[ViewVC] Diff of: cvs/JSON-XS/XS.pm

Comparing JSON-XS/XS.pm (file contents):
Revision 1.59 by root, Mon Aug 27 01:49:01 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.106 by root, Tue May 27 05:31:39 2008 UTC

…		…
1	=head1 NAME	1	=head1 NAME
2		2
3	JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast	3	JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast
		4
		5	=encoding utf-8
		6
		7	JSON::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)
4		9
5	=head1 SYNOPSIS	10	=head1 SYNOPSIS
6		11
7	use JSON::XS;	12	use JSON::XS;
8		13
9	# exported functions, they croak on error	14	# exported functions, they croak on error
10	# and expect/generate UTF-8	15	# and expect/generate UTF-8
11		16
12	$utf8_encoded_json_text = to_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;	17	$utf8_encoded_json_text = encode_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;
13	$perl_hash_or_arrayref = from_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;	18	$perl_hash_or_arrayref = decode_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;
14		19
15	# OO-interface	20	# OO-interface
16		21
17	$coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;	22	$coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;
18	$pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);	23	$pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);
19	$perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);	24	$perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);
20		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
21	=head1 DESCRIPTION	34	=head1 DESCRIPTION
22		35
23	This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its	36	This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its
24	primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be	37	primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be
25	I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C.	38	I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C.
		39
		40	Beginning with version 2.0 of the JSON module, when both JSON and
		41	JSON::XS are installed, then JSON will fall back on JSON::XS (this can be
		42	overridden) with no overhead due to emulation (by inheriting constructor
		43	and methods). If JSON::XS is not available, it will fall back to the
		44	compatible JSON::PP module as backend, so using JSON instead of JSON::XS
		45	gives you a portable JSON API that can be fast when you need and doesn't
		46	require a C compiler when that is a problem.
26		47
27	As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason	48	As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason
28	to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON	49	to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON
29	modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases	50	modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases
30	their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug	51	their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
37		58
38	=head2 FEATURES	59	=head2 FEATURES
39		60
40	=over 4	61	=over 4
41		62
42	=item * correct unicode handling	63	=item * correct Unicode handling
43		64
44	This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how and when	65	This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does
45	it does so.	66	so, and even documents what "correct" means.
46		67
47	=item * round-trip integrity	68	=item * round-trip integrity
48		69
49	When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported	70	When you serialise a perl data structure using only data types supported
50	by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level.	71	by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level.
51	(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks	72	(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks
52	like a number).	73	like a number). There minor I<are> exceptions to this, read the MAPPING
		74	section below to learn about those.
53		75
54	=item * strict checking of JSON correctness	76	=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
55		77
56	There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,	78	There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
57	and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security	79	and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
58	feature).	80	feature).
59		81
60	=item * fast	82	=item * fast
61		83
62	Compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably in terms	84	Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable,
63	of speed, too.	85	this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too.
64		86
65	=item * simple to use	87	=item * simple to use
66		88
67	This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO	89	This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an object
68	interface.	90	oriented interface interface.
69		91
70	=item * reasonably versatile output formats	92	=item * reasonably versatile output formats
71		93
72	You can choose between the most compact guarenteed single-line format	94	You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format
73	possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format	95	possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ASCII format
74	(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole	96	(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
75	unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that	97	Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
76	stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.	98	stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
77		99
78	=back	100	=back
79		101
80	=cut	102	=cut
81		103
82	package JSON::XS;	104	package JSON::XS;
83		105
84	use strict;	106	use strict;
85		107
86	our $VERSION = '1.5';	108	our $VERSION = '2.2';
87	our @ISA = qw(Exporter);	109	our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
88		110
89	our @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json);	111	our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json to_json from_json);
		112
		113	sub to_json($) {
		114	require Carp;
		115	Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::to_json has been renamed to encode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call");
		116	}
		117
		118	sub from_json($) {
		119	require Carp;
		120	Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::from_json has been renamed to decode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call");
		121	}
90		122
91	use Exporter;	123	use Exporter;
92	use XSLoader;	124	use XSLoader;
93		125
94	=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE	126	=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
95		127
96	The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are	128	The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are
97	exported by default:	129	exported by default:
98		130
99	=over 4	131	=over 4
100		132
101	=item $json_text = to_json $perl_scalar	133	=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar
102		134
103	Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to	135	Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string
104	a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains	136	(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error.
105	octets only). Croaks on error.
106		137
107	This function call is functionally identical to:	138	This function call is functionally identical to:
108		139
109	$json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)	140	$json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
110		141
111	except being faster.	142	Except being faster.
112		143
113	=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_text	144	=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text
114		145
115	The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to	146	The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries
116	parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting simple	147	to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting
117	scalar or reference. Croaks on error.	148	reference. Croaks on error.
118		149
119	This function call is functionally identical to:	150	This function call is functionally identical to:
120		151
121	$perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)	152	$perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
122		153
123	except being faster.	154	Except being faster.
124		155
125	=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar	156	=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar
126		157
127	Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or	158	Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or
128	JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively	159	JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively
…		…
132	Perl.	163	Perl.
133		164
134	=back	165	=back
135		166
136		167
		168	=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL
		169
		170	Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on
		171	how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs.
		172
		173	=over 4
		174
		175	=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255.
		176
		177	This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a
		178	Perl string - very natural.
		179
		180	=item 2. Perl does I<not> associate an encoding with your strings.
		181
		182	... until you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or
		183	printing the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your
		184	string as locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending
		185	on various settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your
		186	data, it is I<use> that decides encoding, not any magical meta data.
		187
		188	=item 3. The internal utf-8 flag has no meaning with regards to the
		189	encoding of your string.
		190
		191	Just ignore that flag unless you debug a Perl bug, a module written in
		192	XS or want to dive into the internals of perl. Otherwise it will only
		193	confuse you, as, despite the name, it says nothing about how your string
		194	is encoded. You can have Unicode strings with that flag set, with that
		195	flag clear, and you can have binary data with that flag set and that flag
		196	clear. Other possibilities exist, too.
		197
		198	If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't
		199	exist.
		200
		201	=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be
		202	validly interpreted as a Unicode code point.
		203
		204	If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a
		205	Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string.
		206
		207	=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string.
		208
		209	It's a fact. Learn to live with it.
		210
		211	=back
		212
		213	I hope this helps :)
		214
		215
137	=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE	216	=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
138		217
139	The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or	218	The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
140	decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.	219	decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
141		220
…		…
152	my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})	231	my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
153	=> {"a": [1, 2]}	232	=> {"a": [1, 2]}
154		233
155	=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])	234	=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
156		235
		236	=item $enabled = $json->get_ascii
		237
157	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not	238	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
158	generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any	239	generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
159	unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a	240	Unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
160	single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,	241	single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
161	as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native	242	as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
162	unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,	243	Unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
163	or any other superset of ASCII.	244	or any other superset of ASCII.
164		245
165	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode	246	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
166	characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results	247	characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
167	in a faster and more compact format.	248	in a faster and more compact format.
168		249
		250	See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
		251	document.
		252
169	The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be	253	The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
170	transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not	254	transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
171	contain any 8 bit characters.	255	contain any 8 bit characters.
172		256
173	JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])	257	JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
174	=> ["\ud801\udc01"]	258	=> ["\ud801\udc01"]
175		259
176	=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])	260	=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
177		261
		262	=item $enabled = $json->get_latin1
		263
178	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode	264	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
179	the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters	265	the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
180	outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a	266	outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
181	latin1-encoded JSON text or a native unicode string. The C<decode> method	267	latin1-encoded JSON text or a native Unicode string. The C<decode> method
182	will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default	268	will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
183	expects unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.	269	expects Unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
184		270
185	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode	271	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
186	characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.	272	characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
		273
		274	See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
		275	document.
187		276
188	The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON	277	The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
189	text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded	278	text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
190	size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded	279	size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
191	in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and	280	in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
192	transfering), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when	281	transferring), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
193	you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently	282	you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
194	in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.	283	in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
195		284
196	JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]	285	JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
197	=> ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)	286	=> ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
198		287
199	=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])	288	=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
		289
		290	=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8
200		291
201	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode	292	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
202	the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the	293	the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
203	C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please	294	C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
204	note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the	295	note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
205	range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future	296	range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
206	versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16	297	versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
207	and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.	298	and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
208		299
209	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON	300	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON
210	string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a	301	string as a (non-encoded) Unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a
211	unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs	302	Unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
212	to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.	303	to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
		304
		305	See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
		306	document.
213		307
214	Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:	308	Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
215		309
216	use Encode;	310	use Encode;
217	$jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);	311	$jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
…		…
238	]	332	]
239	}	333	}
240		334
241	=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])	335	=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
242		336
		337	=item $enabled = $json->get_indent
		338
243	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline	339	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
244	format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair	340	format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
245	into its own line, identing them properly.	341	into its own line, indenting them properly.
246		342
247	If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the	343	If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
248	resulting JSON text is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>.	344	resulting JSON text is guaranteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
249		345
250	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.	346	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
251		347
252	=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])	348	=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
		349
		350	=item $enabled = $json->get_space_before
253		351
254	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra	352	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
255	optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.	353	optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
256		354
257	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra	355	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
…		…
263	Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:	361	Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
264		362
265	{"key" :"value"}	363	{"key" :"value"}
266		364
267	=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])	365	=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
		366
		367	=item $enabled = $json->get_space_after
268		368
269	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra	369	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
270	optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects	370	optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
271	and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array	371	and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
272	members.	372	members.
…		…
279	Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:	379	Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
280		380
281	{"key": "value"}	381	{"key": "value"}
282		382
283	=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])	383	=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])
		384
		385	=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed
284		386
285	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some	387	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
286	extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be	388	extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
287	affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid	389	affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
288	JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to	390	JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
…		…
310	{	412	{
311	"k1": "v1",	413	"k1": "v1",
312	"k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed	414	"k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed
313	}	415	}
314		416
		417	=item * shell-style '#'-comments
		418
		419	Whenever JSON allows whitespace, shell-style comments are additionally
		420	allowed. They are terminated by the first carriage-return or line-feed
		421	character, after which more white-space and comments are allowed.
		422
		423	[
		424	1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
		425	# neither this one...
		426	]
		427
315	=back	428	=back
316		429
317	=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])	430	=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
		431
		432	=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical
318		433
319	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects	434	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
320	by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.	435	by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
321		436
322	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value	437	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
323	pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs	438	pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
324	of the same script).	439	of the same script).
325		440
326	This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as	441	This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
327	the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,	442	the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
328	the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data,	443	the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
329	as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.	444	as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
330		445
331	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.	446	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
332		447
333	=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])	448	=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
		449
		450	=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref
334		451
335	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a	452	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
336	non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,	453	non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
337	which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON	454	which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
338	values instead of croaking.	455	values instead of croaking.
…		…
346	resulting in an invalid JSON text:	463	resulting in an invalid JSON text:
347		464
348	JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")	465	JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
349	=> "Hello, World!"	466	=> "Hello, World!"
350		467
		468	=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable])
		469
		470	=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown
		471
		472	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode> will I<not> throw an
		473	exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for
		474	example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C<null> value. Note
		475	that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by
		476	c<allow_nonref>.
		477
		478	If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
		479	exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON.
		480
		481	This option does not affect C<decode> in any way, and it is recommended to
		482	leave it off unless you know your communications partner.
		483
351	=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])	484	=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
		485
		486	=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
352		487
353	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not	488	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
354	barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the	489	barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the
355	B<convert_blessed> option will decide wether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>	490	B<convert_blessed> option will decide whether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>
356	disabled or no C<to_json> method found) or a representation of the	491	disabled or no C<TO_JSON> method found) or a representation of the
357	object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<to_json> method found) is being	492	object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<TO_JSON> method found) is being
358	encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.	493	encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
359		494
360	If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an	495	If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
361	exception when it encounters a blessed object.	496	exception when it encounters a blessed object.
362		497
363	=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])	498	=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
		499
		500	=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed
364		501
365	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a	502	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
366	blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method	503	blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
367	on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context	504	on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context
368	and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no	505	and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no
…		…
372	The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>	509	The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
373	returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same	510	returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
374	way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle	511	way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
375	(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other	512	(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
376	methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are	513	methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
377	usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with the C<to_json>	514	usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json>
378	function.	515	function or method.
379		516
380	This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the	517	This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the
381	future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are	518	future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are
382	enabled by this setting.	519	enabled by this setting.
383		520
…		…
425		562
426	As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>	563	As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
427	one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key	564	one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
428	objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially	565	objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
429	as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept	566	as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
430	as JSON gets (its basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not	567	as JSON gets (it's basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
431	support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks	568	support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
432	like a serialised Perl hash.	569	like a serialised Perl hash.
433		570
434	Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or	571	Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
435	C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even	572	C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
…		…
459		596
460	{ __widget__ => $self->{id} }	597	{ __widget__ => $self->{id} }
461	}	598	}
462		599
463	=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])	600	=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
		601
		602	=item $enabled = $json->get_shrink
464		603
465	Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for	604	Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
466	strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either	605	strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
467	C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save	606	C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
468	memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many	607	memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
…		…
486	strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats	625	strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
487	internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.	626	internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
488		627
489	=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])	628	=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
490		629
		630	=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth
		631
491	Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding	632	Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
492	or decoding. If the JSON text or Perl data structure has an equal or	633	or decoding. If a higher nesting level is detected in JSON text or a Perl
493	higher nesting level then this limit, then the encoder and decoder will	634	data structure, then the encoder and decoder will stop and croak at that
494	stop and croak at that point.	635	point.
495		636
496	Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder	637	Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
497	needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>	638	needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
498	characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a	639	characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
499	given character in a string.	640	given character in a string.
500		641
501	Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures	642	Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
502	that the object is only a single hash/object or array.	643	that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
503		644
504	The argument to C<max_depth> will be rounded up to the next highest power
505	of two. If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be	645	If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be used, which
506	used, which is rarely useful.	646	is rarely useful.
		647
		648	Note that nesting is implemented by recursion in C. The default value has
		649	been chosen to be as large as typical operating systems allow without
		650	crashing.
507		651
508	See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.	652	See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
509		653
510	=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])	654	=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
		655
		656	=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size
511		657
512	Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is	658	Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
513	being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>	659	being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
514	is called on a string longer then this number of characters it will not	660	is called on a string that is longer then this many bytes, it will not
515	attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no	661	attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
516	effect on C<encode> (yet).	662	effect on C<encode> (yet).
517		663
518	The argument to C<max_size> will be rounded up to the next B<highest>	664	If no argument is given, the limit check will be deactivated (same as when
519	power of two (so may be more than requested). If no argument is given, the	665	C<0> is specified).
520	limit check will be deactivated (same as when C<0> is specified).
521		666
522	See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.	667	See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
523		668
524	=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)	669	=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
525		670
…		…
554	=> ([], 3)	699	=> ([], 3)
555		700
556	=back	701	=back
557		702
558		703
		704	=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING
		705
		706	In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON
		707	texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting
		708	Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a
		709	JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has
		710	a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to
		711	using C<decode_prefix> to see if a full JSON object is available, but is
		712	much more efficient (JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text
		713	once it is sure it has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very
		714	simple but truly incremental parser).
		715
		716	The following two methods deal with this.
		717
		718	=over 4
		719
		720	=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string])
		721
		722	This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and
		723	extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these
		724	functions are optional).
		725
		726	If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already
		727	existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object.
		728
		729	After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply
		730	return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text
		731	in as many chunks as you want.
		732
		733	If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract
		734	exactly I<one> JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this
		735	object, otherwise it will return C<undef>. If there is a parse error,
		736	this method will croak just as C<decode> would do (one can then use
		737	C<incr_skip> to skip the errornous part). This is the most common way of
		738	using the method.
		739
		740	And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects
		741	from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list
		742	otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators between the JSON
		743	objects or arrays, instead they must be concatenated back-to-back. If
		744	an error occurs, an exception will be raised as in the scalar context
		745	case. Note that in this case, any previously-parsed JSON texts will be
		746	lost.
		747
		748	=item $lvalue_string = $json->incr_text
		749
		750	This method returns the currently stored JSON fragment as an lvalue, that
		751	is, you can manipulate it. This I<only> works when a preceding call to
		752	C<incr_parse> in I<scalar context> successfully returned an object. Under
		753	all other circumstances you must not call this function (I mean it.
		754	although in simple tests it might actually work, it I<will> fail under
		755	real world conditions). As a special exception, you can also call this
		756	method before having parsed anything.
		757
		758	This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a
		759	JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text
		760	(such as commas).
		761
		762	=item $json->incr_skip
		763
		764	This will reset the state of the incremental parser and will remove the
		765	parsed text from the input buffer. This is useful after C<incr_parse>
		766	died, in which case the input buffer and incremental parser state is left
		767	unchanged, to skip the text parsed so far and to reset the parse state.
		768
		769	=item $json->incr_reset
		770
		771	This completely resets the incremental parser, that is, after this call,
		772	it will be as if the parser had never parsed anything.
		773
		774	This is useful if you want ot repeatedly parse JSON objects and want to
		775	ignore any trailing data, which means you have to reset the parser after
		776	each successful decode.
		777
		778	=back
		779
		780	=head2 LIMITATIONS
		781
		782	All options that affect decoding are supported, except
		783	C<allow_nonref>. The reason for this is that it cannot be made to
		784	work sensibly: JSON objects and arrays are self-delimited, i.e. you can concatenate
		785	them back to back and still decode them perfectly. This does not hold true
		786	for JSON numbers, however.
		787
		788	For example, is the string C<1> a single JSON number, or is it simply the
		789	start of C<12>? Or is C<12> a single JSON number, or the concatenation
		790	of C<1> and C<2>? In neither case you can tell, and this is why JSON::XS
		791	takes the conservative route and disallows this case.
		792
		793	=head2 EXAMPLES
		794
		795	Some examples will make all this clearer. First, a simple example that
		796	works similarly to C<decode_prefix>: We want to decode the JSON object at
		797	the 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
		809	Easy, isn't it?
		810
		811	Now for a more complicated example: Imagine a hypothetical protocol where
		812	you read some requests from a TCP stream, and each request is a JSON
		813	array, without any separation between them (in fact, it is often useful to
		814	use newlines as "separators", as these get interpreted as whitespace at
		815	the start of the JSON text, which makes it possible to test said protocol
		816	with C<telnet>...).
		817
		818	Here is how you'd do it (it is trivial to write this in an event-based
		819	manner):
		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
		832	Another complicated example: Assume you have a string with JSON objects
		833	or 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,
		835	and 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
		852	Now lets go for a very complex example: Assume that you have a gigantic
		853	JSON array-of-objects, many gigabytes in size, and you want to parse it,
		854	but you cannot load it into memory fully (this has actually happened in
		855	the real world :).
		856
		857	Well, you lost, you have to implement your own JSON parser. But JSON::XS
		858	can still help you: You implement a (very simple) array parser and let
		859	JSON decode the array elements, which are all full JSON objects on their
		860	own (this wouldn't work if the array elements could be JSON numbers, for
		861	example):
		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
		925	This is a complex example, but most of the complexity comes from the fact
		926	that we are trying to be correct (bear with me if I am wrong, I never ran
		927	the above example :).
		928
		929
		930
559	=head1 MAPPING	931	=head1 MAPPING
560		932
561	This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and	933	This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
562	vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most	934	vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
563	circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics	935	circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
564	(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).	936	(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
565		937
566	For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,	938	For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
567	lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppcercase I<Perl>	939	lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppercase I<Perl>
568	refers to the abstract Perl language itself.	940	refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
569		941
570		942
571	=head2 JSON -> PERL	943	=head2 JSON -> PERL
572		944
573	=over 4	945	=over 4
574		946
575	=item object	947	=item object
576		948
577	A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object	949	A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
578	keys is preserved (JSON does not preserver object key ordering itself).	950	keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself).
579		951
580	=item array	952	=item array
581		953
582	A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.	954	A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
583		955
…		…
591		963
592	A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or	964	A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
593	string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On	965	string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On
594	the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all	966	the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
595	the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and	967	the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
596	might represent more values exactly than (floating point) numbers.	968	might represent more values exactly than floating point numbers.
597		969
598	If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent	970	If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
599	it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as	971	it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
600	a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of	972	a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
601	precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value.	973	precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in
		974	which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be
		975	re-encoded toa JSON string).
602		976
603	Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be	977	Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
604	represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of	978	represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
605	precision.	979	precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but
606		980	the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number).
607	This might create round-tripping problems as numbers might become strings,
608	but as Perl is typeless there is no other way to do it.
609		981
610	=item true, false	982	=item true, false
611		983
612	These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>,	984	These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>,
613	respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers	985	respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers
614	C<1> and C<0>. You can check wether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using	986	C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using
615	the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function.	987	the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function.
616		988
617	=item null	989	=item null
618		990
619	A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.	991	A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
…		…
650	Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an	1022	Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
651	exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and	1023	exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
652	C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can	1024	C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can
653	also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.	1025	also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.
654		1026
655	to_json [\0,JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true]	1027	encode_json [\0, JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true]
656		1028
657	=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false	1029	=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false
658		1030
659	These special values become JSON true and JSON false values,	1031	These special values become JSON true and JSON false values,
660	respectively. You cna alos use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want.	1032	respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want.
661		1033
662	=item blessed objects	1034	=item blessed objects
663		1035
664	Blessed objects are not allowed. JSON::XS currently tries to encode their	1036	Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON. See the
665	underlying representation (hash- or arrayref), but this behaviour might	1037	C<allow_blessed> and C<convert_blessed> methods on various options on
666	change in future versions.	1038	how to deal with this: basically, you can choose between throwing an
		1039	exception, encoding the reference as if it weren't blessed, or provide
		1040	your own serialiser method.
667		1041
668	=item simple scalars	1042	=item simple scalars
669		1043
670	Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most	1044	Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
671	difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as	1045	difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
672	JSON null value, scalars that have last been used in a string context	1046	JSON C<null> values, scalars that have last been used in a string context
673	before encoding as JSON strings and anything else as number value:	1047	before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value:
674		1048
675	# dump as number	1049	# dump as number
676	to_json [2] # yields [2]	1050	encode_json [2] # yields [2]
677	to_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]	1051	encode_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
678	my $value = 5; to_json [$value] # yields [5]	1052	my $value = 5; encode_json [$value] # yields [5]
679		1053
680	# used as string, so dump as string	1054	# used as string, so dump as string
681	print $value;	1055	print $value;
682	to_json [$value] # yields ["5"]	1056	encode_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
683		1057
684	# undef becomes null	1058	# undef becomes null
685	to_json [undef] # yields [null]	1059	encode_json [undef] # yields [null]
686		1060
687	You can force the type to be a string by stringifying it:	1061	You can force the type to be a JSON string by stringifying it:
688		1062
689	my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number	1063	my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
690	"$x"; # stringified	1064	"$x"; # stringified
691	$x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify	1065	$x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
692	print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often	1066	print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
693		1067
694	You can force the type to be a number by numifying it:	1068	You can force the type to be a JSON number by numifying it:
695		1069
696	my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string	1070	my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
697	$x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number	1071	$x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
698	$x *= 1; # same thing, the choise is yours.	1072	$x *= 1; # same thing, the choice is yours.
699		1073
700	You can not currently output JSON booleans or force the type in other,	1074	You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me
701	less obscure, ways. Tell me if you need this capability.	1075	if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed
		1076	:).
702		1077
703	=back	1078	=back
704		1079
705		1080
706	=head1 COMPARISON	1081	=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES
707		1082
708	As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing	1083	The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify
709	JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the	1084	encodings or codesets - C<utf8>, C<latin1> and C<ascii>. There seems to be
710	problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules,	1085	some confusion on what these do, so here is a short comparison:
711	followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer	1086
712	from any of these problems or limitations.	1087	C<utf8> controls whether the JSON text created by C<encode> (and expected
		1088	by C<decode>) is UTF-8 encoded or not, while C<latin1> and C<ascii> only
		1089	control whether C<encode> escapes character values outside their respective
		1090	codeset range. Neither of these flags conflict with each other, although
		1091	some combinations make less sense than others.
		1092
		1093	Care has been taken to make all flags symmetrical with respect to
		1094	C<encode> and C<decode>, that is, texts encoded with any combination of
		1095	these flag values will be correctly decoded when the same flags are used
		1096	- in general, if you use different flag settings while encoding vs. when
		1097	decoding you likely have a bug somewhere.
		1098
		1099	Below comes a verbose discussion of these flags. Note that a "codeset" is
		1100	simply an abstract set of character-codepoint pairs, while an encoding
		1101	takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into
		1102	octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding,
		1103	and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at
		1104	the same time, which can be confusing.
713		1105
714	=over 4	1106	=over 4
715		1107
716	=item JSON 1.07	1108	=item C<utf8> flag disabled
717		1109
718	Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl).	1110	When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate
		1111	and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode
		1112	values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such
		1113	characters are decoded as-is, no canges to them will be done, except
		1114	"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters,
		1115	respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do
		1116	funny/weird/dumb stuff).
719		1117
720	Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles unicode values is	1118	This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you
721	undocumented. One can get far by feeding it unicode strings and doing	1119	want to have UTF-16 encoded JSON texts) or when some other layer does
722	en-/decoding oneself, but unicode escapes are not working properly).	1120	the encoding for you (for example, when printing to a terminal using a
		1121	filehandle that transparently encodes to UTF-8 you certainly do NOT want
		1122	to UTF-8 encode your data first and have Perl encode it another time).
723		1123
724	No roundtripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g.	1124	=item C<utf8> flag enabled
725	the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will
726	decode into the number 2.
727		1125
728	=item JSON::PC 0.01	1126	If the C<utf8>-flag is enabled, C<encode>/C<decode> will encode all
		1127	characters using the corresponding UTF-8 multi-byte sequence, and will
		1128	expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character"
		1129	of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow
		1130	that.
729		1131
730	Very fast.	1132	The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you
		1133	will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded
		1134	octet/binary string in Perl.
731		1135
732	Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling.	1136	=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled
733		1137
734	No roundtripping.	1138	With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters
		1139	with ordinal values > 255 (> 127 with C<ascii>) and encode the remaining
		1140	characters as specified by the C<utf8> flag.
735		1141
736	Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic	1142	If C<utf8> is disabled, then the result is also correctly encoded in those
737	values will make it croak).	1143	character sets (as both are proper subsets of Unicode, meaning that a
		1144	Unicode string with all character values < 256 is the same thing as a
		1145	ISO-8859-1 string, and a Unicode string with all character values < 128 is
		1146	the same thing as an ASCII string in Perl).
738		1147
739	Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}>	1148	If C<utf8> is enabled, you still get a correct UTF-8-encoded string,
740	which is not a valid JSON text.	1149	regardless of these flags, just some more characters will be escaped using
		1150	C<\uXXXX> then before.
741		1151
742	Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not	1152	Note that ISO-8859-1-I<encoded> strings are not compatible with UTF-8
743	getting fixed).	1153	encoding, while ASCII-encoded strings are. That is because the ISO-8859-1
		1154	encoding is NOT a subset of UTF-8 (despite the ISO-8859-1 I<codeset> being
		1155	a subset of Unicode), while ASCII is.
744		1156
745	=item JSON::Syck 0.21	1157	Surprisingly, C<decode> will ignore these flags and so treat all input
		1158	values as governed by the C<utf8> flag. If it is disabled, this allows you
		1159	to decode ISO-8859-1- and ASCII-encoded strings, as both strict subsets of
		1160	Unicode. If it is enabled, you can correctly decode UTF-8 encoded strings.
746		1161
747	Very buggy (often crashes).	1162	So neither C<latin1> nor C<ascii> are incompatible with the C<utf8> flag -
		1163	they only govern when the JSON output engine escapes a character or not.
748		1164
749	Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much	1165	The main use for C<latin1> is to relatively efficiently store binary data
750	undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a	1166	as JSON, at the expense of breaking compatibility with most JSON decoders.
751	single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
752	generate ASCII-only JSON texts).
753		1167
754	Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode	1168	The main use for C<ascii> is to force the output to not contain characters
755	escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to	1169	with values > 127, which means you can interpret the resulting string
756	I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour).	1170	as UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ASCII, KOI8-R or most about any character set and
757		1171	8-bit-encoding, and still get the same data structure back. This is useful
758	No roundtripping (simple cases work, but this depends on wether the scalar	1172	when your channel for JSON transfer is not 8-bit clean or the encoding
759	value was used in a numeric context or not).	1173	might be mangled in between (e.g. in mail), and works because ASCII is a
760		1174	proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world.
761	Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state.
762
763	Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
764	getting fixed).
765
766	Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
767	return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
768	issue: imagine two banks transfering money between each other using
769	JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
770	while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
771	good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
772	the transaction will still not succeed).
773
774	=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
775
776	Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
777
778	Undocumented unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
779	still don't get parsed properly).
780
781	Very inflexible.
782
783	No roundtripping.
784
785	Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
786	result in nothing being output)
787
788	Does not check input for validity.
789		1175
790	=back	1176	=back
791		1177
792		1178
793	=head2 JSON and YAML	1179	=head2 JSON and YAML
794		1180
795	You often hear that JSON is a subset (or a close subset) of YAML. This is,	1181	You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
796	however, a mass hysteria and very far from the truth. In general, there is	1182	hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing),
797	no way to configure JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML.	1183	so let me state it clearly: I<in general, there is no way to configure
		1184	JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML> that works in all
		1185	cases.
798		1186
799	If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this	1187	If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
800	algorithm (subject to change in future versions):	1188	algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
801		1189
802	my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);	1190	my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
803	my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";	1191	my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
804		1192
805	This will usually generate JSON texts that also parse as valid	1193	This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
806	YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key	1194	YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
807	lengths that JSON doesn't have, so you should make sure that your hash	1195	lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible
		1196	unicode handling, so you should make sure that your hash keys are
808	keys are noticably shorter than the 1024 characters YAML allows.	1197	noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows and that
		1198	you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the Unicode BMP
		1199	(basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/> sequences in
		1200	strings (which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate, but other JSON
		1201	generators might).
809		1202
810	There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of. In general	1203	There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML
		1204	specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In
811	you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice versa,	1205	general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice
812	or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are high	1206	versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are
813	that you will run into severe interoperability problems.	1207	high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you
		1208	least expect it.
		1209
		1210	=over 4
		1211
		1212	=item (*)
		1213
		1214	I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the
		1215	authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him
		1216	acknowledging that the actual incompatibilities exist. As I was personally
		1217	bitten by this "JSON is YAML" lie, I refused and said I will continue to
		1218	educate people about these issues, so others do not run into the same
		1219	problem again and again. After this, Brian called me a (quote)I<complete
		1220	and worthless idiot>(unquote).
		1221
		1222	In my opinion, instead of pressuring and insulting people who actually
		1223	clarify issues with YAML and the wrong statements of some of its
		1224	proponents, I would kindly suggest reading the JSON spec (which is not
		1225	that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and
		1226	educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the
		1227	real compatibility for many I<years> and trying to silence people who
		1228	point out that it isn't true.
		1229
		1230	=back
814		1231
815		1232
816	=head2 SPEED	1233	=head2 SPEED
817		1234
818	It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following	1235	It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
819	tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program	1236	tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program
820	in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own	1237	in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
821	system.	1238	system.
822		1239
823	First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short	1240	First comes a comparison between various modules using
824	single-line JSON string:	1241	a very short single-line JSON string (also available at
		1242	L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>).
825		1243
826	{"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], \	1244	{"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1",
827	"id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, true, false]}	1245	"we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7,
		1246	true, false]}
828		1247
829	It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses	1248	It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
830	the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface	1249	the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
831	with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables	1250	with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
832	shrink). Higher is better:	1251	shrink). Higher is better:
833		1252
834	Storable \| 15779.925 \| 14169.946 \|
835	-----------+------------+------------+
836	module \| encode \| decode \|	1253	module \| encode \| decode \|
837	-----------\|------------\|------------\|	1254	-----------\|------------\|------------\|
838	JSON \| 4990.842 \| 4088.813 \|	1255	JSON 1.x \| 4990.842 \| 4088.813 \|
839	JSON::DWIW \| 51653.990 \| 71575.154 \|	1256	JSON::DWIW \| 51653.990 \| 71575.154 \|
840	JSON::PC \| 65948.176 \| 74631.744 \|	1257	JSON::PC \| 65948.176 \| 74631.744 \|
841	JSON::PP \| 8931.652 \| 3817.168 \|	1258	JSON::PP \| 8931.652 \| 3817.168 \|
842	JSON::Syck \| 24877.248 \| 27776.848 \|	1259	JSON::Syck \| 24877.248 \| 27776.848 \|
843	JSON::XS \| 388361.481 \| 227951.304 \|	1260	JSON::XS \| 388361.481 \| 227951.304 \|
…		…
845	JSON::XS/3 \| 338250.323 \| 218453.333 \|	1262	JSON::XS/3 \| 338250.323 \| 218453.333 \|
846	Storable \| 16500.016 \| 135300.129 \|	1263	Storable \| 16500.016 \| 135300.129 \|
847	-----------+------------+------------+	1264	-----------+------------+------------+
848		1265
849	That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,	1266	That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
850	about three times faster on decoding, and over fourty times faster	1267	about three times faster on decoding, and over forty times faster
851	than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares	1268	than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares
852	favourably to Storable for small amounts of data.	1269	favourably to Storable for small amounts of data.
853		1270
854	Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals	1271	Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
855	search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg):	1272	search API (L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/long.json>).
856		1273
857	module \| encode \| decode \|	1274	module \| encode \| decode \|
858	-----------\|------------\|------------\|	1275	-----------\|------------\|------------\|
859	JSON \| 55.260 \| 34.971 \|	1276	JSON 1.x \| 55.260 \| 34.971 \|
860	JSON::DWIW \| 825.228 \| 1082.513 \|	1277	JSON::DWIW \| 825.228 \| 1082.513 \|
861	JSON::PC \| 3571.444 \| 2394.829 \|	1278	JSON::PC \| 3571.444 \| 2394.829 \|
862	JSON::PP \| 210.987 \| 32.574 \|	1279	JSON::PP \| 210.987 \| 32.574 \|
863	JSON::Syck \| 552.551 \| 787.544 \|	1280	JSON::Syck \| 552.551 \| 787.544 \|
864	JSON::XS \| 5780.463 \| 4854.519 \|	1281	JSON::XS \| 5780.463 \| 4854.519 \|
…		…
868	-----------+------------+------------+	1285	-----------+------------+------------+
869		1286
870	Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly	1287	Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
871	decodes faster).	1288	decodes faster).
872		1289
873	On large strings containing lots of high unicode characters, some modules	1290	On large strings containing lots of high Unicode characters, some modules
874	(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result	1291	(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
875	will be broken due to missing (or wrong) unicode handling. Others refuse	1292	will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse
876	to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair	1293	to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
877	comparison table for that case.	1294	comparison table for that case.
878		1295
879		1296
880	=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS	1297	=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
…		…
886	any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am	1303	any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
887	trying hard on making that true, but you never know.	1304	trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
888		1305
889	Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should	1306	Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
890	limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your	1307	limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
891	resources run out, thats just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that	1308	resources run out, that's just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
892	can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is	1309	can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
893	usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode	1310	usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
894	it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON	1311	it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
895	text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you	1312	text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
896	might want to check the size before you accept the string.	1313	might want to check the size before you accept the string.
897		1314
898	Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and	1315	Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
899	arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64	1316	arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
900	machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but	1317	machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
901	only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak	1318	only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
902	to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. to be	1319	to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. To be
903	conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process	1320	conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
904	has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the	1321	has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
905	C<max_depth> method.	1322	C<max_depth> method.
906		1323
907	And last but least, something else could bomb you that I forgot to think	1324	Something else could bomb you, too, that I forgot to think of. In that
908	of. In that case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints,	1325	case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, though...
909	though...	1326
		1327	Also keep in mind that JSON::XS might leak contents of your Perl data
		1328	structures in its error messages, so when you serialise sensitive
		1329	information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS
		1330	will not end up in front of untrusted eyes.
910		1331
911	If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption	1332	If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
912	by javascript scripts in a browser you should have a look at	1333	by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
913	L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see wether	1334	L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see whether
914	you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser	1335	you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser
915	design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major	1336	design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major
916	browser developers care only for features, not about doing security	1337	browser developers care only for features, not about getting security
917	right).	1338	right).
918		1339
919		1340
		1341	=head1 THREADS
		1342
		1343	This module is I<not> guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no
		1344	plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the
		1345	horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated
		1346	process simulations - use fork, it's I<much> faster, cheaper, better).
		1347
		1348	(It might actually work, but you have been warned).
		1349
		1350
920	=head1 BUGS	1351	=head1 BUGS
921		1352
922	While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does	1353	While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
923	not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is	1354	not mean it's bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. If you
924	still relatively early in its development. If you keep reporting bugs they	1355	keep reporting bugs they will be fixed swiftly, though.
925	will be fixed swiftly, though.	1356
		1357	Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting
		1358	service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason.
926		1359
927	=cut	1360	=cut
928		1361
929	our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };	1362	our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
930	our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };	1363	our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
…		…
947	"--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },	1380	"--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
948	fallback => 1;	1381	fallback => 1;
949		1382
950	1;	1383	1;
951		1384
		1385	=head1 SEE ALSO
		1386
		1387	The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments.
		1388
952	=head1 AUTHOR	1389	=head1 AUTHOR
953		1390
954	Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>	1391	Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
955	http://home.schmorp.de/	1392	http://home.schmorp.de/
956		1393

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Comparing JSON-XS/XS.pm (file contents): Revision 1.59 by root, Mon Aug 27 01:49:01 2007 UTC vs. Revision 1.106 by root, Tue May 27 05:31:39 2008 UTC

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Comparing JSON-XS/XS.pm (file contents):
Revision 1.59 by root, Mon Aug 27 01:49:01 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.106 by root, Tue May 27 05:31:39 2008 UTC