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Revision 1.8 by root, Fri Mar 23 15:57:18 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.145 by root, Tue Oct 29 00:06:40 2013 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast 3JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast
4 4
5=encoding utf-8
6
7JSON::XS - 正しくて高速な JSON シリアライザ/デシリアライザ
8 (http://fleur.hio.jp/perldoc/mix/lib/JSON/XS.html)
9
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 10=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 11
7 use JSON::XS; 12 use JSON::XS;
13
14 # exported functions, they croak on error
15 # and expect/generate UTF-8
16
17 $utf8_encoded_json_text = encode_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;
18 $perl_hash_or_arrayref = decode_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);
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.
8 33
9=head1 DESCRIPTION 34=head1 DESCRIPTION
10 35
11This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its 36This 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 37primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be
13I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C. 38I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C.
39
40Beginning with version 2.0 of the JSON module, when both JSON and
41JSON::XS are installed, then JSON will fall back on JSON::XS (this can be
42overridden) with no overhead due to emulation (by inheriting constructor
43and methods). If JSON::XS is not available, it will fall back to the
44compatible JSON::PP module as backend, so using JSON instead of JSON::XS
45gives you a portable JSON API that can be fast when you need and doesn't
46require a C compiler when that is a problem.
14 47
15As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason 48As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason
16to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON 49to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON
17modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases 50modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases
18their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug 51their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
19reports for other reasons. 52reports for other reasons.
20 53
21See COMPARISON, below, for a comparison to some other JSON modules. 54See MAPPING, below, on how JSON::XS maps perl values to JSON values and
55vice versa.
22 56
23=head2 FEATURES 57=head2 FEATURES
24 58
25=over 4 59=over 4
26 60
27=item * correct handling of unicode issues 61=item * correct Unicode handling
28 62
29This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how it does so. 63This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does
64so, and even documents what "correct" means.
30 65
31=item * round-trip integrity 66=item * round-trip integrity
32 67
33When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported 68When you serialise a perl data structure using only data types supported
34by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. 69by JSON and Perl, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl
35(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2"). 70level. (e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because
71it looks like a number). There I<are> minor exceptions to this, read the
72MAPPING section below to learn about those.
36 73
37=item * strict checking of JSON correctness 74=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
38 75
39There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON strings by default, 76There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
40and only JSON is accepted as input (the latter is a security feature). 77and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
78feature).
41 79
42=item * fast 80=item * fast
43 81
44compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably. 82Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable,
83this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too.
45 84
46=item * simple to use 85=item * simple to use
47 86
48This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO 87This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an object
49interface. 88oriented interface.
50 89
51=item * reasonably versatile output formats 90=item * reasonably versatile output formats
52 91
53You can choose between the most compact format possible, a pure-ascii 92You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format
54format, or a pretty-printed format. Or you can combine those features in 93possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ASCII format
55whatever way you like. 94(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
95Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
96stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
56 97
57=back 98=back
58 99
59=cut 100=cut
60 101
61package JSON::XS; 102package JSON::XS;
62 103
63BEGIN { 104use common::sense;
105
64 $VERSION = '0.2'; 106our $VERSION = '3.0';
65 @ISA = qw(Exporter); 107our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
66 108
67 @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json); 109our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json);
68 require Exporter;
69 110
70 require XSLoader; 111use Exporter;
71 XSLoader::load JSON::XS::, $VERSION; 112use XSLoader;
72} 113
114use Types::Serialiser ();
73 115
74=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 116=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
75 117
76The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are 118The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are
77exported by default: 119exported by default:
78 120
79=over 4 121=over 4
80 122
81=item $json_string = to_json $perl_scalar 123=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar
82 124
83Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to 125Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string
84a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains 126(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error.
85octets only). Croaks on error.
86 127
87This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8 128This function call is functionally identical to:
88(1)->encode ($perl_scalar) >>.
89 129
130 $json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
131
132Except being faster.
133
90=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_string 134=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text
91 135
92The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to 136The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries
93parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON string, returning the resulting simple 137to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting
94scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 138reference. Croaks on error.
95 139
96This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8 140This function call is functionally identical to:
97(1)->decode ($json_string) >>. 141
142 $perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
143
144Except being faster.
98 145
99=back 146=back
147
148
149=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL
150
151Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on
152how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs.
153
154=over 4
155
156=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255.
157
158This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a
159Perl string - very natural.
160
161=item 2. Perl does I<not> associate an encoding with your strings.
162
163... until you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or
164printing the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your
165string as locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending
166on various settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your
167data, it is I<use> that decides encoding, not any magical meta data.
168
169=item 3. The internal utf-8 flag has no meaning with regards to the
170encoding of your string.
171
172Just ignore that flag unless you debug a Perl bug, a module written in
173XS or want to dive into the internals of perl. Otherwise it will only
174confuse you, as, despite the name, it says nothing about how your string
175is encoded. You can have Unicode strings with that flag set, with that
176flag clear, and you can have binary data with that flag set and that flag
177clear. Other possibilities exist, too.
178
179If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't
180exist.
181
182=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be
183validly interpreted as a Unicode code point.
184
185If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a
186Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string.
187
188=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string.
189
190It's a fact. Learn to live with it.
191
192=back
193
194I hope this helps :)
195
100 196
101=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE 197=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
102 198
103The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or 199The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
104decoding style, within the limits of supported formats. 200decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
111strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>. 207strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>.
112 208
113The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can 209The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can
114be chained: 210be chained:
115 211
116 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8(1)->space_after(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 212 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
117 => {"a": [1, 2]} 213 => {"a": [1, 2]}
118 214
119=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable]) 215=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
120 216
217=item $enabled = $json->get_ascii
218
121If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will 219If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
122not generate characters outside the code range C<0..127>. Any unicode 220generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
123characters outside that range will be escaped using either a single 221Unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
124\uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence, as per 222single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
125RFC4627. 223as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
224Unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
225or any other superset of ASCII.
126 226
127If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode 227If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
128characters unless necessary. 228characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
229in a faster and more compact format.
129 230
231See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
232document.
233
234The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
235transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
236contain any 8 bit characters.
237
130 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode (chr 0x10401) 238 JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
131 => \ud801\udc01 239 => ["\ud801\udc01"]
240
241=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
242
243=item $enabled = $json->get_latin1
244
245If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
246the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
247outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
248latin1-encoded JSON text or a native Unicode string. The C<decode> method
249will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
250expects Unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
251
252If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
253characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
254
255See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
256document.
257
258The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
259text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
260size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
261in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
262transferring), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
263you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
264in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
265
266 JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
267 => ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
132 268
133=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable]) 269=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
134 270
271=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8
272
135If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode 273If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
136the JSON string into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the 274the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
137C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please 275C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
138note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the 276note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
139range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. 277range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
278versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
279and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
140 280
141If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON 281If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON
142string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a 282string as a (non-encoded) Unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a
143unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs 283Unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
144to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module. 284to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
285
286See also the section I<ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES> later in this
287document.
288
289Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
290
291 use Encode;
292 $jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
293
294Example, decode UTF-32LE-encoded JSON:
295
296 use Encode;
297 $object = JSON::XS->new->decode (decode "UTF-32LE", $jsontext);
145 298
146=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable]) 299=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable])
147 300
148This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and 301This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and
149C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to 302C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to
150generate the most readable (or most compact) form possible. 303generate the most readable (or most compact) form possible.
304
305Example, pretty-print some simple structure:
151 306
152 my $json = JSON::XS->new->pretty(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]}) 307 my $json = JSON::XS->new->pretty(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]})
153 => 308 =>
154 { 309 {
155 "a" : [ 310 "a" : [
158 ] 313 ]
159 } 314 }
160 315
161=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable]) 316=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
162 317
318=item $enabled = $json->get_indent
319
163If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline 320If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
164format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair 321format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
165into its own line, identing them properly. 322into its own line, indenting them properly.
166 323
167If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the 324If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
168resulting JSON strings is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>. 325resulting JSON text is guaranteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
169 326
170This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 327This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
171 328
172=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable]) 329=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
330
331=item $enabled = $json->get_space_before
173 332
174If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 333If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
175optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects. 334optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
176 335
177If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 336If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
178space at those places. 337space at those places.
179 338
180This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. You will also most 339This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. You will also
181likely combine this setting with C<space_after>. 340most likely combine this setting with C<space_after>.
341
342Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
343
344 {"key" :"value"}
182 345
183=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable]) 346=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
347
348=item $enabled = $json->get_space_after
184 349
185If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra 350If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
186optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects 351optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
187and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array 352and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
188members. 353members.
189 354
190If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra 355If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
191space at those places. 356space at those places.
192 357
193This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 358This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
359
360Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
361
362 {"key": "value"}
363
364=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])
365
366=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed
367
368If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
369extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
370affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
371JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
372parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files,
373resource files etc.)
374
375If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept
376valid JSON texts.
377
378Currently accepted extensions are:
379
380=over 4
381
382=item * list items can have an end-comma
383
384JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This
385can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to
386quickly append elements, so this extension accepts comma at the end of
387such items not just between them:
388
389 [
390 1,
391 2, <- this comma not normally allowed
392 ]
393 {
394 "k1": "v1",
395 "k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed
396 }
397
398=item * shell-style '#'-comments
399
400Whenever JSON allows whitespace, shell-style comments are additionally
401allowed. They are terminated by the first carriage-return or line-feed
402character, after which more white-space and comments are allowed.
403
404 [
405 1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
406 # neither this one...
407 ]
408
409=back
194 410
195=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable]) 411=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
412
413=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical
196 414
197If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects 415If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
198by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead. 416by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
199 417
200If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value 418If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
201pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs 419pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
202of the same script). 420of the same script, and can change even within the same run from 5.18
421onwards).
203 422
204This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as 423This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
205the same JSON string (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled, 424the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
206the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data, 425the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
207as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl. 426as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
208 427
209This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. 428This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
429
430This setting has currently no effect on tied hashes.
210 431
211=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable]) 432=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
433
434=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref
212 435
213If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a 436If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
214non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value, 437non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
215which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON 438which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
216values instead of croaking. 439values instead of croaking.
217 440
218If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't 441If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't
219passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON strings must either be an object 442passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON texts must either be an object
220or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a 443or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a
221JSON object or array. 444JSON object or array.
222 445
446Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>,
447resulting in an invalid JSON text:
448
449 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
450 => "Hello, World!"
451
452=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable])
453
454=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown
455
456If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode> will I<not> throw an
457exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for
458example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C<null> value. Note
459that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by
460c<allow_nonref>.
461
462If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
463exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON.
464
465This option does not affect C<decode> in any way, and it is recommended to
466leave it off unless you know your communications partner.
467
468=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
469
470=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
471
472If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
473barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the
474B<convert_blessed> option will decide whether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>
475disabled or no C<TO_JSON> method found) or a representation of the
476object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<TO_JSON> method found) is being
477encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
478
479If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
480exception when it encounters a blessed object.
481
482=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
483
484=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed
485
486If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
487blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
488on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context
489and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no
490C<TO_JSON> method is found, the value of C<allow_blessed> will decide what
491to do.
492
493The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
494returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
495way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
496(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
497methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
498usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json>
499function or method.
500
501This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the
502future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are
503enabled by this setting.
504
505If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what
506to do when a blessed object is found.
507
508=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
509
510When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
511time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the
512newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which
513need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid
514aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns
515an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the
516original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down
517decoding considerably.
518
519When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
520be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
521way.
522
523Example, convert all JSON objects into the integer 5:
524
525 my $js = JSON::XS->new->filter_json_object (sub { 5 });
526 # returns [5]
527 $js->decode ('[{}]')
528 # throw an exception because allow_nonref is not enabled
529 # so a lone 5 is not allowed.
530 $js->decode ('{"a":1, "b":2}');
531
532=item $json = $json->filter_json_single_key_object ($key [=> $coderef->($value)])
533
534Works remotely similar to C<filter_json_object>, but is only called for
535JSON objects having a single key named C<$key>.
536
537This C<$coderef> is called before the one specified via
538C<filter_json_object>, if any. It gets passed the single value in the JSON
539object. If it returns a single value, it will be inserted into the data
540structure. If it returns nothing (not even C<undef> but the empty list),
541the callback from C<filter_json_object> will be called next, as if no
542single-key callback were specified.
543
544If C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, the corresponding callback will be
545disabled. There can only ever be one callback for a given key.
546
547As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
548one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
549objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
550as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
551as JSON gets (it's basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
552support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
553like a serialised Perl hash.
554
555Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
556C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
557things like C<__class_md5sum(classname)__>, to reduce the risk of clashing
558with real hashes.
559
560Example, decode JSON objects of the form C<< { "__widget__" => <id> } >>
561into the corresponding C<< $WIDGET{<id>} >> object:
562
563 # return whatever is in $WIDGET{5}:
564 JSON::XS
565 ->new
566 ->filter_json_single_key_object (__widget__ => sub {
567 $WIDGET{ $_[0] }
568 })
569 ->decode ('{"__widget__": 5')
570
571 # this can be used with a TO_JSON method in some "widget" class
572 # for serialisation to json:
573 sub WidgetBase::TO_JSON {
574 my ($self) = @_;
575
576 unless ($self->{id}) {
577 $self->{id} = ..get..some..id..;
578 $WIDGET{$self->{id}} = $self;
579 }
580
581 { __widget__ => $self->{id} }
582 }
583
223=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable]) 584=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
224 585
586=item $enabled = $json->get_shrink
587
225Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for 588Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
226strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either 589strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
227C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save 590C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
228memory when your JSON strings are either very very long or you have many 591memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
229short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form 592short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form
230if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called 593if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called
231UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less 594UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less
232space in general. 595space in general (and some buggy Perl or C code might even rely on that
596internal representation being used).
233 597
598The actual definition of what shrink does might change in future versions,
599but it will always try to save space at the expense of time.
600
234If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will be shrunk-to-fit, 601If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will
235while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be shrunk-to-fit. 602be shrunk-to-fit, while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be
603shrunk-to-fit.
236 604
237If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used. 605If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used.
238If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster. 606If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster.
239 607
240In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting 608In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting
241strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats 609strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
242internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space. 610internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
243 611
612=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
613
614=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth
615
616Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
617or decoding. If a higher nesting level is detected in JSON text or a Perl
618data structure, then the encoder and decoder will stop and croak at that
619point.
620
621Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
622needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
623characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
624given character in a string.
625
626Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
627that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
628
629If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be used, which
630is rarely useful.
631
632Note that nesting is implemented by recursion in C. The default value has
633been chosen to be as large as typical operating systems allow without
634crashing.
635
636See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
637
638=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
639
640=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size
641
642Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
643being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
644is called on a string that is longer then this many bytes, it will not
645attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
646effect on C<encode> (yet).
647
648If no argument is given, the limit check will be deactivated (same as when
649C<0> is specified).
650
651See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
652
244=item $json_string = $json->encode ($perl_scalar) 653=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
245 654
246Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference 655Converts the given Perl value or data structure to its JSON
247to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be 656representation. Croaks on error.
248converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays
249become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined
250Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>
251nor C<false> values will be generated.
252 657
253=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_string) 658=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text)
254 659
255The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON string and tries to parse it, 660The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it,
256returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error. 661returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
257 662
258JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become 663=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
259Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes 664
260C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>. 665This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception
666when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will
667silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed
668so far.
669
670This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol
671and you need to know where the JSON text ends.
672
673 JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
674 => ([], 3)
261 675
262=back 676=back
263 677
264=head1 COMPARISON
265 678
266As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing 679=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING
267JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the 680
268problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules, 681In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON
269followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer 682texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting
270from any of these problems or limitations. 683Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a
684JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has
685a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to
686using C<decode_prefix> to see if a full JSON object is available, but
687is much more efficient (and can be implemented with a minimum of method
688calls).
689
690JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text once it is sure it
691has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very simple but
692truly incremental parser. This means that it sometimes won't stop as
693early as the full parser, for example, it doesn't detect mismatched
694parentheses. The only thing it guarantees is that it starts decoding as
695soon as a syntactically valid JSON text has been seen. This means you need
696to set resource limits (e.g. C<max_size>) to ensure the parser will stop
697parsing in the presence if syntax errors.
698
699The following methods implement this incremental parser.
271 700
272=over 4 701=over 4
273 702
274=item JSON 1.07 703=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string])
275 704
276Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl). 705This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and
706extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these
707functions are optional).
277 708
278Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles unicode values is 709If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already
279undocumented. One can get far by feeding it unicode strings and doing 710existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object.
280en-/decoding oneself, but unicode escapes are not working properly).
281 711
282No roundtripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g. 712After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply
283the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will 713return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text
284decode into the number 2. 714in as many chunks as you want.
285 715
286=item JSON::PC 0.01 716If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract
717exactly I<one> JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this
718object, otherwise it will return C<undef>. If there is a parse error,
719this method will croak just as C<decode> would do (one can then use
720C<incr_skip> to skip the erroneous part). This is the most common way of
721using the method.
287 722
288Very fast. 723And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects
724from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list
725otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators between the JSON
726objects or arrays, instead they must be concatenated back-to-back. If
727an error occurs, an exception will be raised as in the scalar context
728case. Note that in this case, any previously-parsed JSON texts will be
729lost.
289 730
290Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling. 731Example: Parse some JSON arrays/objects in a given string and return
732them.
291 733
292No roundtripping. 734 my @objs = JSON::XS->new->incr_parse ("[5][7][1,2]");
293 735
294Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic 736=item $lvalue_string = $json->incr_text
295values will make it croak).
296 737
297Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}> 738This method returns the currently stored JSON fragment as an lvalue, that
298which is not a valid JSON string. 739is, you can manipulate it. This I<only> works when a preceding call to
740C<incr_parse> in I<scalar context> successfully returned an object. Under
741all other circumstances you must not call this function (I mean it.
742although in simple tests it might actually work, it I<will> fail under
743real world conditions). As a special exception, you can also call this
744method before having parsed anything.
299 745
300Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 746This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a
301getting fixed). 747JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text
748(such as commas).
302 749
303=item JSON::Syck 0.21 750=item $json->incr_skip
304 751
305Very buggy (often crashes). 752This will reset the state of the incremental parser and will remove
753the parsed text from the input buffer so far. This is useful after
754C<incr_parse> died, in which case the input buffer and incremental parser
755state is left unchanged, to skip the text parsed so far and to reset the
756parse state.
306 757
307Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much 758The difference to C<incr_reset> is that only text until the parse error
308undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a 759occurred is removed.
309single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
310generate ASCII-only JSON strings).
311 760
312Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode 761=item $json->incr_reset
313escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to
314I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour).
315 762
316No roundtripping (simple cases work, but this depends on wether the scalar 763This completely resets the incremental parser, that is, after this call,
317value was used in a numeric context or not). 764it will be as if the parser had never parsed anything.
318 765
319Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state. 766This is useful if you want to repeatedly parse JSON objects and want to
320 767ignore any trailing data, which means you have to reset the parser after
321Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not 768each successful decode.
322getting fixed).
323
324Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
325return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
326issue: imagine two banks transfering money between each other using
327JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
328while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
329good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
330the transaction will still not succeed).
331
332=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
333
334Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
335
336Undocumented unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
337still don't get parsed properly).
338
339Very inflexible.
340
341No roundtripping.
342
343Does not generate valid JSON (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
344result in nothing being output)
345
346Does not check input for validity.
347 769
348=back 770=back
771
772=head2 LIMITATIONS
773
774All options that affect decoding are supported, except
775C<allow_nonref>. The reason for this is that it cannot be made to work
776sensibly: JSON objects and arrays are self-delimited, i.e. you can
777concatenate them back to back and still decode them perfectly. This does
778not hold true for JSON numbers, however.
779
780For example, is the string C<1> a single JSON number, or is it simply the
781start of C<12>? Or is C<12> a single JSON number, or the concatenation
782of C<1> and C<2>? In neither case you can tell, and this is why JSON::XS
783takes the conservative route and disallows this case.
784
785=head2 EXAMPLES
786
787Some examples will make all this clearer. First, a simple example that
788works similarly to C<decode_prefix>: We want to decode the JSON object at
789the start of a string and identify the portion after the JSON object:
790
791 my $text = "[1,2,3] hello";
792
793 my $json = new JSON::XS;
794
795 my $obj = $json->incr_parse ($text)
796 or die "expected JSON object or array at beginning of string";
797
798 my $tail = $json->incr_text;
799 # $tail now contains " hello"
800
801Easy, isn't it?
802
803Now for a more complicated example: Imagine a hypothetical protocol where
804you read some requests from a TCP stream, and each request is a JSON
805array, without any separation between them (in fact, it is often useful to
806use newlines as "separators", as these get interpreted as whitespace at
807the start of the JSON text, which makes it possible to test said protocol
808with C<telnet>...).
809
810Here is how you'd do it (it is trivial to write this in an event-based
811manner):
812
813 my $json = new JSON::XS;
814
815 # read some data from the socket
816 while (sysread $socket, my $buf, 4096) {
817
818 # split and decode as many requests as possible
819 for my $request ($json->incr_parse ($buf)) {
820 # act on the $request
821 }
822 }
823
824Another complicated example: Assume you have a string with JSON objects
825or arrays, all separated by (optional) comma characters (e.g. C<[1],[2],
826[3]>). To parse them, we have to skip the commas between the JSON texts,
827and here is where the lvalue-ness of C<incr_text> comes in useful:
828
829 my $text = "[1],[2], [3]";
830 my $json = new JSON::XS;
831
832 # void context, so no parsing done
833 $json->incr_parse ($text);
834
835 # now extract as many objects as possible. note the
836 # use of scalar context so incr_text can be called.
837 while (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
838 # do something with $obj
839
840 # now skip the optional comma
841 $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* , //x;
842 }
843
844Now lets go for a very complex example: Assume that you have a gigantic
845JSON array-of-objects, many gigabytes in size, and you want to parse it,
846but you cannot load it into memory fully (this has actually happened in
847the real world :).
848
849Well, you lost, you have to implement your own JSON parser. But JSON::XS
850can still help you: You implement a (very simple) array parser and let
851JSON decode the array elements, which are all full JSON objects on their
852own (this wouldn't work if the array elements could be JSON numbers, for
853example):
854
855 my $json = new JSON::XS;
856
857 # open the monster
858 open my $fh, "<bigfile.json"
859 or die "bigfile: $!";
860
861 # first parse the initial "["
862 for (;;) {
863 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
864 or die "read error: $!";
865 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
866
867 # Exit the loop once we found and removed(!) the initial "[".
868 # In essence, we are (ab-)using the $json object as a simple scalar
869 # we append data to.
870 last if $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* \[ //x;
871 }
872
873 # now we have the skipped the initial "[", so continue
874 # parsing all the elements.
875 for (;;) {
876 # in this loop we read data until we got a single JSON object
877 for (;;) {
878 if (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
879 # do something with $obj
880 last;
881 }
882
883 # add more data
884 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
885 or die "read error: $!";
886 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
887 }
888
889 # in this loop we read data until we either found and parsed the
890 # separating "," between elements, or the final "]"
891 for (;;) {
892 # first skip whitespace
893 $json->incr_text =~ s/^\s*//;
894
895 # if we find "]", we are done
896 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^\]//) {
897 print "finished.\n";
898 exit;
899 }
900
901 # if we find ",", we can continue with the next element
902 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^,//) {
903 last;
904 }
905
906 # if we find anything else, we have a parse error!
907 if (length $json->incr_text) {
908 die "parse error near ", $json->incr_text;
909 }
910
911 # else add more data
912 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
913 or die "read error: $!";
914 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
915 }
916
917This is a complex example, but most of the complexity comes from the fact
918that we are trying to be correct (bear with me if I am wrong, I never ran
919the above example :).
920
921
922
923=head1 MAPPING
924
925This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
926vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
927circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
928(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
929
930For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
931lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppercase I<Perl>
932refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
933
934
935=head2 JSON -> PERL
936
937=over 4
938
939=item object
940
941A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
942keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself).
943
944=item array
945
946A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
947
948=item string
949
950A JSON string becomes a string scalar in Perl - Unicode codepoints in JSON
951are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual
952decoding is necessary.
953
954=item number
955
956A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
957string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On
958the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
959the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
960might represent more values exactly than floating point numbers.
961
962If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
963it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
964a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
965precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in
966which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be
967re-encoded to a JSON string).
968
969Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
970represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
971precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but
972the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number).
973
974Note that precision is not accuracy - binary floating point values cannot
975represent most decimal fractions exactly, and when converting from and to
976floating point, JSON::XS only guarantees precision up to but not including
977the least significant bit.
978
979=item true, false
980
981These JSON atoms become C<Types::Serialiser::true> and
982C<Types::Serialiser::false>, respectively. They are overloaded to act
983almost exactly like the numbers C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether
984a scalar is a JSON boolean by using the C<Types::Serialiser::is_bool>
985function (after C<use Types::Serialier>, of course).
986
987=item null
988
989A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
990
991=item shell-style comments (C<< # I<text> >>)
992
993As a nonstandard extension to the JSON syntax that is enabled by the
994C<relaxed> setting, shell-style comments are allowed. They can start
995anywhere outside strings and go till the end of the line.
996
997=item tagged values (C<< (I<tag>)I<value> >>).
998
999Another nonstandard extension to the JSON syntax, enabled with the
1000C<allow_tags> setting, are tagged values. In this implementation, the
1001I<tag> must be a perl package/class name encoded as a JSON string, and the
1002I<value> must be a JSON array encoding optional constructor arguments.
1003
1004See "OBJECT SERIALISATION", below, for details.
1005
1006=back
1007
1008
1009=head2 PERL -> JSON
1010
1011The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a
1012truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by
1013a Perl value.
1014
1015=over 4
1016
1017=item hash references
1018
1019Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent
1020ordering in hash keys (or JSON objects), they will usually be encoded
1021in a pseudo-random order. JSON::XS can optionally sort the hash keys
1022(determined by the I<canonical> flag), so the same datastructure will
1023serialise to the same JSON text (given same settings and version of
1024JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead and is only rarely useful,
1025e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text against another for equality.
1026
1027=item array references
1028
1029Perl array references become JSON arrays.
1030
1031=item other references
1032
1033Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
1034exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
1035C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON.
1036
1037Since C<JSON::XS> uses the boolean model from L<Types::Serialiser>, you
1038can also C<use Types::Serialiser> and then use C<Types::Serialiser::false>
1039and C<Types::Serialiser::true> to improve readability.
1040
1041 use Types::Serialiser;
1042 encode_json [\0, Types::Serialiser::true] # yields [false,true]
1043
1044=item Types::Serialiser::true, Types::Serialiser::false
1045
1046These special values from the L<Types::Serialiser> module become JSON true
1047and JSON false values, respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0>
1048directly if you want.
1049
1050=item blessed objects
1051
1052Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON, but C<JSON::XS>
1053allows various ways of handling objects. See "OBJECT SERIALISATION",
1054below, for details.
1055
1056=item simple scalars
1057
1058Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
1059difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
1060JSON C<null> values, scalars that have last been used in a string context
1061before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value:
1062
1063 # dump as number
1064 encode_json [2] # yields [2]
1065 encode_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
1066 my $value = 5; encode_json [$value] # yields [5]
1067
1068 # used as string, so dump as string
1069 print $value;
1070 encode_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
1071
1072 # undef becomes null
1073 encode_json [undef] # yields [null]
1074
1075You can force the type to be a JSON string by stringifying it:
1076
1077 my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
1078 "$x"; # stringified
1079 $x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
1080 print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
1081
1082You can force the type to be a JSON number by numifying it:
1083
1084 my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
1085 $x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
1086 $x *= 1; # same thing, the choice is yours.
1087
1088You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me
1089if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed
1090:).
1091
1092Note that numerical precision has the same meaning as under Perl (so
1093binary to decimal conversion follows the same rules as in Perl, which
1094can differ to other languages). Also, your perl interpreter might expose
1095extensions to the floating point numbers of your platform, such as
1096infinities or NaN's - these cannot be represented in JSON, and it is an
1097error to pass those in.
1098
1099=back
1100
1101=head2 OBJECT SERIALISATION
1102
1103As JSON cannot directly represent Perl objects, you have to choose between
1104a pure JSON representation (without the ability to deserialise the object
1105automatically again), and a nonstandard extension to the JSON syntax,
1106tagged values.
1107
1108=head3 SERIALISATION
1109
1110What happens when C<JSON::XS> encounters a Perl object depends on the
1111C<allow_blessed>, C<convert_blessed> and C<allow_tags> settings, which are
1112used in this order:
1113
1114=over 4
1115
1116=item 1. C<allow_tags> is enabled and object has a C<FREEZE> method.
1117
1118In this case, C<JSON::XS> uses the L<Types::Serialiser> object
1119serialisation protocol to create a tagged JSON value, using a nonstandard
1120extension to the JSON syntax.
1121
1122This works by invoking the C<FREEZE> method on the object, with the first
1123argument being the object to serialise, and the second argument being the
1124constant string C<JSON> to distinguish it from other serialisers.
1125
1126The C<FREEZE> method can return any number of values (i.e. zero or
1127more). These values and the paclkage/classname of the object will then be
1128encoded as a tagged JSON value in the following format:
1129
1130 ("classname")[FREEZE return values...]
1131
1132For example, the hypothetical C<My::Object> C<FREEZE> method might use the
1133objects C<type> and C<id> members to encode the object:
1134
1135 sub My::Object::FREEZE {
1136 my ($self, $serialiser) = @_;
1137
1138 ($self->{type}, $self->{id})
1139 }
1140
1141=item 2. C<convert_blessed> is enabled and object has a C<TO_JSON> method.
1142
1143In this case, the C<TO_JSON> method of the object is invoked in scalar
1144context. It must return a single scalar that can be directly encoded into
1145JSON. This scalar replaces the object in the JSON text.
1146
1147For example, the following C<TO_JSON> method will convert all L<URI>
1148objects to JSON strings when serialised. The fatc that these values
1149originally were L<URI> objects is lost.
1150
1151 sub URI::TO_JSON {
1152 my ($uri) = @_;
1153 $uri->as_string
1154 }
1155
1156=item 3. C<allow_blessed> is enabled.
1157
1158The object will be serialised as a JSON null value.
1159
1160=item 4. none of the above
1161
1162If none of the settings are enabled or the respective methods are missing,
1163C<JSON::XS> throws an exception.
1164
1165=back
1166
1167=head3 DESERIALISATION
1168
1169For deserialisation there are only two cases to consider: either
1170nonstandard tagging was used, in which case C<allow_tags> decides,
1171or objects cannot be automatically be deserialised, in which
1172case you can use postprocessing or the C<filter_json_object> or
1173C<filter_json_single_key_object> callbacks to get some real objects our of
1174your JSON.
1175
1176This section only considers the tagged value case: I a tagged JSON object
1177is encountered during decoding and C<allow_tags> is disabled, a parse
1178error will result (as if tagged values were not part of the grammar).
1179
1180If C<allow_tags> is enabled, C<JSON::XS> will look up the C<THAW> method
1181of the package/classname used during serialisation. If there is no such
1182method, the decoding will fail with an error.
1183
1184Otherwise, the C<THAW> method is invoked with the classname as first
1185argument, the constant string C<JSON> as second argument, and all the
1186values from the JSON array (the values originally returned by the
1187C<FREEZE> method) as remaining arguments.
1188
1189The method must then return the object. While technically you can return
1190any Perl scalar, you might have to enable the C<enable_nonref> setting to
1191make that work in all cases, so better return an actual blessed reference.
1192
1193As an example, let's implement a C<THAW> function that regenerates the
1194C<My::Object> from the C<FREEZE> example earlier:
1195
1196 sub My::Object::THAW {
1197 my ($class, $serialiser, $type, $id) = @_;
1198
1199 $class->new (type => $type, id => $id)
1200 }
1201
1202
1203=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES
1204
1205The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify
1206encodings or codesets - C<utf8>, C<latin1> and C<ascii>. There seems to be
1207some confusion on what these do, so here is a short comparison:
1208
1209C<utf8> controls whether the JSON text created by C<encode> (and expected
1210by C<decode>) is UTF-8 encoded or not, while C<latin1> and C<ascii> only
1211control whether C<encode> escapes character values outside their respective
1212codeset range. Neither of these flags conflict with each other, although
1213some combinations make less sense than others.
1214
1215Care has been taken to make all flags symmetrical with respect to
1216C<encode> and C<decode>, that is, texts encoded with any combination of
1217these flag values will be correctly decoded when the same flags are used
1218- in general, if you use different flag settings while encoding vs. when
1219decoding you likely have a bug somewhere.
1220
1221Below comes a verbose discussion of these flags. Note that a "codeset" is
1222simply an abstract set of character-codepoint pairs, while an encoding
1223takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into
1224octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding,
1225and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at
1226the same time, which can be confusing.
1227
1228=over 4
1229
1230=item C<utf8> flag disabled
1231
1232When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate
1233and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode
1234values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such
1235characters are decoded as-is, no changes to them will be done, except
1236"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters,
1237respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do
1238funny/weird/dumb stuff).
1239
1240This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you
1241want to have UTF-16 encoded JSON texts) or when some other layer does
1242the encoding for you (for example, when printing to a terminal using a
1243filehandle that transparently encodes to UTF-8 you certainly do NOT want
1244to UTF-8 encode your data first and have Perl encode it another time).
1245
1246=item C<utf8> flag enabled
1247
1248If the C<utf8>-flag is enabled, C<encode>/C<decode> will encode all
1249characters using the corresponding UTF-8 multi-byte sequence, and will
1250expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character"
1251of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow
1252that.
1253
1254The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you
1255will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded
1256octet/binary string in Perl.
1257
1258=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled
1259
1260With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters
1261with ordinal values > 255 (> 127 with C<ascii>) and encode the remaining
1262characters as specified by the C<utf8> flag.
1263
1264If C<utf8> is disabled, then the result is also correctly encoded in those
1265character sets (as both are proper subsets of Unicode, meaning that a
1266Unicode string with all character values < 256 is the same thing as a
1267ISO-8859-1 string, and a Unicode string with all character values < 128 is
1268the same thing as an ASCII string in Perl).
1269
1270If C<utf8> is enabled, you still get a correct UTF-8-encoded string,
1271regardless of these flags, just some more characters will be escaped using
1272C<\uXXXX> then before.
1273
1274Note that ISO-8859-1-I<encoded> strings are not compatible with UTF-8
1275encoding, while ASCII-encoded strings are. That is because the ISO-8859-1
1276encoding is NOT a subset of UTF-8 (despite the ISO-8859-1 I<codeset> being
1277a subset of Unicode), while ASCII is.
1278
1279Surprisingly, C<decode> will ignore these flags and so treat all input
1280values as governed by the C<utf8> flag. If it is disabled, this allows you
1281to decode ISO-8859-1- and ASCII-encoded strings, as both strict subsets of
1282Unicode. If it is enabled, you can correctly decode UTF-8 encoded strings.
1283
1284So neither C<latin1> nor C<ascii> are incompatible with the C<utf8> flag -
1285they only govern when the JSON output engine escapes a character or not.
1286
1287The main use for C<latin1> is to relatively efficiently store binary data
1288as JSON, at the expense of breaking compatibility with most JSON decoders.
1289
1290The main use for C<ascii> is to force the output to not contain characters
1291with values > 127, which means you can interpret the resulting string
1292as UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ASCII, KOI8-R or most about any character set and
12938-bit-encoding, and still get the same data structure back. This is useful
1294when your channel for JSON transfer is not 8-bit clean or the encoding
1295might be mangled in between (e.g. in mail), and works because ASCII is a
1296proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world.
1297
1298=back
1299
1300
1301=head2 JSON and ECMAscript
1302
1303JSON syntax is based on how literals are represented in javascript (the
1304not-standardised predecessor of ECMAscript) which is presumably why it is
1305called "JavaScript Object Notation".
1306
1307However, JSON is not a subset (and also not a superset of course) of
1308ECMAscript (the standard) or javascript (whatever browsers actually
1309implement).
1310
1311If you want to use javascript's C<eval> function to "parse" JSON, you
1312might run into parse errors for valid JSON texts, or the resulting data
1313structure might not be queryable:
1314
1315One of the problems is that U+2028 and U+2029 are valid characters inside
1316JSON strings, but are not allowed in ECMAscript string literals, so the
1317following Perl fragment will not output something that can be guaranteed
1318to be parsable by javascript's C<eval>:
1319
1320 use JSON::XS;
1321
1322 print encode_json [chr 0x2028];
1323
1324The right fix for this is to use a proper JSON parser in your javascript
1325programs, and not rely on C<eval> (see for example Douglas Crockford's
1326F<json2.js> parser).
1327
1328If this is not an option, you can, as a stop-gap measure, simply encode to
1329ASCII-only JSON:
1330
1331 use JSON::XS;
1332
1333 print JSON::XS->new->ascii->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
1334
1335Note that this will enlarge the resulting JSON text quite a bit if you
1336have many non-ASCII characters. You might be tempted to run some regexes
1337to only escape U+2028 and U+2029, e.g.:
1338
1339 # DO NOT USE THIS!
1340 my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ([chr 0x2028]);
1341 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa8/\\u2028/g; # escape U+2028
1342 $json =~ s/\xe2\x80\xa9/\\u2029/g; # escape U+2029
1343 print $json;
1344
1345Note that I<this is a bad idea>: the above only works for U+2028 and
1346U+2029 and thus only for fully ECMAscript-compliant parsers. Many existing
1347javascript implementations, however, have issues with other characters as
1348well - using C<eval> naively simply I<will> cause problems.
1349
1350Another problem is that some javascript implementations reserve
1351some property names for their own purposes (which probably makes
1352them non-ECMAscript-compliant). For example, Iceweasel reserves the
1353C<__proto__> property name for its own purposes.
1354
1355If that is a problem, you could parse try to filter the resulting JSON
1356output for these property strings, e.g.:
1357
1358 $json =~ s/"__proto__"\s*:/"__proto__renamed":/g;
1359
1360This works because C<__proto__> is not valid outside of strings, so every
1361occurrence of C<"__proto__"\s*:> must be a string used as property name.
1362
1363If you know of other incompatibilities, please let me know.
1364
1365
1366=head2 JSON and YAML
1367
1368You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
1369hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing),
1370so let me state it clearly: I<in general, there is no way to configure
1371JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML> that works in all
1372cases.
1373
1374If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
1375algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
1376
1377 my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
1378 my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
1379
1380This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
1381YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
1382lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible
1383unicode character escape syntax, so you should make sure that your hash
1384keys are noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows
1385and that you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the
1386Unicode BMP (basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/>
1387sequences in strings (which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate, but
1388other JSON generators might).
1389
1390There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML
1391specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In
1392general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice
1393versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are
1394high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you
1395least expect it.
1396
1397=over 4
1398
1399=item (*)
1400
1401I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the
1402authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him
1403acknowledging that the actual incompatibilities exist. As I was personally
1404bitten by this "JSON is YAML" lie, I refused and said I will continue to
1405educate people about these issues, so others do not run into the same
1406problem again and again. After this, Brian called me a (quote)I<complete
1407and worthless idiot>(unquote).
1408
1409In my opinion, instead of pressuring and insulting people who actually
1410clarify issues with YAML and the wrong statements of some of its
1411proponents, I would kindly suggest reading the JSON spec (which is not
1412that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and
1413educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the
1414real compatibility for many I<years> and trying to silence people who
1415point out that it isn't true.
1416
1417Addendum/2009: the YAML 1.2 spec is still incompatible with JSON, even
1418though the incompatibilities have been documented (and are known to Brian)
1419for many years and the spec makes explicit claims that YAML is a superset
1420of JSON. It would be so easy to fix, but apparently, bullying people and
1421corrupting userdata is so much easier.
1422
1423=back
1424
349 1425
350=head2 SPEED 1426=head2 SPEED
351 1427
352It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following 1428It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
353tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program 1429tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program
354in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own 1430in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
355system. 1431system.
356 1432
357First is a comparison between various modules using a very simple JSON 1433First comes a comparison between various modules using
1434a very short single-line JSON string (also available at
1435L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>).
1436
1437 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1",
1438 "we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7,
1439 1, 0]}
1440
358string, showing the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS is 1441It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
359the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 is the OO interface with 1442the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
360pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled). 1443with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
1444shrink. JSON::DWIW/DS uses the deserialise function, while JSON::DWIW::FJ
1445uses the from_json method). Higher is better:
361 1446
362 module | encode | decode | 1447 module | encode | decode |
363 -----------|------------|------------| 1448 --------------|------------|------------|
364 JSON | 14006 | 6820 | 1449 JSON::DWIW/DS | 86302.551 | 102300.098 |
365 JSON::DWIW | 200937 | 120386 | 1450 JSON::DWIW/FJ | 86302.551 | 75983.768 |
366 JSON::PC | 85065 | 129366 | 1451 JSON::PP | 15827.562 | 6638.658 |
367 JSON::Syck | 59898 | 44232 | 1452 JSON::Syck | 63358.066 | 47662.545 |
368 JSON::XS | 1171478 | 342435 | 1453 JSON::XS | 511500.488 | 511500.488 |
369 JSON::XS/2 | 730760 | 328714 | 1454 JSON::XS/2 | 291271.111 | 388361.481 |
1455 JSON::XS/3 | 361577.931 | 361577.931 |
1456 Storable | 66788.280 | 265462.278 |
370 -----------+------------+------------+ 1457 --------------+------------+------------+
371 1458
372That is, JSON::XS is 6 times faster than than JSON::DWIW and about 80 1459That is, JSON::XS is almost six times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
373times faster than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. 1460about five times faster on decoding, and over thirty to seventy times
1461faster than JSON's pure perl implementation. It also compares favourably
1462to Storable for small amounts of data.
374 1463
375Using a longer test string (roughly 8KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals 1464Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
376search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg): 1465search API (L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/long.json>).
377 1466
378 module | encode | decode | 1467 module | encode | decode |
379 -----------|------------|------------| 1468 --------------|------------|------------|
380 JSON | 673 | 38 | 1469 JSON::DWIW/DS | 1647.927 | 2673.916 |
381 JSON::DWIW | 5271 | 770 | 1470 JSON::DWIW/FJ | 1630.249 | 2596.128 |
382 JSON::PC | 9901 | 2491 | 1471 JSON::PP | 400.640 | 62.311 |
383 JSON::Syck | 2360 | 786 | 1472 JSON::Syck | 1481.040 | 1524.869 |
384 JSON::XS | 37398 | 3202 | 1473 JSON::XS | 20661.596 | 9541.183 |
385 JSON::XS/2 | 13765 | 3153 | 1474 JSON::XS/2 | 10683.403 | 9416.938 |
1475 JSON::XS/3 | 20661.596 | 9400.054 |
1476 Storable | 19765.806 | 10000.725 |
386 -----------+------------+------------+ 1477 --------------+------------+------------+
387 1478
388Again, JSON::XS leads by far in the encoding case, while still beating 1479Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
389every other module in the decoding case. 1480decodes a bit faster).
390 1481
391Last example is an almost 8MB large hash with many large binary values 1482On large strings containing lots of high Unicode characters, some modules
392(PNG files), resulting in a lot of escaping: 1483(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
1484will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse
1485to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
1486comparison table for that case.
1487
1488
1489=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1490
1491When you are using JSON in a protocol, talking to untrusted potentially
1492hostile creatures requires relatively few measures.
1493
1494First of all, your JSON decoder should be secure, that is, should not have
1495any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
1496trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
1497
1498Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
1499limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
1500resources run out, that's just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
1501can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
1502usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
1503it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
1504text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
1505might want to check the size before you accept the string.
1506
1507Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
1508arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
1509machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
1510only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
1511to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. To be
1512conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
1513has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
1514C<max_depth> method.
1515
1516Something else could bomb you, too, that I forgot to think of. In that
1517case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, though...
1518
1519Also keep in mind that JSON::XS might leak contents of your Perl data
1520structures in its error messages, so when you serialise sensitive
1521information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS
1522will not end up in front of untrusted eyes.
1523
1524If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
1525by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
1526L<http://blog.archive.jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security/> to
1527see whether you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really
1528are browser design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with
1529it, as major browser developers care only for features, not about getting
1530security right).
1531
1532
1533=head1 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER MODULES
1534
1535C<JSON::XS> uses the L<Types::Serialiser> module to provide boolean
1536constants. That means that the JSON true and false values will be
1537comaptible to true and false values of iother modules that do the same,
1538such as L<JSON::PP> and L<CBOR::XS>.
1539
1540
1541=head1 THREADS
1542
1543This module is I<not> guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no
1544plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the
1545horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated
1546process simulations - use fork, it's I<much> faster, cheaper, better).
1547
1548(It might actually work, but you have been warned).
1549
1550
1551=head1 THE PERILS OF SETLOCALE
1552
1553Sometimes people avoid the Perl locale support and directly call the
1554system's setlocale function with C<LC_ALL>.
1555
1556This breaks both perl and modules such as JSON::XS, as stringification of
1557numbers no longer works correctly (e.g. C<$x = 0.1; print "$x"+1> might
1558print C<1>, and JSON::XS might output illegal JSON as JSON::XS relies on
1559perl to stringify numbers).
1560
1561The solution is simple: don't call C<setlocale>, or use it for only those
1562categories you need, such as C<LC_MESSAGES> or C<LC_CTYPE>.
1563
1564If you need C<LC_NUMERIC>, you should enable it only around the code that
1565actually needs it (avoiding stringification of numbers), and restore it
1566afterwards.
1567
393 1568
394=head1 BUGS 1569=head1 BUGS
395 1570
396While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does 1571While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
397not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is 1572not mean it's bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. If you
398still very young and not well-tested. If you keep reporting bugs they will 1573keep reporting bugs they will be fixed swiftly, though.
399be fixed swiftly, though. 1574
1575Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting
1576service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason.
400 1577
401=cut 1578=cut
402 1579
4031; 1580BEGIN {
1581 *true = \$Types::Serialiser::true;
1582 *true = \&Types::Serialiser::true;
1583 *false = \$Types::Serialiser::false;
1584 *false = \&Types::Serialiser::false;
1585 *is_bool = \&Types::Serialiser::is_bool;
1586
1587 *JSON::XS::Boolean:: = *Types::Serialiser::Boolean::;
1588}
1589
1590XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION;
1591
1592=head1 SEE ALSO
1593
1594The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments.
404 1595
405=head1 AUTHOR 1596=head1 AUTHOR
406 1597
407 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1598 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
408 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1599 http://home.schmorp.de/
409 1600
410=cut 1601=cut
411 1602
16031
1604

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