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Revision 1.5 by root, Thu Mar 22 21:36:52 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.62 by root, Thu Oct 11 22:52:52 2007 UTC

1=encoding utf-8
2
1=head1 NAME 3=head1 NAME
2 4
3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast 5JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast
4 6
7JSON::XS - 正しくて高速な JSON シリアライザ/デシリアライザ
8 (http://fleur.hio.jp/perldoc/mix/lib/JSON/XS.html)
9
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 10=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 11
7 use JSON::XS; 12 use JSON::XS;
13
14 # exported functions, they croak on error
15 # and expect/generate UTF-8
16
17 $utf8_encoded_json_text = to_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;
18 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = from_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;
19
20 # OO-interface
21
22 $coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;
23 $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);
24 $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);
8 25
9=head1 DESCRIPTION 26=head1 DESCRIPTION
10 27
11This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its 28This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its
12primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be 29primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be
18their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug 35their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
19reports for other reasons. 36reports for other reasons.
20 37
21See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules. 38See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules.
22 39
40See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and
41vice versa.
42
23=head2 FEATURES 43=head2 FEATURES
24 44
25=over 4 45=over 4
26 46
27=item * correct handling of unicode issues 47=item * correct unicode handling
28 48
29This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how it does so. 49This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how and when
50it does so.
30 51
31=item * round-trip integrity 52=item * round-trip integrity
32 53
33When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported 54When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported
34by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. 55by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level.
35(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2"). 56(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks
57like a number).
36 58
37=item * strict checking of JSON correctness 59=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
38 60
39There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON strings by default, 61There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
40and only JSON is accepted as input (the latter is a security feature). 62and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
63feature).
41 64
42=item * fast 65=item * fast
43 66
44compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably. 67Compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably in terms
68of speed, too.
45 69
46=item * simple to use 70=item * simple to use
47 71
48This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO 72This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO
49interface. 73interface.
50 74
51=item * reasonably versatile output formats 75=item * reasonably versatile output formats
52 76
53You can choose between the most compact format possible, a pure-ascii 77You can choose between the most compact guarenteed single-line format
54format, or a pretty-printed format. Or you can combine those features in 78possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format
55whatever way you like. 79(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
80unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
81stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
56 82
57=back 83=back
58 84
59=cut 85=cut
60 86
61package JSON::XS; 87package JSON::XS;
62 88
63BEGIN { 89use strict;
90
64 $VERSION = '0.1'; 91our $VERSION = '1.5';
65 @ISA = qw(Exporter); 92our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
66 93
67 @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json); 94our @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json);
68 require Exporter;
69 95
70 require XSLoader; 96use Exporter;
71 XSLoader::load JSON::XS::, $VERSION; 97use XSLoader;
72}
73 98
74=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 99=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
75 100
76The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are 101The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are
77exported by default: 102exported by default:
78 103
79=over 4 104=over 4
80 105
81=item $json_string = to_json $perl_scalar 106=item $json_text = to_json $perl_scalar
82 107
83Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to 108Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to
84a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains 109a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains
85octets only). Croaks on error. 110octets only). Croaks on error.
86 111
87This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8 112This function call is functionally identical to:
88(1)->encode ($perl_scalar) >>.
89 113
114 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
115
116except being faster.
117
90=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_string 118=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_text
91 119
92The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to 120The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to
93parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON string, returning the resulting simple 121parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting simple
94scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 122scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
95 123
96This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8 124This function call is functionally identical to:
97(1)->decode ($json_string) >>. 125
126 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
127
128except being faster.
129
130=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar
131
132Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or
133JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively
134and are used to represent JSON C<true> and C<false> values in Perl.
135
136See MAPPING, below, for more information on how JSON values are mapped to
137Perl.
98 138
99=back 139=back
140
100 141
101=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE 142=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
102 143
103The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or 144The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
104decoding style, within the limits of supported formats. 145decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
111strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>. 152strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>.
112 153
113The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can 154The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can
114be chained: 155be chained:
115 156
116 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8(1)->space_after(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 157 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
117 => {"a": [1, 2]} 158 => {"a": [1, 2]}
118 159
119=item $json = $json->ascii ($enable) 160=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
120 161
121If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will not generate 162If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
122characters outside the code range C<0..127>. Any unicode characters 163generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
123outside that range will be escaped using either a single \uXXXX (BMP 164unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
124characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence, as per RFC4627. 165single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
166as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
167unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
168or any other superset of ASCII.
125 169
126If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode 170If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
127characters unless necessary. 171characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
172in a faster and more compact format.
128 173
174The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
175transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
176contain any 8 bit characters.
177
129 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode (chr 0x10401) 178 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
130 => \ud801\udc01 179 => ["\ud801\udc01"]
131 180
181=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
182
183If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
184the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
185outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
186latin1-encoded JSON text or a native unicode string. The C<decode> method
187will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
188expects unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
189
190If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
191characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
192
193The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
194text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
195size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
196in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
197transfering), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
198you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
199in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
200
201 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
202 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
203
132=item $json = $json->utf8 ($enable) 204=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
133 205
134If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will encode the JSON 206If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
135string into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the C<decode> 207the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
136method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please note that 208C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
137UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the range 209note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
138C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. 210range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
211versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
212and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
139 213
140If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON 214If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON
141string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a 215string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a
142unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs 216unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
143to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module. 217to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
144 218
219Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
220
221 use Encode;
222 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
223
224Example, decode UTF-32LE-encoded JSON:
225
226 use Encode;
227 $object = JSON::XS->new->decode (decode "UTF-32LE", $jsontext);
228
145=item $json = $json->pretty ($enable) 229=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable])
146 230
147This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and 231This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and
148C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to 232C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to
149generate the most readable (or most compact) form possible. 233generate the most readable (or most compact) form possible.
234
235Example, pretty-print some simple structure:
150 236
151 my $json = JSON::XS->new->pretty(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 237 my $json = JSON::XS->new->pretty(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]})
152 => 238 =>
153 { 239 {
154 "a" : [ 240 "a" : [
155 1, 241 1,
156 2 242 2
157 ] 243 ]
158 } 244 }
159 245
160=item $json = $json->indent ($enable) 246=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
161 247
162If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will use a multiline 248If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
163format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair 249format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
164into its own line, identing them properly. 250into its own line, identing them properly.
165 251
166If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the 252If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
167resulting JSON strings is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>. 253resulting JSON text is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
168 254
169This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 255This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
170 256
171=item $json = $json->space_before ($enable) 257=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
172 258
173If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will add an extra 259If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
174optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects. 260optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
175 261
176If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 262If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
177space at those places. 263space at those places.
178 264
179This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. You will also most 265This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. You will also
180likely combine this setting with C<space_after>. 266most likely combine this setting with C<space_after>.
181 267
268Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
269
270 {"key" :"value"}
271
182=item $json = $json->space_after ($enable) 272=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
183 273
184If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will add an extra 274If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
185optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects 275optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
186and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array 276and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
187members. 277members.
188 278
189If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 279If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
190space at those places. 280space at those places.
191 281
192This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 282This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
193 283
284Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
285
286 {"key": "value"}
287
288=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])
289
290If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
291extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
292affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
293JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
294parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files,
295resource files etc.)
296
297If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept
298valid JSON texts.
299
300Currently accepted extensions are:
301
302=over 4
303
304=item * list items can have an end-comma
305
306JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This
307can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to
308quickly append elements, so this extension accepts comma at the end of
309such items not just between them:
310
311 [
312 1,
313 2, <- this comma not normally allowed
314 ]
315 {
316 "k1": "v1",
317 "k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed
318 }
319
320=item * shell-style '#'-comments
321
322Whenever JSON allows whitespace, shell-style comments are additionally
323allowed. They are terminated by the first carriage-return or line-feed
324character, after which more white-space and comments are allowed.
325
326 [
327 1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
328 # neither this one...
329 ]
330
331=back
332
194=item $json = $json->canonical ($enable) 333=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
195 334
196If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects 335If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
197by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead. 336by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
198 337
199If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value 338If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
200pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs 339pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
201of the same script). 340of the same script).
202 341
203This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as 342This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
204the same JSON string (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled, 343the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
205the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data, 344the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
206as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl. 345as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
207 346
208This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 347This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
209 348
210=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ($enable) 349=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
211 350
212If C<$enable> is true, then the C<encode> method can convert a 351If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
213non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value, 352non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
214which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON 353which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
215values instead of croaking. 354values instead of croaking.
216 355
217If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't 356If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't
218passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON strings must either be an object 357passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON texts must either be an object
219or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a 358or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a
220JSON object or array. 359JSON object or array.
221 360
361Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>,
362resulting in an invalid JSON text:
363
364 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
365 => "Hello, World!"
366
367=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
368
369If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
370barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the
371B<convert_blessed> option will decide wether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>
372disabled or no C<to_json> method found) or a representation of the
373object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<to_json> method found) is being
374encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
375
376If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
377exception when it encounters a blessed object.
378
379=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
380
381If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
382blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
383on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context
384and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no
385C<TO_JSON> method is found, the value of C<allow_blessed> will decide what
386to do.
387
388The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
389returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
390way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
391(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
392methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
393usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with the C<to_json>
394function.
395
396This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the
397future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are
398enabled by this setting.
399
400If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what
401to do when a blessed object is found.
402
403=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
404
405When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
406time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the
407newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which
408need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid
409aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns
410an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the
411original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down
412decoding considerably.
413
414When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
415be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
416way.
417
418Example, convert all JSON objects into the integer 5:
419
420 my $js = JSON::XS->new->filter_json_object (sub { 5 });
421 # returns [5]
422 $js->decode ('[{}]')
423 # throw an exception because allow_nonref is not enabled
424 # so a lone 5 is not allowed.
425 $js->decode ('{"a":1, "b":2}');
426
427=item $json = $json->filter_json_single_key_object ($key [=> $coderef->($value)])
428
429Works remotely similar to C<filter_json_object>, but is only called for
430JSON objects having a single key named C<$key>.
431
432This C<$coderef> is called before the one specified via
433C<filter_json_object>, if any. It gets passed the single value in the JSON
434object. If it returns a single value, it will be inserted into the data
435structure. If it returns nothing (not even C<undef> but the empty list),
436the callback from C<filter_json_object> will be called next, as if no
437single-key callback were specified.
438
439If C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, the corresponding callback will be
440disabled. There can only ever be one callback for a given key.
441
442As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
443one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
444objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
445as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
446as JSON gets (its basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
447support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
448like a serialised Perl hash.
449
450Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
451C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
452things like C<__class_md5sum(classname)__>, to reduce the risk of clashing
453with real hashes.
454
455Example, decode JSON objects of the form C<< { "__widget__" => <id> } >>
456into the corresponding C<< $WIDGET{<id>} >> object:
457
458 # return whatever is in $WIDGET{5}:
459 JSON::XS
460 ->new
461 ->filter_json_single_key_object (__widget__ => sub {
462 $WIDGET{ $_[0] }
463 })
464 ->decode ('{"__widget__": 5')
465
466 # this can be used with a TO_JSON method in some "widget" class
467 # for serialisation to json:
468 sub WidgetBase::TO_JSON {
469 my ($self) = @_;
470
471 unless ($self->{id}) {
472 $self->{id} = ..get..some..id..;
473 $WIDGET{$self->{id}} = $self;
474 }
475
476 { __widget__ => $self->{id} }
477 }
478
479=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
480
481Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
482strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
483C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
484memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
485short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form
486if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called
487UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less
488space in general (and some buggy Perl or C code might even rely on that
489internal representation being used).
490
491The actual definition of what shrink does might change in future versions,
492but it will always try to save space at the expense of time.
493
494If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will
495be shrunk-to-fit, while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be
496shrunk-to-fit.
497
498If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used.
499If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster.
500
501In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting
502strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
503internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
504
505=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
506
507Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
508or decoding. If the JSON text or Perl data structure has an equal or
509higher nesting level then this limit, then the encoder and decoder will
510stop and croak at that point.
511
512Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
513needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
514characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
515given character in a string.
516
517Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
518that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
519
520The argument to C<max_depth> will be rounded up to the next highest power
521of two. If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be
522used, which is rarely useful.
523
524See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
525
526=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
527
528Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
529being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
530is called on a string longer then this number of characters it will not
531attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
532effect on C<encode> (yet).
533
534The argument to C<max_size> will be rounded up to the next B<highest>
535power of two (so may be more than requested). If no argument is given, the
536limit check will be deactivated (same as when C<0> is specified).
537
538See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
539
222=item $json_string = $json->encode ($perl_scalar) 540=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
223 541
224Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference 542Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference
225to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be 543to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be
226converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays 544converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays
227become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined 545become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined
228Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true> 546Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>
229nor C<false> values will be generated. 547nor C<false> values will be generated.
230 548
231=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_string) 549=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text)
232 550
233The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON string and tries to parse it, 551The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it,
234returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 552returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
235 553
236JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become 554JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become
237Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes 555Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes
238C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>. 556C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>.
239 557
558=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
559
560This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception
561when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will
562silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed
563so far.
564
565This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol
566(which is not the brightest thing to do in the first place) and you need
567to know where the JSON text ends.
568
569 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
570 => ([], 3)
571
240=back 572=back
573
574
575=head1 MAPPING
576
577This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
578vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
579circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
580(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
581
582For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
583lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppcercase I<Perl>
584refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
585
586
587=head2 JSON -> PERL
588
589=over 4
590
591=item object
592
593A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
594keys is preserved (JSON does not preserver object key ordering itself).
595
596=item array
597
598A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
599
600=item string
601
602A JSON string becomes a string scalar in Perl - Unicode codepoints in JSON
603are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual
604decoding is necessary.
605
606=item number
607
608A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
609string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On
610the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
611the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
612might represent more values exactly than (floating point) numbers.
613
614If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
615it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
616a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
617precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value.
618
619Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
620represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
621precision.
622
623This might create round-tripping problems as numbers might become strings,
624but as Perl is typeless there is no other way to do it.
625
626=item true, false
627
628These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>,
629respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers
630C<1> and C<0>. You can check wether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using
631the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function.
632
633=item null
634
635A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
636
637=back
638
639
640=head2 PERL -> JSON
641
642The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a
643truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by
644a Perl value.
645
646=over 4
647
648=item hash references
649
650Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering
651in hash keys (or JSON objects), they will usually be encoded in a
652pseudo-random order that can change between runs of the same program but
653stays generally the same within a single run of a program. JSON::XS can
654optionally sort the hash keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so
655the same datastructure will serialise to the same JSON text (given same
656settings and version of JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead
657and is only rarely useful, e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text
658against another for equality.
659
660=item array references
661
662Perl array references become JSON arrays.
663
664=item other references
665
666Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
667exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
668C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can
669also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.
670
671 to_json [\0,JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true]
672
673=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false
674
675These special values become JSON true and JSON false values,
676respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want.
677
678=item blessed objects
679
680Blessed objects are not allowed. JSON::XS currently tries to encode their
681underlying representation (hash- or arrayref), but this behaviour might
682change in future versions.
683
684=item simple scalars
685
686Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
687difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
688JSON null value, scalars that have last been used in a string context
689before encoding as JSON strings and anything else as number value:
690
691 # dump as number
692 to_json [2] # yields [2]
693 to_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
694 my $value = 5; to_json [$value] # yields [5]
695
696 # used as string, so dump as string
697 print $value;
698 to_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
699
700 # undef becomes null
701 to_json [undef] # yields [null]
702
703You can force the type to be a string by stringifying it:
704
705 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
706 "$x"; # stringified
707 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
708 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
709
710You can force the type to be a number by numifying it:
711
712 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
713 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
714 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choise is yours.
715
716You can not currently output JSON booleans or force the type in other,
717less obscure, ways. Tell me if you need this capability.
718
719=back
720
241 721
242=head1 COMPARISON 722=head1 COMPARISON
243 723
244As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing 724As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing
245JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the 725JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the
271 751
272Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic 752Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic
273values will make it croak). 753values will make it croak).
274 754
275Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}> 755Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}>
276which is not a valid JSON string. 756which is not a valid JSON text.
277 757
278Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 758Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
279getting fixed). 759getting fixed).
280 760
281=item JSON::Syck 0.21 761=item JSON::Syck 0.21
283Very buggy (often crashes). 763Very buggy (often crashes).
284 764
285Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much 765Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much
286undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a 766undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a
287single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to 767single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
288generate ASCII-only JSON strings). 768generate ASCII-only JSON texts).
289 769
290Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode 770Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode
291escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to 771escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to
292I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour). 772I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour).
293 773
316 796
317Very inflexible. 797Very inflexible.
318 798
319No roundtripping. 799No roundtripping.
320 800
321Does not generate valid JSON (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys 801Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
322result in nothing being output) 802result in nothing being output)
323 803
324Does not check input for validity. 804Does not check input for validity.
325 805
326=back 806=back
807
808
809=head2 JSON and YAML
810
811You often hear that JSON is a subset (or a close subset) of YAML. This is,
812however, a mass hysteria and very far from the truth. In general, there is
813no way to configure JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML.
814
815If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
816algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
817
818 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
819 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
820
821This will usually generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
822YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
823lengths that JSON doesn't have, so you should make sure that your hash
824keys are noticably shorter than the 1024 characters YAML allows.
825
826There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of. In general
827you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice versa,
828or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are high
829that you will run into severe interoperability problems.
830
327 831
328=head2 SPEED 832=head2 SPEED
329 833
330It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following 834It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
331tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program 835tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program
332in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own 836in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
333system. 837system.
334 838
335First is a comparison between various modules using a very simple JSON 839First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short
840single-line JSON string:
841
842 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], \
843 "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, true, false]}
844
336string, showing the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS is 845It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
337the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 is the OO interface with 846the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
338pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled). 847with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
848shrink). Higher is better:
339 849
850 Storable | 15779.925 | 14169.946 |
851 -----------+------------+------------+
340 module | encode | decode | 852 module | encode | decode |
341 -----------|------------|------------| 853 -----------|------------|------------|
342 JSON | 14006 | 6820 | 854 JSON | 4990.842 | 4088.813 |
343 JSON::DWIW | 200937 | 120386 | 855 JSON::DWIW | 51653.990 | 71575.154 |
344 JSON::PC | 85065 | 129366 | 856 JSON::PC | 65948.176 | 74631.744 |
345 JSON::Syck | 59898 | 44232 | 857 JSON::PP | 8931.652 | 3817.168 |
346 JSON::XS | 1171478 | 342435 | 858 JSON::Syck | 24877.248 | 27776.848 |
347 JSON::XS/2 | 730760 | 328714 | 859 JSON::XS | 388361.481 | 227951.304 |
860 JSON::XS/2 | 227951.304 | 218453.333 |
861 JSON::XS/3 | 338250.323 | 218453.333 |
862 Storable | 16500.016 | 135300.129 |
348 -----------+------------+------------+ 863 -----------+------------+------------+
349 864
350That is, JSON::XS is 6 times faster than than JSON::DWIW and about 80 865That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
866about three times faster on decoding, and over fourty times faster
351times faster than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. 867than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares
868favourably to Storable for small amounts of data.
352 869
353Using a longer test string (roughly 8KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals 870Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
354search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg): 871search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg):
355 872
356 module | encode | decode | 873 module | encode | decode |
357 -----------|------------|------------| 874 -----------|------------|------------|
358 JSON | 673 | 38 | 875 JSON | 55.260 | 34.971 |
359 JSON::DWIW | 5271 | 770 | 876 JSON::DWIW | 825.228 | 1082.513 |
360 JSON::PC | 9901 | 2491 | 877 JSON::PC | 3571.444 | 2394.829 |
361 JSON::Syck | 2360 | 786 | 878 JSON::PP | 210.987 | 32.574 |
362 JSON::XS | 37398 | 3202 | 879 JSON::Syck | 552.551 | 787.544 |
363 JSON::XS/2 | 13765 | 3153 | 880 JSON::XS | 5780.463 | 4854.519 |
881 JSON::XS/2 | 3869.998 | 4798.975 |
882 JSON::XS/3 | 5862.880 | 4798.975 |
883 Storable | 4445.002 | 5235.027 |
364 -----------+------------+------------+ 884 -----------+------------+------------+
365 885
366Again, JSON::XS leads by far in the encoding case, while still beating 886Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
367every other module in the decoding case. 887decodes faster).
368 888
369Last example is an almost 8MB large hash with many large binary values 889On large strings containing lots of high unicode characters, some modules
370(PNG files), resulting in a lot of escaping: 890(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
891will be broken due to missing (or wrong) unicode handling. Others refuse
892to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
893comparison table for that case.
894
895
896=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
897
898When you are using JSON in a protocol, talking to untrusted potentially
899hostile creatures requires relatively few measures.
900
901First of all, your JSON decoder should be secure, that is, should not have
902any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
903trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
904
905Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
906limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
907resources run out, thats just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
908can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
909usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
910it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
911text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
912might want to check the size before you accept the string.
913
914Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
915arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
916machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
917only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
918to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. to be
919conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
920has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
921C<max_depth> method.
922
923And last but least, something else could bomb you that I forgot to think
924of. In that case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints,
925though...
926
927If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
928by javascript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
929L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see wether
930you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser
931design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major
932browser developers care only for features, not about doing security
933right).
934
371 935
372=head1 BUGS 936=head1 BUGS
373 937
374While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does 938While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
375not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is 939not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is
376still very young and not well-tested. If you keep reporting bugs they will 940still relatively early in its development. If you keep reporting bugs they
377be fixed swiftly, though. 941will be fixed swiftly, though.
378 942
379=cut 943=cut
944
945our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
946our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
947
948sub true() { $true }
949sub false() { $false }
950
951sub is_bool($) {
952 UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::XS::Boolean"
953# or UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::Literal"
954}
955
956XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION;
957
958package JSON::XS::Boolean;
959
960use overload
961 "0+" => sub { ${$_[0]} },
962 "++" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} + 1 },
963 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
964 fallback => 1;
380 965
3811; 9661;
382 967
383=head1 AUTHOR 968=head1 AUTHOR
384 969

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