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

Comparing JSON-XS/XS.pm (file contents):
Revision 1.12 by root, Fri Mar 23 18:33:50 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.86 by root, Wed Mar 19 03:17:38 2008 UTC

…		…
		1	=encoding utf-8
		2
1	=head1 NAME	3	=head1 NAME
2		4
3	JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast	5	JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast
4		6
		7	JSON::XS - 正しくて高速な JSON シリアライザ/デシリアライザ
		8	(http://fleur.hio.jp/perldoc/mix/lib/JSON/XS.html)
		9
5	=head1 SYNOPSIS	10	=head1 SYNOPSIS
6		11
7	use JSON::XS;	12	use JSON::XS;
8		13
9	# exported functions, croak on error	14	# exported functions, they croak on error
		15	# and expect/generate UTF-8
10		16
11	$utf8_encoded_json_text = to_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;	17	$utf8_encoded_json_text = encode_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref;
12	$perl_hash_or_arrayref = from_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;	18	$perl_hash_or_arrayref = decode_json $utf8_encoded_json_text;
13		19
14	# oo-interface	20	# OO-interface
15		21
16	$coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;	22	$coder = JSON::XS->new->ascii->pretty->allow_nonref;
17	$pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);	23	$pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar);
18	$perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);	24	$perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text);
19		25
		26	# Note that JSON version 2.0 and above will automatically use JSON::XS
		27	# if available, at virtually no speed overhead either, so you should
		28	# be able to just:
		29
		30	use JSON;
		31
		32	# and do the same things, except that you have a pure-perl fallback now.
		33
20	=head1 DESCRIPTION	34	=head1 DESCRIPTION
21		35
22	This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its	36	This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its
23	primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be	37	primary goal is to be I<correct> and its secondary goal is to be
24	I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C.	38	I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C.
		39
		40	Beginning with version 2.0 of the JSON module, when both JSON and
		41	JSON::XS are installed, then JSON will fall back on JSON::XS (this can be
		42	overriden) with no overhead due to emulation (by inheritign constructor
		43	and methods). If JSON::XS is not available, it will fall back to the
		44	compatible JSON::PP module as backend, so using JSON instead of JSON::XS
		45	gives you a portable JSON API that can be fast when you need and doesn't
		46	require a C compiler when that is a problem.
25		47
26	As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason	48	As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason
27	to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON	49	to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON
28	modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases	50	modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases
29	their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug	51	their maintainers are unresponsive, gone missing, or not listening to bug
36		58
37	=head2 FEATURES	59	=head2 FEATURES
38		60
39	=over 4	61	=over 4
40		62
41	=item * correct handling of unicode issues	63	=item * correct Unicode handling
42		64
43	This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how and when	65	This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does
44	it does so.	66	so, and even documents what "correct" means.
45		67
46	=item * round-trip integrity	68	=item * round-trip integrity
47		69
48	When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported	70	When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported
49	by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level.	71	by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level.
50	(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2").	72	(e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks
		73	like a number). There minor I<are> exceptions to this, read the MAPPING
		74	section below to learn about those.
51		75
52	=item * strict checking of JSON correctness	76	=item * strict checking of JSON correctness
53		77
54	There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON strings by default,	78	There is no guessing, no generating of illegal JSON texts by default,
55	and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security	79	and only JSON is accepted as input by default (the latter is a security
56	feature).	80	feature).
57		81
58	=item * fast	82	=item * fast
59		83
60	Compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably in terms	84	Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable,
61	of speed, too.	85	this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too.
62		86
63	=item * simple to use	87	=item * simple to use
64		88
65	This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO	89	This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an objetc
66	interface.	90	oriented interface interface.
67		91
68	=item * reasonably versatile output formats	92	=item * reasonably versatile output formats
69		93
70	You can choose between the most compact guarenteed single-line format	94	You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format
71	possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format (for	95	possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format
72	when your transport is not 8-bit clean), or a pretty-printed format (for	96	(for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole
73	when you want to read that stuff). Or you can combine those features in	97	Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that
74	whatever way you like.	98	stuff). Or you can combine those features in whatever way you like.
75		99
76	=back	100	=back
77		101
78	=cut	102	=cut
79		103
80	package JSON::XS;	104	package JSON::XS;
81		105
82	BEGIN {	106	use strict;
		107
83	$VERSION = '0.3';	108	our $VERSION = '2.01';
84	@ISA = qw(Exporter);	109	our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
85		110
86	@EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json);	111	our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json to_json from_json);
87	require Exporter;
88		112
		113	sub to_json($) {
89	require XSLoader;	114	require Carp;
90	XSLoader::load JSON::XS::, $VERSION;	115	Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::to_json has been renamed to encode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call");
91	}	116	}
92		117
		118	sub from_json($) {
		119	require Carp;
		120	Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::from_json has been renamed to decode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call");
		121	}
		122
		123	use Exporter;
		124	use XSLoader;
		125
93	=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE	126	=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE
94		127
95	The following convinience methods are provided by this module. They are	128	The following convenience methods are provided by this module. They are
96	exported by default:	129	exported by default:
97		130
98	=over 4	131	=over 4
99		132
100	=item $json_string = to_json $perl_scalar	133	=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar
101		134
102	Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference to	135	Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string
103	a hash or array) to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains	136	(that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error.
104	octets only). Croaks on error.
105		137
106	This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar) >>.	138	This function call is functionally identical to:
107		139
		140	$json_text = JSON::XS->new->utf8->encode ($perl_scalar)
		141
		142	except being faster.
		143
108	=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_string	144	=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text
109		145
110	The opposite of C<to_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to	146	The opposite of C<encode_json>: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries
111	parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON string, returning the resulting simple	147	to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting
112	scalar or reference. Croaks on error.	148	reference. Croaks on error.
113		149
114	This function call is functionally identical to C<< JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_string) >>.	150	This function call is functionally identical to:
		151
		152	$perl_scalar = JSON::XS->new->utf8->decode ($json_text)
		153
		154	except being faster.
		155
		156	=item $is_boolean = JSON::XS::is_bool $scalar
		157
		158	Returns true if the passed scalar represents either JSON::XS::true or
		159	JSON::XS::false, two constants that act like C<1> and C<0>, respectively
		160	and are used to represent JSON C<true> and C<false> values in Perl.
		161
		162	See MAPPING, below, for more information on how JSON values are mapped to
		163	Perl.
115		164
116	=back	165	=back
		166
		167
		168	=head1 A FEW NOTES ON UNICODE AND PERL
		169
		170	Since this often leads to confusion, here are a few very clear words on
		171	how Unicode works in Perl, modulo bugs.
		172
		173	=over 4
		174
		175	=item 1. Perl strings can store characters with ordinal values > 255.
		176
		177	This enables you to store Unicode characters as single characters in a
		178	Perl string - very natural.
		179
		180	=item 2. Perl does I<not> associate an encoding with your strings.
		181
		182	... until you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or
		183	printing the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your
		184	string as locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending
		185	on various settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your
		186	data, it is I<use> that decides encoding, not any magical meta data.
		187
		188	=item 3. The internal utf-8 flag has no meaning with regards to the
		189	encoding of your string.
		190
		191	Just ignore that flag unless you debug a Perl bug, a module written in
		192	XS or want to dive into the internals of perl. Otherwise it will only
		193	confuse you, as, despite the name, it says nothing about how your string
		194	is encoded. You can have Unicode strings with that flag set, with that
		195	flag clear, and you can have binary data with that flag set and that flag
		196	clear. Other possibilities exist, too.
		197
		198	If you didn't know about that flag, just the better, pretend it doesn't
		199	exist.
		200
		201	=item 4. A "Unicode String" is simply a string where each character can be
		202	validly interpreted as a Unicode codepoint.
		203
		204	If you have UTF-8 encoded data, it is no longer a Unicode string, but a
		205	Unicode string encoded in UTF-8, giving you a binary string.
		206
		207	=item 5. A string containing "high" (> 255) character values is I<not> a UTF-8 string.
		208
		209	It's a fact. Learn to live with it.
		210
		211	=back
		212
		213	I hope this helps :)
		214
117		215
118	=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE	216	=head1 OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE
119		217
120	The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or	218	The object oriented interface lets you configure your own encoding or
121	decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.	219	decoding style, within the limits of supported formats.
…		…
128	strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>.	226	strings. All boolean flags described below are by default I<disabled>.
129		227
130	The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can	228	The mutators for flags all return the JSON object again and thus calls can
131	be chained:	229	be chained:
132		230
133	my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8(1)->space_after(1)->encode ({a => [1,2]})	231	my $json = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after->encode ({a => [1,2]})
134	=> {"a": [1, 2]}	232	=> {"a": [1, 2]}
135		233
136	=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])	234	=item $json = $json->ascii ([$enable])
137		235
		236	=item $enabled = $json->get_ascii
		237
138	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will	238	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
139	not generate characters outside the code range C<0..127>. Any unicode	239	generate characters outside the code range C<0..127> (which is ASCII). Any
140	characters outside that range will be escaped using either a single	240	Unicode characters outside that range will be escaped using either a
141	\uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence, as per	241	single \uXXXX (BMP characters) or a double \uHHHH\uLLLLL escape sequence,
142	RFC4627.	242	as per RFC4627. The resulting encoded JSON text can be treated as a native
		243	Unicode string, an ascii-encoded, latin1-encoded or UTF-8 encoded string,
		244	or any other superset of ASCII.
143		245
144	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode	246	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
145	characters unless necessary.	247	characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results
		248	in a faster and more compact format.
146		249
		250	The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be
		251	transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not
		252	contain any 8 bit characters.
		253
147	JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode (chr 0x10401)	254	JSON::XS->new->ascii (1)->encode ([chr 0x10401])
148	=> \ud801\udc01	255	=> ["\ud801\udc01"]
		256
		257	=item $json = $json->latin1 ([$enable])
		258
		259	=item $enabled = $json->get_latin1
		260
		261	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
		262	the resulting JSON text as latin1 (or iso-8859-1), escaping any characters
		263	outside the code range C<0..255>. The resulting string can be treated as a
		264	latin1-encoded JSON text or a native Unicode string. The C<decode> method
		265	will not be affected in any way by this flag, as C<decode> by default
		266	expects Unicode, which is a strict superset of latin1.
		267
		268	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not escape Unicode
		269	characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags.
		270
		271	The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON
		272	text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded
		273	size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded
		274	in latin1 (and must correctly be treated as such when storing and
		275	transferring), a rare encoding for JSON. It is therefore most useful when
		276	you want to store data structures known to contain binary data efficiently
		277	in files or databases, not when talking to other JSON encoders/decoders.
		278
		279	JSON::XS->new->latin1->encode (["\x{89}\x{abc}"]
		280	=> ["\x{89}\\u0abc"] # (perl syntax, U+abc escaped, U+89 not)
149		281
150	=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])	282	=item $json = $json->utf8 ([$enable])
151		283
		284	=item $enabled = $json->get_utf8
		285
152	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode	286	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will encode
153	the JSON string into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the	287	the JSON result into UTF-8, as required by many protocols, while the
154	C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please	288	C<decode> method expects to be handled an UTF-8-encoded string. Please
155	note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the	289	note that UTF-8-encoded strings do not contain any characters outside the
156	range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O.	290	range C<0..255>, they are thus useful for bytewise/binary I/O. In future
		291	versions, enabling this option might enable autodetection of the UTF-16
		292	and UTF-32 encoding families, as described in RFC4627.
157		293
158	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON	294	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will return the JSON
159	string as a (non-encoded) unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a	295	string as a (non-encoded) Unicode string, while C<decode> expects thus a
160	unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs	296	Unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs
161	to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.	297	to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module.
162		298
163	Example, output UTF-16-encoded JSON:	299	Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON:
		300
		301	use Encode;
		302	$jsontext = encode "UTF-16BE", JSON::XS->new->encode ($object);
		303
		304	Example, decode UTF-32LE-encoded JSON:
		305
		306	use Encode;
		307	$object = JSON::XS->new->decode (decode "UTF-32LE", $jsontext);
164		308
165	=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable])	309	=item $json = $json->pretty ([$enable])
166		310
167	This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and	311	This enables (or disables) all of the C<indent>, C<space_before> and
168	C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to	312	C<space_after> (and in the future possibly more) flags in one call to
…		…
179	]	323	]
180	}	324	}
181		325
182	=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])	326	=item $json = $json->indent ([$enable])
183		327
		328	=item $enabled = $json->get_indent
		329
184	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline	330	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will use a multiline
185	format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair	331	format as output, putting every array member or object/hash key-value pair
186	into its own line, identing them properly.	332	into its own line, indenting them properly.
187		333
188	If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the	334	If C<$enable> is false, no newlines or indenting will be produced, and the
189	resulting JSON strings is guarenteed not to contain any C<newlines>.	335	resulting JSON text is guaranteed not to contain any C<newlines>.
190		336
191	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings.	337	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
192		338
193	=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])	339	=item $json = $json->space_before ([$enable])
		340
		341	=item $enabled = $json->get_space_before
194		342
195	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra	343	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
196	optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.	344	optional space before the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects.
197		345
198	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra	346	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
199	space at those places.	347	space at those places.
200		348
201	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings. You will also most	349	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts. You will also
202	likely combine this setting with C<space_after>.	350	most likely combine this setting with C<space_after>.
203		351
204	Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:	352	Example, space_before enabled, space_after and indent disabled:
205		353
206	{"key" :"value"}	354	{"key" :"value"}
207		355
208	=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])	356	=item $json = $json->space_after ([$enable])
		357
		358	=item $enabled = $json->get_space_after
209		359
210	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra	360	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will add an extra
211	optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects	361	optional space after the C<:> separating keys from values in JSON objects
212	and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array	362	and extra whitespace after the C<,> separating key-value pairs and array
213	members.	363	members.
214		364
215	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra	365	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will not add any extra
216	space at those places.	366	space at those places.
217		367
218	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings.	368	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
219		369
220	Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:	370	Example, space_before and indent disabled, space_after enabled:
221		371
222	{"key": "value"}	372	{"key": "value"}
223		373
		374	=item $json = $json->relaxed ([$enable])
		375
		376	=item $enabled = $json->get_relaxed
		377
		378	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<decode> will accept some
		379	extensions to normal JSON syntax (see below). C<encode> will not be
		380	affected in anyway. I<Be aware that this option makes you accept invalid
		381	JSON texts as if they were valid!>. I suggest only to use this option to
		382	parse application-specific files written by humans (configuration files,
		383	resource files etc.)
		384
		385	If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<decode> will only accept
		386	valid JSON texts.
		387
		388	Currently accepted extensions are:
		389
		390	=over 4
		391
		392	=item * list items can have an end-comma
		393
		394	JSON I<separates> array elements and key-value pairs with commas. This
		395	can be annoying if you write JSON texts manually and want to be able to
		396	quickly append elements, so this extension accepts comma at the end of
		397	such items not just between them:
		398
		399	[
		400	1,
		401	2, <- this comma not normally allowed
		402	]
		403	{
		404	"k1": "v1",
		405	"k2": "v2", <- this comma not normally allowed
		406	}
		407
		408	=item * shell-style '#'-comments
		409
		410	Whenever JSON allows whitespace, shell-style comments are additionally
		411	allowed. They are terminated by the first carriage-return or line-feed
		412	character, after which more white-space and comments are allowed.
		413
		414	[
		415	1, # this comment not allowed in JSON
		416	# neither this one...
		417	]
		418
		419	=back
		420
224	=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])	421	=item $json = $json->canonical ([$enable])
		422
		423	=item $enabled = $json->get_canonical
225		424
226	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects	425	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will output JSON objects
227	by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.	426	by sorting their keys. This is adding a comparatively high overhead.
228		427
229	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value	428	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will output key-value
230	pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs	429	pairs in the order Perl stores them (which will likely change between runs
231	of the same script).	430	of the same script).
232		431
233	This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as	432	This option is useful if you want the same data structure to be encoded as
234	the same JSON string (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,	433	the same JSON text (given the same overall settings). If it is disabled,
235	the same hash migh be encoded differently even if contains the same data,	434	the same hash might be encoded differently even if contains the same data,
236	as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.	435	as key-value pairs have no inherent ordering in Perl.
237		436
238	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON strings.	437	This setting has no effect when decoding JSON texts.
239		438
240	=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])	439	=item $json = $json->allow_nonref ([$enable])
		440
		441	=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_nonref
241		442
242	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a	443	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method can convert a
243	non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,	444	non-reference into its corresponding string, number or null JSON value,
244	which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON	445	which is an extension to RFC4627. Likewise, C<decode> will accept those JSON
245	values instead of croaking.	446	values instead of croaking.
246		447
247	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't	448	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<encode> method will croak if it isn't
248	passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON strings must either be an object	449	passed an arrayref or hashref, as JSON texts must either be an object
249	or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a	450	or array. Likewise, C<decode> will croak if given something that is not a
250	JSON object or array.	451	JSON object or array.
251		452
252	Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>,	453	Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>,
253	resulting in an invalid JSON text:	454	resulting in an invalid JSON text:
254		455
255	JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")	456	JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
256	=> "Hello, World!"	457	=> "Hello, World!"
257		458
		459	=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
		460
		461	=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
		462
		463	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then the C<encode> method will not
		464	barf when it encounters a blessed reference. Instead, the value of the
		465	B<convert_blessed> option will decide whether C<null> (C<convert_blessed>
		466	disabled or no C<TO_JSON> method found) or a representation of the
		467	object (C<convert_blessed> enabled and C<TO_JSON> method found) is being
		468	encoded. Has no effect on C<decode>.
		469
		470	If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
		471	exception when it encounters a blessed object.
		472
		473	=item $json = $json->convert_blessed ([$enable])
		474
		475	=item $enabled = $json->get_convert_blessed
		476
		477	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode>, upon encountering a
		478	blessed object, will check for the availability of the C<TO_JSON> method
		479	on the object's class. If found, it will be called in scalar context
		480	and the resulting scalar will be encoded instead of the object. If no
		481	C<TO_JSON> method is found, the value of C<allow_blessed> will decide what
		482	to do.
		483
		484	The C<TO_JSON> method may safely call die if it wants. If C<TO_JSON>
		485	returns other blessed objects, those will be handled in the same
		486	way. C<TO_JSON> must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle
		487	(== crash) in this case. The name of C<TO_JSON> was chosen because other
		488	methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are
		489	usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C<to_json>
		490	function or method.
		491
		492	This setting does not yet influence C<decode> in any way, but in the
		493	future, global hooks might get installed that influence C<decode> and are
		494	enabled by this setting.
		495
		496	If C<$enable> is false, then the C<allow_blessed> setting will decide what
		497	to do when a blessed object is found.
		498
		499	=item $json = $json->filter_json_object ([$coderef->($hashref)])
		500
		501	When C<$coderef> is specified, it will be called from C<decode> each
		502	time it decodes a JSON object. The only argument is a reference to the
		503	newly-created hash. If the code references returns a single scalar (which
		504	need not be a reference), this value (i.e. a copy of that scalar to avoid
		505	aliasing) is inserted into the deserialised data structure. If it returns
		506	an empty list (NOTE: I<not> C<undef>, which is a valid scalar), the
		507	original deserialised hash will be inserted. This setting can slow down
		508	decoding considerably.
		509
		510	When C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, any existing callback will
		511	be removed and C<decode> will not change the deserialised hash in any
		512	way.
		513
		514	Example, convert all JSON objects into the integer 5:
		515
		516	my $js = JSON::XS->new->filter_json_object (sub { 5 });
		517	# returns [5]
		518	$js->decode ('[{}]')
		519	# throw an exception because allow_nonref is not enabled
		520	# so a lone 5 is not allowed.
		521	$js->decode ('{"a":1, "b":2}');
		522
		523	=item $json = $json->filter_json_single_key_object ($key [=> $coderef->($value)])
		524
		525	Works remotely similar to C<filter_json_object>, but is only called for
		526	JSON objects having a single key named C<$key>.
		527
		528	This C<$coderef> is called before the one specified via
		529	C<filter_json_object>, if any. It gets passed the single value in the JSON
		530	object. If it returns a single value, it will be inserted into the data
		531	structure. If it returns nothing (not even C<undef> but the empty list),
		532	the callback from C<filter_json_object> will be called next, as if no
		533	single-key callback were specified.
		534
		535	If C<$coderef> is omitted or undefined, the corresponding callback will be
		536	disabled. There can only ever be one callback for a given key.
		537
		538	As this callback gets called less often then the C<filter_json_object>
		539	one, decoding speed will not usually suffer as much. Therefore, single-key
		540	objects make excellent targets to serialise Perl objects into, especially
		541	as single-key JSON objects are as close to the type-tagged value concept
		542	as JSON gets (it's basically an ID/VALUE tuple). Of course, JSON does not
		543	support this in any way, so you need to make sure your data never looks
		544	like a serialised Perl hash.
		545
		546	Typical names for the single object key are C<__class_whatever__>, or
		547	C<$__dollars_are_rarely_used__$> or C<}ugly_brace_placement>, or even
		548	things like C<__class_md5sum(classname)__>, to reduce the risk of clashing
		549	with real hashes.
		550
		551	Example, decode JSON objects of the form C<< { "__widget__" => <id> } >>
		552	into the corresponding C<< $WIDGET{<id>} >> object:
		553
		554	# return whatever is in $WIDGET{5}:
		555	JSON::XS
		556	->new
		557	->filter_json_single_key_object (__widget__ => sub {
		558	$WIDGET{ $_[0] }
		559	})
		560	->decode ('{"__widget__": 5')
		561
		562	# this can be used with a TO_JSON method in some "widget" class
		563	# for serialisation to json:
		564	sub WidgetBase::TO_JSON {
		565	my ($self) = @_;
		566
		567	unless ($self->{id}) {
		568	$self->{id} = ..get..some..id..;
		569	$WIDGET{$self->{id}} = $self;
		570	}
		571
		572	{ __widget__ => $self->{id} }
		573	}
		574
258	=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])	575	=item $json = $json->shrink ([$enable])
259		576
		577	=item $enabled = $json->get_shrink
		578
260	Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for	579	Perl usually over-allocates memory a bit when allocating space for
261	strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either	580	strings. This flag optionally resizes strings generated by either
262	C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save	581	C<encode> or C<decode> to their minimum size possible. This can save
263	memory when your JSON strings are either very very long or you have many	582	memory when your JSON texts are either very very long or you have many
264	short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form	583	short strings. It will also try to downgrade any strings to octet-form
265	if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called	584	if possible: perl stores strings internally either in an encoding called
266	UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less	585	UTF-X or in octet-form. The latter cannot store everything but uses less
267	space in general.	586	space in general (and some buggy Perl or C code might even rely on that
		587	internal representation being used).
268		588
		589	The actual definition of what shrink does might change in future versions,
		590	but it will always try to save space at the expense of time.
		591
269	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will be shrunk-to-fit,	592	If C<$enable> is true (or missing), the string returned by C<encode> will
270	while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be shrunk-to-fit.	593	be shrunk-to-fit, while all strings generated by C<decode> will also be
		594	shrunk-to-fit.
271		595
272	If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used.	596	If C<$enable> is false, then the normal perl allocation algorithms are used.
273	If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster.	597	If you work with your data, then this is likely to be faster.
274		598
275	In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting	599	In the future, this setting might control other things, such as converting
276	strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats	600	strings that look like integers or floats into integers or floats
277	internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.	601	internally (there is no difference on the Perl level), saving space.
278		602
		603	=item $json = $json->max_depth ([$maximum_nesting_depth])
		604
		605	=item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth
		606
		607	Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding
		608	or decoding. If the JSON text or Perl data structure has an equal or
		609	higher nesting level then this limit, then the encoder and decoder will
		610	stop and croak at that point.
		611
		612	Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder
		613	needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[>
		614	characters without their matching closing parenthesis crossed to reach a
		615	given character in a string.
		616
		617	Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures
		618	that the object is only a single hash/object or array.
		619
		620	The argument to C<max_depth> will be rounded up to the next highest power
		621	of two. If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be
		622	used, which is rarely useful.
		623
		624	See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
		625
		626	=item $json = $json->max_size ([$maximum_string_size])
		627
		628	=item $max_size = $json->get_max_size
		629
		630	Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is
		631	being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C<decode>
		632	is called on a string longer then this number of characters it will not
		633	attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no
		634	effect on C<encode> (yet).
		635
		636	The argument to C<max_size> will be rounded up to the next B<highest>
		637	power of two (so may be more than requested). If no argument is given, the
		638	limit check will be deactivated (same as when C<0> is specified).
		639
		640	See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful.
		641
279	=item $json_string = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)	642	=item $json_text = $json->encode ($perl_scalar)
280		643
281	Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference	644	Converts the given Perl data structure (a simple scalar or a reference
282	to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be	645	to a hash or array) to its JSON representation. Simple scalars will be
283	converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays	646	converted into JSON string or number sequences, while references to arrays
284	become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined	647	become JSON arrays and references to hashes become JSON objects. Undefined
285	Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>	648	Perl values (e.g. C<undef>) become JSON C<null> values. Neither C<true>
286	nor C<false> values will be generated.	649	nor C<false> values will be generated.
287		650
288	=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_string)	651	=item $perl_scalar = $json->decode ($json_text)
289		652
290	The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON string and tries to parse it,	653	The opposite of C<encode>: expects a JSON text and tries to parse it,
291	returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.	654	returning the resulting simple scalar or reference. Croaks on error.
292		655
293	JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become	656	JSON numbers and strings become simple Perl scalars. JSON arrays become
294	Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes	657	Perl arrayrefs and JSON objects become Perl hashrefs. C<true> becomes
295	C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>.	658	C<1>, C<false> becomes C<0> and C<null> becomes C<undef>.
296		659
		660	=item ($perl_scalar, $characters) = $json->decode_prefix ($json_text)
		661
		662	This works like the C<decode> method, but instead of raising an exception
		663	when there is trailing garbage after the first JSON object, it will
		664	silently stop parsing there and return the number of characters consumed
		665	so far.
		666
		667	This is useful if your JSON texts are not delimited by an outer protocol
		668	(which is not the brightest thing to do in the first place) and you need
		669	to know where the JSON text ends.
		670
		671	JSON::XS->new->decode_prefix ("[1] the tail")
		672	=> ([], 3)
		673
297	=back	674	=back
		675
298		676
299	=head1 MAPPING	677	=head1 MAPPING
300		678
301	This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and	679	This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
302	vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most	680	vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
303	circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics	681	circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
304	(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).	682	(what you put in comes out as something equivalent).
305		683
306	For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,	684	For the more enlightened: note that in the following descriptions,
307	lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppcercase I<Perl>	685	lowercase I<perl> refers to the Perl interpreter, while uppercase I<Perl>
308	refers to the abstract Perl language itself.	686	refers to the abstract Perl language itself.
309		687
		688
310	=head2 JSON -> PERL	689	=head2 JSON -> PERL
311		690
312	=over 4	691	=over 4
313		692
314	=item object	693	=item object
315		694
316	A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object	695	A JSON object becomes a reference to a hash in Perl. No ordering of object
317	keys is preserved.	696	keys is preserved (JSON does not preserve object key ordering itself).
318		697
319	=item array	698	=item array
320		699
321	A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.	700	A JSON array becomes a reference to an array in Perl.
322		701
…		…
326	are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual	705	are represented by the same codepoints in the Perl string, so no manual
327	decoding is necessary.	706	decoding is necessary.
328		707
329	=item number	708	=item number
330		709
331	A JSON number becomes either an integer or numeric (floating point)	710	A JSON number becomes either an integer, numeric (floating point) or
332	scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On the	711	string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On
333	Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all the	712	the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all
334	conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and might	713	the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and
335	represent more values exactly than (floating point) numbers.	714	might represent more values exactly than floating point numbers.
		715
		716	If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent
		717	it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as
		718	a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of
		719	precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in
		720	which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be
		721	re-encoded toa JSON string).
		722
		723	Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be
		724	represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of
		725	precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but
		726	the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number).
336		727
337	=item true, false	728	=item true, false
338		729
339	These JSON atoms become C<0>, C<1>, respectively. Information is lost in	730	These JSON atoms become C<JSON::XS::true> and C<JSON::XS::false>,
340	this process. Future versions might represent those values differently,	731	respectively. They are overloaded to act almost exactly like the numbers
341	but they will be guarenteed to act like these integers would normally in	732	C<1> and C<0>. You can check whether a scalar is a JSON boolean by using
342	Perl.	733	the C<JSON::XS::is_bool> function.
343		734
344	=item null	735	=item null
345		736
346	A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.	737	A JSON null atom becomes C<undef> in Perl.
347		738
348	=back	739	=back
		740
349		741
350	=head2 PERL -> JSON	742	=head2 PERL -> JSON
351		743
352	The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a	744	The mapping from Perl to JSON is slightly more difficult, as Perl is a
353	truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by	745	truly typeless language, so we can only guess which JSON type is meant by
…		…
356	=over 4	748	=over 4
357		749
358	=item hash references	750	=item hash references
359		751
360	Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering	752	Perl hash references become JSON objects. As there is no inherent ordering
361	in hash keys, they will usually be encoded in a pseudo-random order that	753	in hash keys (or JSON objects), they will usually be encoded in a
362	can change between runs of the same program but stays generally the same	754	pseudo-random order that can change between runs of the same program but
363	within the single run of a program. JSON::XS can optionally sort the hash	755	stays generally the same within a single run of a program. JSON::XS can
364	keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so the same datastructure	756	optionally sort the hash keys (determined by the I<canonical> flag), so
365	will serialise to the same JSON text (given same settings and version of	757	the same datastructure will serialise to the same JSON text (given same
366	JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead.	758	settings and version of JSON::XS), but this incurs a runtime overhead
		759	and is only rarely useful, e.g. when you want to compare some JSON text
		760	against another for equality.
367		761
368	=item array references	762	=item array references
369		763
370	Perl array references become JSON arrays.	764	Perl array references become JSON arrays.
371		765
		766	=item other references
		767
		768	Other unblessed references are generally not allowed and will cause an
		769	exception to be thrown, except for references to the integers C<0> and
		770	C<1>, which get turned into C<false> and C<true> atoms in JSON. You can
		771	also use C<JSON::XS::false> and C<JSON::XS::true> to improve readability.
		772
		773	encode_json [\0,JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true]
		774
		775	=item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false
		776
		777	These special values become JSON true and JSON false values,
		778	respectively. You can also use C<\1> and C<\0> directly if you want.
		779
372	=item blessed objects	780	=item blessed objects
373		781
374	Blessed objects are not allowed. JSON::XS currently tries to encode their	782	Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON. See the
375	underlying representation (hash- or arrayref), but this behaviour might	783	C<allow_blessed> and C<convert_blessed> methods on various options on
376	change in future versions.	784	how to deal with this: basically, you can choose between throwing an
		785	exception, encoding the reference as if it weren't blessed, or provide
		786	your own serialiser method.
377		787
378	=item simple scalars	788	=item simple scalars
379		789
380	Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most	790	Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most
381	difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as	791	difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as
382	JSON null value, scalars that have last been used in a string context	792	JSON C<null> values, scalars that have last been used in a string context
383	before encoding as JSON strings and anything else as number value:	793	before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value:
384		794
385	# dump as number	795	# dump as number
386	to_json [2] # yields [2]	796	encode_json [2] # yields [2]
387	to_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]	797	encode_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17]
388	my $value = 5; to_json [$value] # yields [5]	798	my $value = 5; encode_json [$value] # yields [5]
389		799
390	# used as string, so dump as string	800	# used as string, so dump as string
391	print $value;	801	print $value;
392	to_json [$value] # yields ["5"]	802	encode_json [$value] # yields ["5"]
393		803
394	# undef becomes null	804	# undef becomes null
395	to_json [undef] # yields [null]	805	encode_json [undef] # yields [null]
396		806
397	You can force the type to be a string by stringifying it:	807	You can force the type to be a JSON string by stringifying it:
398		808
399	my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number	809	my $x = 3.1; # some variable containing a number
400	"$x"; # stringified	810	"$x"; # stringified
401	$x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify	811	$x .= ""; # another, more awkward way to stringify
402	print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often	812	print $x; # perl does it for you, too, quite often
403		813
404	You can force the type to be a number by numifying it:	814	You can force the type to be a JSON number by numifying it:
405		815
406	my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string	816	my $x = "3"; # some variable containing a string
407	$x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number	817	$x += 0; # numify it, ensuring it will be dumped as a number
408	$x *= 1; # same thing, the choise is yours.	818	$x *= 1; # same thing, the choice is yours.
409		819
410	You can not currently output JSON booleans or force the type in other,	820	You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me
411	less obscure, ways. Tell me if you need this capability.	821	if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why its needed
412		822	:).
413	=item circular data structures
414
415	Those will be encoded until memory or stackspace runs out.
416		823
417	=back	824	=back
		825
		826
		827	=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES
		828
		829	The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify
		830	encodings or codesets - C<utf8>, C<latin1> and C<ascii>. There seems to be
		831	some confusion on what these do, so here is a short comparison:
		832
		833	C<utf8> controls wether the JSON text created by C<encode> (and expected
		834	by C<decode>) is UTF-8 encoded or not, while C<latin1> and C<ascii> only
		835	control wether C<encode> escapes character values outside their respective
		836	codeset range. Neither of these flags conflict with each other, although
		837	some combinations make less sense than others.
		838
		839	Care has been taken to make all flags symmetrical with respect to
		840	C<encode> and C<decode>, that is, texts encoded with any combination of
		841	these flag values will be correctly decoded when the same flags are used
		842	- in general, if you use different flag settings while encoding vs. when
		843	decoding you likely have a bug somewhere.
		844
		845	Below comes a verbose discussion of these flags. Note that a "codeset" is
		846	simply an abstract set of character-codepoint pairs, while an encoding
		847	takes those codepoint numbers and I<encodes> them, in our case into
		848	octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding,
		849	and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I<and> encodings at
		850	the same time, which can be confusing.
		851
		852	=over 4
		853
		854	=item C<utf8> flag disabled
		855
		856	When C<utf8> is disabled (the default), then C<encode>/C<decode> generate
		857	and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode
		858	values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such
		859	characters are decoded as-is, no canges to them will be done, except
		860	"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters,
		861	respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do
		862	funny/weird/dumb stuff).
		863
		864	This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you
		865	want to have UTF-16 encoded JSON texts) or when some other layer does
		866	the encoding for you (for example, when printing to a terminal using a
		867	filehandle that transparently encodes to UTF-8 you certainly do NOT want
		868	to UTF-8 encode your data first and have Perl encode it another time).
		869
		870	=item C<utf8> flag enabled
		871
		872	If the C<utf8>-flag is enabled, C<encode>/C<decode> will encode all
		873	characters using the corresponding UTF-8 multi-byte sequence, and will
		874	expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character"
		875	of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow
		876	that.
		877
		878	The C<utf8> flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you
		879	will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded
		880	octet/binary string in Perl.
		881
		882	=item C<latin1> or C<ascii> flags enabled
		883
		884	With C<latin1> (or C<ascii>) enabled, C<encode> will escape characters
		885	with ordinal values > 255 (> 127 with C<ascii>) and encode the remaining
		886	characters as specified by the C<utf8> flag.
		887
		888	If C<utf8> is disabled, then the result is also correctly encoded in those
		889	character sets (as both are proper subsets of Unicode, meaning that a
		890	Unicode string with all character values < 256 is the same thing as a
		891	ISO-8859-1 string, and a Unicode string with all character values < 128 is
		892	the same thing as an ASCII string in Perl).
		893
		894	If C<utf8> is enabled, you still get a correct UTF-8-encoded string,
		895	regardless of these flags, just some more characters will be escaped using
		896	C<\uXXXX> then before.
		897
		898	Note that ISO-8859-1-I<encoded> strings are not compatible with UTF-8
		899	encoding, while ASCII-encoded strings are. That is because the ISO-8859-1
		900	encoding is NOT a subset of UTF-8 (despite the ISO-8859-1 I<codeset> being
		901	a subset of Unicode), while ASCII is.
		902
		903	Surprisingly, C<decode> will ignore these flags and so treat all input
		904	values as governed by the C<utf8> flag. If it is disabled, this allows you
		905	to decode ISO-8859-1- and ASCII-encoded strings, as both strict subsets of
		906	Unicode. If it is enabled, you can correctly decode UTF-8 encoded strings.
		907
		908	So neither C<latin1> nor C<ascii> are incompatible with the C<utf8> flag -
		909	they only govern when the JSON output engine escapes a character or not.
		910
		911	The main use for C<latin1> is to relatively efficiently store binary data
		912	as JSON, at the expense of breaking compatibility with most JSON decoders.
		913
		914	The main use for C<ascii> is to force the output to not contain characters
		915	with values > 127, which means you can interpret the resulting string
		916	as UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ASCII, KOI8-R or most about any character set and
		917	8-bit-encoding, and still get the same data structure back. This is useful
		918	when your channel for JSON transfer is not 8-bit clean or the encoding
		919	might be mangled in between (e.g. in mail), and works because ASCII is a
		920	proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world.
		921
		922	=back
		923
418		924
419	=head1 COMPARISON	925	=head1 COMPARISON
420		926
421	As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing	927	As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing
422	JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the	928	JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the
…		…
424	followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer	930	followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer
425	from any of these problems or limitations.	931	from any of these problems or limitations.
426		932
427	=over 4	933	=over 4
428		934
		935	=item JSON 2.xx
		936
		937	A marvellous piece of engineering, this module either uses JSON::XS
		938	directly when available (so will be 100% compatible with it, including
		939	speed), or it uses JSON::PP, which is basically JSON::XS translated to
		940	Pure Perl, which should be 100% compatible with JSON::XS, just a bit
		941	slower.
		942
		943	You cannot really lose by using this module, especially as it tries very
		944	hard to work even with ancient Perl versions, while JSON::XS does not.
		945
429	=item JSON 1.07	946	=item JSON 1.07
430		947
431	Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl).	948	Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl).
432		949
433	Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles unicode values is	950	Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles Unicode values is
434	undocumented. One can get far by feeding it unicode strings and doing	951	undocumented. One can get far by feeding it Unicode strings and doing
435	en-/decoding oneself, but unicode escapes are not working properly).	952	en-/decoding oneself, but Unicode escapes are not working properly).
436		953
437	No roundtripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g.	954	No round-tripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g.
438	the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will	955	the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will
439	decode into the number 2.	956	decode into the number 2.
440		957
441	=item JSON::PC 0.01	958	=item JSON::PC 0.01
442		959
443	Very fast.	960	Very fast.
444		961
445	Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling.	962	Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling.
446		963
447	No roundtripping.	964	No round-tripping.
448		965
449	Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic	966	Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic
450	values will make it croak).	967	values will make it croak).
451		968
452	Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}>	969	Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}>
453	which is not a valid JSON string.	970	which is not a valid JSON text.
454		971
455	Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not	972	Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
456	getting fixed).	973	getting fixed).
457		974
458	=item JSON::Syck 0.21	975	=item JSON::Syck 0.21
…		…
460	Very buggy (often crashes).	977	Very buggy (often crashes).
461		978
462	Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much	979	Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much
463	undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a	980	undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a
464	single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to	981	single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
465	generate ASCII-only JSON strings).	982	generate ASCII-only JSON texts).
466		983
467	Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (unicode	984	Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (Unicode
468	escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to	985	escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to
469	I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour).	986	I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour).
470		987
471	No roundtripping (simple cases work, but this depends on wether the scalar	988	No round-tripping (simple cases work, but this depends on whether the scalar
472	value was used in a numeric context or not).	989	value was used in a numeric context or not).
473		990
474	Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state.	991	Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state.
475		992
476	Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not	993	Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
477	getting fixed).	994	getting fixed).
478		995
479	Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and	996	Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
480	return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security	997	return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
481	issue: imagine two banks transfering money between each other using	998	issue: imagine two banks transferring money between each other using
482	JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,	999	JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
483	while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a	1000	while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
484	good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and	1001	good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
485	the transaction will still not succeed).	1002	the transaction will still not succeed).
486		1003
487	=item JSON::DWIW 0.04	1004	=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
488		1005
489	Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.	1006	Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
490		1007
491	Undocumented unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes	1008	Undocumented Unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
492	still don't get parsed properly).	1009	still don't get parsed properly).
493		1010
494	Very inflexible.	1011	Very inflexible.
495		1012
496	No roundtripping.	1013	No round-tripping.
497		1014
498	Does not generate valid JSON (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys	1015	Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
499	result in nothing being output)	1016	result in nothing being output)
500		1017
501	Does not check input for validity.	1018	Does not check input for validity.
502		1019
503	=back	1020	=back
		1021
		1022
		1023	=head2 JSON and YAML
		1024
		1025	You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
		1026	hysteria(*) and very far from the truth. In general, there is no way to
		1027	configure JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML that works for
		1028	all cases.
		1029
		1030	If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this
		1031	algorithm (subject to change in future versions):
		1032
		1033	my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1);
		1034	my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n";
		1035
		1036	This will I<usually> generate JSON texts that also parse as valid
		1037	YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key
		1038	lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible
		1039	unicode handling, so you should make sure that your hash keys are
		1040	noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows and that
		1041	you do not have codepoints with values outside the Unicode BMP (basic
		1042	multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/> sequences in strings
		1043	(which JSON::XS does not I<currently> generate).
		1044
		1045	There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML
		1046	specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In
		1047	general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice
		1048	versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are
		1049	high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you
		1050	least expect it.
		1051
		1052	=over 4
		1053
		1054	=item (*)
		1055
		1056	This is spread actively by the YAML team, however. For many years now they
		1057	claim YAML were a superset of JSON, even when proven otherwise.
		1058
		1059	Even the author of this manpage was at some point accused of providing
		1060	"incorrect" information, despite the evidence presented (claims ranged
		1061	from "your documentation contains inaccurate and negative statements about
		1062	YAML" (the only negative comment is this footnote, and it didn't exist
		1063	back then; the question on which claims were inaccurate was never answered
		1064	etc.) to "the YAML spec is not up-to-date" (the real and supposedly
		1065	JSON-compatible spec is apparently not currently publicly available)
		1066	to actual requests to replace this section by incorrect information,
		1067	suppressing information about the real problem).
		1068
		1069	So whenever you are told that YAML was a superset of JSON, first check
		1070	wether it is really true (it might be when you check it, but it certainly
		1071	was not true when this was written). I would much prefer if the YAML team
		1072	would spent their time on actually making JSON compatibility a truth
		1073	(JSON, after all, has a very small and simple specification) instead of
		1074	trying to lobby/force people into reporting untruths.
		1075
		1076	=back
		1077
504		1078
505	=head2 SPEED	1079	=head2 SPEED
506		1080
507	It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following	1081	It seems that JSON::XS is surprisingly fast, as shown in the following
508	tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program	1082	tables. They have been generated with the help of the C<eg/bench> program
509	in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own	1083	in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own
510	system.	1084	system.
511		1085
512	First is a comparison between various modules using a very simple JSON	1086	First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short
		1087	single-line JSON string:
		1088
		1089	{"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], \
		1090	"id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, true, false]}
		1091
513	string, showing the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS is	1092	It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
514	the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 is the OO interface with	1093	the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
515	pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled).	1094	with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
		1095	shrink). Higher is better:
516		1096
517	module \| encode \| decode \|	1097	module \| encode \| decode \|
518	-----------\|------------\|------------\|	1098	-----------\|------------\|------------\|
519	JSON \| 14006 \| 6820 \|	1099	JSON 1.x \| 4990.842 \| 4088.813 \|
520	JSON::DWIW \| 200937 \| 120386 \|	1100	JSON::DWIW \| 51653.990 \| 71575.154 \|
521	JSON::PC \| 85065 \| 129366 \|	1101	JSON::PC \| 65948.176 \| 74631.744 \|
522	JSON::Syck \| 59898 \| 44232 \|	1102	JSON::PP \| 8931.652 \| 3817.168 \|
523	JSON::XS \| 1171478 \| 342435 \|	1103	JSON::Syck \| 24877.248 \| 27776.848 \|
524	JSON::XS/2 \| 730760 \| 328714 \|	1104	JSON::XS \| 388361.481 \| 227951.304 \|
		1105	JSON::XS/2 \| 227951.304 \| 218453.333 \|
		1106	JSON::XS/3 \| 338250.323 \| 218453.333 \|
		1107	Storable \| 16500.016 \| 135300.129 \|
525	-----------+------------+------------+	1108	-----------+------------+------------+
526		1109
527	That is, JSON::XS is 6 times faster than than JSON::DWIW and about 80	1110	That is, JSON::XS is about five times faster than JSON::DWIW on encoding,
		1111	about three times faster on decoding, and over forty times faster
528	times faster than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting.	1112	than JSON, even with pretty-printing and key sorting. It also compares
		1113	favourably to Storable for small amounts of data.
529		1114
530	Using a longer test string (roughly 8KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals	1115	Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals
531	search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg):	1116	search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg):
532		1117
533	module \| encode \| decode \|	1118	module \| encode \| decode \|
534	-----------\|------------\|------------\|	1119	-----------\|------------\|------------\|
535	JSON \| 673 \| 38 \|	1120	JSON 1.x \| 55.260 \| 34.971 \|
536	JSON::DWIW \| 5271 \| 770 \|	1121	JSON::DWIW \| 825.228 \| 1082.513 \|
537	JSON::PC \| 9901 \| 2491 \|	1122	JSON::PC \| 3571.444 \| 2394.829 \|
538	JSON::Syck \| 2360 \| 786 \|	1123	JSON::PP \| 210.987 \| 32.574 \|
539	JSON::XS \| 37398 \| 3202 \|	1124	JSON::Syck \| 552.551 \| 787.544 \|
540	JSON::XS/2 \| 13765 \| 3153 \|	1125	JSON::XS \| 5780.463 \| 4854.519 \|
		1126	JSON::XS/2 \| 3869.998 \| 4798.975 \|
		1127	JSON::XS/3 \| 5862.880 \| 4798.975 \|
		1128	Storable \| 4445.002 \| 5235.027 \|
541	-----------+------------+------------+	1129	-----------+------------+------------+
542		1130
543	Again, JSON::XS leads by far in the encoding case, while still beating	1131	Again, JSON::XS leads by far (except for Storable which non-surprisingly
544	every other module in the decoding case.	1132	decodes faster).
545		1133
546	=head1 RESOURCE LIMITS	1134	On large strings containing lots of high Unicode characters, some modules
		1135	(such as JSON::PC) seem to decode faster than JSON::XS, but the result
		1136	will be broken due to missing (or wrong) Unicode handling. Others refuse
		1137	to decode or encode properly, so it was impossible to prepare a fair
		1138	comparison table for that case.
547		1139
548	JSON::XS does not impose any limits on the size of JSON texts or Perl	1140
549	values they represent - if your machine can handle it, JSON::XS will	1141	=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
550	encode or decode it. Future versions might optionally impose structure	1142
551	depth and memory use resource limits.	1143	When you are using JSON in a protocol, talking to untrusted potentially
		1144	hostile creatures requires relatively few measures.
		1145
		1146	First of all, your JSON decoder should be secure, that is, should not have
		1147	any buffer overflows. Obviously, this module should ensure that and I am
		1148	trying hard on making that true, but you never know.
		1149
		1150	Second, you need to avoid resource-starving attacks. That means you should
		1151	limit the size of JSON texts you accept, or make sure then when your
		1152	resources run out, that's just fine (e.g. by using a separate process that
		1153	can crash safely). The size of a JSON text in octets or characters is
		1154	usually a good indication of the size of the resources required to decode
		1155	it into a Perl structure. While JSON::XS can check the size of the JSON
		1156	text, it might be too late when you already have it in memory, so you
		1157	might want to check the size before you accept the string.
		1158
		1159	Third, JSON::XS recurses using the C stack when decoding objects and
		1160	arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64
		1161	machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but
		1162	only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak
		1163	to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. To be
		1164	conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process
		1165	has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the
		1166	C<max_depth> method.
		1167
		1168	Something else could bomb you, too, that I forgot to think of. In that
		1169	case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, though...
		1170
		1171	Also keep in mind that JSON::XS might leak contents of your Perl data
		1172	structures in its error messages, so when you serialise sensitive
		1173	information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS
		1174	will not end up in front of untrusted eyes.
		1175
		1176	If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption
		1177	by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at
		1178	L<http://jpsykes.com/47/practical-csrf-and-json-security> to see whether
		1179	you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser
		1180	design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major
		1181	browser developers care only for features, not about getting security
		1182	right).
		1183
		1184
		1185	=head1 THREADS
		1186
		1187	This module is I<not> guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no
		1188	plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the
		1189	horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated
		1190	process simulations - use fork, its I<much> faster, cheaper, better).
		1191
		1192	(It might actually work, but you have been warned).
		1193
552		1194
553	=head1 BUGS	1195	=head1 BUGS
554		1196
555	While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does	1197	While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does
556	not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is	1198	not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is
557	still very young and not well-tested. If you keep reporting bugs they will	1199	still relatively early in its development. If you keep reporting bugs they
558	be fixed swiftly, though.	1200	will be fixed swiftly, though.
		1201
		1202	Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting
		1203	service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason.
559		1204
560	=cut	1205	=cut
		1206
		1207	our $true = do { bless \(my $dummy = 1), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
		1208	our $false = do { bless \(my $dummy = 0), "JSON::XS::Boolean" };
		1209
		1210	sub true() { $true }
		1211	sub false() { $false }
		1212
		1213	sub is_bool($) {
		1214	UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::XS::Boolean"
		1215	# or UNIVERSAL::isa $_[0], "JSON::Literal"
		1216	}
		1217
		1218	XSLoader::load "JSON::XS", $VERSION;
		1219
		1220	package JSON::XS::Boolean;
		1221
		1222	use overload
		1223	"0+" => sub { ${$_[0]} },
		1224	"++" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} + 1 },
		1225	"--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
		1226	fallback => 1;
561		1227
562	1;	1228	1;
563		1229
564	=head1 AUTHOR	1230	=head1 AUTHOR
565		1231

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Comparing JSON-XS/XS.pm (file contents):
Revision 1.12 by root, Fri Mar 23 18:33:50 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.86 by root, Wed Mar 19 03:17:38 2008 UTC