 1, 0]}
537 1330
538It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses the 1331It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
539functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface with 1332the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
540pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled). Higher is better: 1333with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
1334shrink. JSON::DWIW/DS uses the deserialise function, while JSON::DWIW::FJ
1335uses the from_json method). Higher is better:
541 1336
542 module | encode | decode | 1337 module | encode | decode |
543 -----------|------------|------------| 1338 --------------|------------|------------|
544 JSON | 11488.516 | 7823.035 | 1339 JSON::DWIW/DS | 86302.551 | 102300.098 |
545 JSON::DWIW | 94708.054 | 129094.260 | 1340 JSON::DWIW/FJ | 86302.551 | 75983.768 |
546 JSON::PC | 63884.157 | 128528.212 | 1341 JSON::PP | 15827.562 | 6638.658 |
547 JSON::Syck | 34898.677 | 42096.911 | 1342 JSON::Syck | 63358.066 | 47662.545 |
548 JSON::XS | 654027.064 | 396423.669 | 1343 JSON::XS | 511500.488 | 511500.488 |
549 JSON::XS/2 | 371564.190 | 371725.613 | 1344 JSON::XS/2 | 291271.111 | 388361.481 |
1345 JSON::XS/3 | 361577.931 | 361577.931 |
1346 Storable | 66788.280 | 265462.278 |
550 -----------+------------+------------+ 1347 --------------+------------+------------+
551 1348
552That is, JSON::XS is more than six times faster than JSON::DWIW on 1349That is, JSON::XS is almost six times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
553encoding, more than three times faster on decoding, and about thirty times 1350about five times faster on decoding, and over thirty to seventy times
554faster than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. 1351faster than JSON's pure perl implementation. It also compares favourably
1352to Storable for small amounts of data.
555 1353
556Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals 1354Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
557search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg): 1355search API (L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/long.json>).
558 1356
559 module | encode | decode | 1357 module | encode | decode |
560 -----------|------------|------------| 1358 --------------|------------|------------|
561 JSON | 273.023 | 44.674 | 1359 JSON::DWIW/DS | 1647.927 | 2673.916 |
562 JSON::DWIW | 1089.383 | 1145.704 | 1360 JSON::DWIW/FJ | 1630.249 | 2596.128 |
563 JSON::PC | 3097.419 | 2393.921 | 1361 JSON::PP | 400.640 | 62.311 |
564 JSON::Syck | 514.060 | 843.053 | 1362 JSON::Syck | 1481.040 | 1524.869 |
565 JSON::XS | 6479.668 | 3636.364 | 1363 JSON::XS | 20661.596 | 9541.183 |
566 JSON::XS/2 | 3774.221 | 3599.124 | 1364 JSON::XS/2 | 10683.403 | 9416.938 |
1365 JSON::XS/3 | 20661.596 | 9400.054 |
1366 Storable | 19765.806 | 10000.725 |
567 -----------+------------+------------+ 1367 --------------+------------+------------+
568 1368
569Again, JSON::XS leads by far. 1369Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
1370decodes a bit faster).
570 1371
571On large strings containing lots of high unicode characters, some modules 1372On large strings containing lots of high Unicode characters, some modules
572(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result 1373(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
573will be broken due to missing (or wrong) unicode handling. Others refuse 1374will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse
574to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair 1375to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
575comparison table for that case. 1376comparison table for that case.
576 1377
577=head1 RESOURCE LIMITS
578 1378
579JSON::XS does not impose any limits on the size of JSON texts or Perl 1379=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
580values they represent - if your machine can handle it, JSON::XS will 1380
581encode or decode it. Future versions might optionally impose structure 1381When you are using JSON in a protocol, talking to untrusted potentially
582depth and memory use resource limits. 1382hostile creatures requires relatively few measures.
1383
1384First of all, your JSON decoder should be secure, that is, should not have
1385any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
1386trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
1387
1388Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
1389limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
1390resources run out, that's just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
1391can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
1392usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
1393it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
1394text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
1395might want to check the size before you accept the string.
1396
1397Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
1398arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
1399machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
1400only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
1401to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. To be
1402conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
1403has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
1404C<max_depth> method.
1405
1406Something else could bomb you, too, that I forgot to think of. In that
1407case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, though...
1408
1409Also keep in mind that JSON::XS might leak contents of your Perl data
1410structures in its error messages, so when you serialise sensitive
1411information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS
1412will not end up in front of untrusted eyes.
1413
1414If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
1415by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
1416L<http://blog.archive.jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security/> to
1417see whether you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really
1418are browser design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with
1419it, as major browser developers care only for features, not about getting
1420security right).
1421
1422
1423=head1 THREADS
1424
1425This module is I<not> guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no
1426plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the
1427horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated
1428process simulations - use fork, it's I<much> faster, cheaper, better).
1429
1430(It might actually work, but you have been warned).
1431
1432
1433=head1 THE PERILS OF SETLOCALE
1434
1435Sometimes people avoid the Perl locale support and directly call the
1436system's setlocale function with C<LC_ALL>.
1437
1438This breaks both perl and modules such as JSON::XS, as stringification of
1439numbers no longer works correctly (e.g. C<$x = 0.1; print "$x"+1> might
1440print C<1>, and JSON::XS might output illegal JSON as JSON::XS relies on
1441perl to stringify numbers).
1442
1443The solution is simple: don't call C<setlocale>, or use it for only those
1444categories you need, such as C<LC_MESSAGES> or C<LC_CTYPE>.
1445
1446If you need C<LC_NUMERIC>, you should enable it only around the code that
1447actually needs it (avoiding stringification of numbers), and restore it
1448afterwards.
1449
583 1450
584=head1 BUGS 1451=head1 BUGS
585 1452
586While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does 1453While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
587not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is 1454not mean it's bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. If you
588still very young and not well-tested. If you keep reporting bugs they will 1455keep reporting bugs they will be fixed swiftly, though.
589be fixed swiftly, though. 1456
1457Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting
1458service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason.
590 1459
591=cut 1460=cut
592 1461
1462our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
1463our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
1464
1465sub true() { $true }
1466sub false() { $false }
1467
1468sub is_bool($) {
1469 UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::XS::Boolean"
1470# or UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::Literal"
1471}
1472
1473XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION;
1474
1475package JSON::XS::Boolean;
1476
1477use overload
1478 "0+" => sub { ${$_[0]} },
1479 "++" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} + 1 },
1480 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
1481 fallback => 1;
1482
5931; 14831;
1484
1485=head1 SEE ALSO
1486
1487The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments.
594 1488
595=head1 AUTHOR 1489=head1 AUTHOR
596 1490
597 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1491 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
598 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1492 http://home.schmorp.de/

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