Source file src/encoding/json/v2/doc.go

     1  // Copyright 2020 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
     2  // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
     3  // license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
     4  
     5  //go:build goexperiment.jsonv2
     6  
     7  // Package json implements semantic processing of JSON as specified in RFC 8259.
     8  // JSON is a simple data interchange format that can represent
     9  // primitive data types such as booleans, strings, and numbers,
    10  // in addition to structured data types such as objects and arrays.
    11  //
    12  // [Marshal] and [Unmarshal] encode and decode Go values
    13  // to/from JSON text contained within a []byte.
    14  // [MarshalWrite] and [UnmarshalRead] operate on JSON text
    15  // by writing to or reading from an [io.Writer] or [io.Reader].
    16  // [MarshalEncode] and [UnmarshalDecode] operate on JSON text
    17  // by encoding to or decoding from a [jsontext.Encoder] or [jsontext.Decoder].
    18  // [Options] may be passed to each of the marshal or unmarshal functions
    19  // to configure the semantic behavior of marshaling and unmarshaling
    20  // (i.e., alter how JSON data is understood as Go data and vice versa).
    21  // [jsontext.Options] may also be passed to the marshal or unmarshal functions
    22  // to configure the syntactic behavior of encoding or decoding.
    23  //
    24  // The data types of JSON are mapped to/from the data types of Go based on
    25  // the closest logical equivalent between the two type systems. For example,
    26  // a JSON boolean corresponds with a Go bool,
    27  // a JSON string corresponds with a Go string,
    28  // a JSON number corresponds with a Go int, uint or float,
    29  // a JSON array corresponds with a Go slice or array, and
    30  // a JSON object corresponds with a Go struct or map.
    31  // See the documentation on [Marshal] and [Unmarshal] for a comprehensive list
    32  // of how the JSON and Go type systems correspond.
    33  //
    34  // Arbitrary Go types can customize their JSON representation by implementing
    35  // [Marshaler], [MarshalerTo], [Unmarshaler], or [UnmarshalerFrom].
    36  // This provides authors of Go types with control over how their types are
    37  // serialized as JSON. Alternatively, users can implement functions that match
    38  // [MarshalFunc], [MarshalToFunc], [UnmarshalFunc], or [UnmarshalFromFunc]
    39  // to specify the JSON representation for arbitrary types.
    40  // This provides callers of JSON functionality with control over
    41  // how any arbitrary type is serialized as JSON.
    42  //
    43  // # JSON Representation of Go structs
    44  //
    45  // A Go struct is naturally represented as a JSON object,
    46  // where each Go struct field corresponds with a JSON object member.
    47  // When marshaling, all Go struct fields are recursively encoded in depth-first
    48  // order as JSON object members except those that are ignored or omitted.
    49  // When unmarshaling, JSON object members are recursively decoded
    50  // into the corresponding Go struct fields.
    51  // Object members that do not match any struct fields,
    52  // also known as “unknown members”, are ignored by default or rejected
    53  // if [RejectUnknownMembers] is specified.
    54  //
    55  // The representation of each struct field can be customized in the
    56  // "json" struct field tag, where the tag is a comma separated list of options.
    57  // As a special case, if the entire tag is `json:"-"`,
    58  // then the field is ignored with regard to its JSON representation.
    59  // Some options also have equivalent behavior controlled by a caller-specified [Options].
    60  // Field-specified options take precedence over caller-specified options.
    61  //
    62  // The first option is the JSON object name override for the Go struct field.
    63  // If the name is not specified, then the Go struct field name
    64  // is used as the JSON object name. JSON names containing commas or quotes,
    65  // or names identical to "" or "-", can be specified using
    66  // a single-quoted string literal, where the syntax is identical to
    67  // the Go grammar for a double-quoted string literal,
    68  // but instead uses single quotes as the delimiters.
    69  // By default, unmarshaling uses case-sensitive matching to identify
    70  // the Go struct field associated with a JSON object name.
    71  //
    72  // After the name, the following tag options are supported:
    73  //
    74  //   - omitzero: When marshaling, the "omitzero" option specifies that
    75  //     the struct field should be omitted if the field value is zero
    76  //     as determined by the "IsZero() bool" method if present,
    77  //     otherwise based on whether the field is the zero Go value.
    78  //     This option has no effect when unmarshaling.
    79  //
    80  //   - omitempty: When marshaling, the "omitempty" option specifies that
    81  //     the struct field should be omitted if the field value would have been
    82  //     encoded as a JSON null, empty string, empty object, or empty array.
    83  //     This option has no effect when unmarshaling.
    84  //
    85  //   - string: The "string" option specifies that [StringifyNumbers]
    86  //     be set when marshaling or unmarshaling a struct field value.
    87  //     This causes numeric types to be encoded as a JSON number
    88  //     within a JSON string, and to be decoded from a JSON string
    89  //     containing the JSON number without any surrounding whitespace.
    90  //     This extra level of encoding is often necessary since
    91  //     many JSON parsers cannot precisely represent 64-bit integers.
    92  //
    93  //   - case: When unmarshaling, the "case" option specifies how
    94  //     JSON object names are matched with the JSON name for Go struct fields.
    95  //     The option is a key-value pair specified as "case:value" where
    96  //     the value must either be 'ignore' or 'strict'.
    97  //     The 'ignore' value specifies that matching is case-insensitive
    98  //     where dashes and underscores are also ignored. If multiple fields match,
    99  //     the first declared field in breadth-first order takes precedence.
   100  //     The 'strict' value specifies that matching is case-sensitive.
   101  //     This takes precedence over the [MatchCaseInsensitiveNames] option.
   102  //
   103  //   - inline: The "inline" option specifies that
   104  //     the JSON representable content of this field type is to be promoted
   105  //     as if they were specified in the parent struct.
   106  //     It is the JSON equivalent of Go struct embedding.
   107  //     A Go embedded field is implicitly inlined unless an explicit JSON name
   108  //     is specified. The inlined field must be a Go struct
   109  //     (that does not implement any JSON methods), [jsontext.Value],
   110  //     map[~string]T, or an unnamed pointer to such types. When marshaling,
   111  //     inlined fields from a pointer type are omitted if it is nil.
   112  //     Inlined fields of type [jsontext.Value] and map[~string]T are called
   113  //     “inlined fallbacks” as they can represent all possible
   114  //     JSON object members not directly handled by the parent struct.
   115  //     Only one inlined fallback field may be specified in a struct,
   116  //     while many non-fallback fields may be specified. This option
   117  //     must not be specified with any other option (including the JSON name).
   118  //
   119  //   - unknown: The "unknown" option is a specialized variant
   120  //     of the inlined fallback to indicate that this Go struct field
   121  //     contains any number of unknown JSON object members. The field type must
   122  //     be a [jsontext.Value], map[~string]T, or an unnamed pointer to such types.
   123  //     If [DiscardUnknownMembers] is specified when marshaling,
   124  //     the contents of this field are ignored.
   125  //     If [RejectUnknownMembers] is specified when unmarshaling,
   126  //     any unknown object members are rejected regardless of whether
   127  //     an inlined fallback with the "unknown" option exists. This option
   128  //     must not be specified with any other option (including the JSON name).
   129  //
   130  //   - format: The "format" option specifies a format flag
   131  //     used to specialize the formatting of the field value.
   132  //     The option is a key-value pair specified as "format:value" where
   133  //     the value must be either a literal consisting of letters and numbers
   134  //     (e.g., "format:RFC3339") or a single-quoted string literal
   135  //     (e.g., "format:'2006-01-02'"). The interpretation of the format flag
   136  //     is determined by the struct field type.
   137  //
   138  // The "omitzero" and "omitempty" options are mostly semantically identical.
   139  // The former is defined in terms of the Go type system,
   140  // while the latter in terms of the JSON type system.
   141  // Consequently they behave differently in some circumstances.
   142  // For example, only a nil slice or map is omitted under "omitzero", while
   143  // an empty slice or map is omitted under "omitempty" regardless of nilness.
   144  // The "omitzero" option is useful for types with a well-defined zero value
   145  // (e.g., [net/netip.Addr]) or have an IsZero method (e.g., [time.Time.IsZero]).
   146  //
   147  // Every Go struct corresponds to a list of JSON representable fields
   148  // which is constructed by performing a breadth-first search over
   149  // all struct fields (excluding unexported or ignored fields),
   150  // where the search recursively descends into inlined structs.
   151  // The set of non-inlined fields in a struct must have unique JSON names.
   152  // If multiple fields all have the same JSON name, then the one
   153  // at shallowest depth takes precedence and the other fields at deeper depths
   154  // are excluded from the list of JSON representable fields.
   155  // If multiple fields at the shallowest depth have the same JSON name,
   156  // but exactly one is explicitly tagged with a JSON name,
   157  // then that field takes precedence and all others are excluded from the list.
   158  // This is analogous to Go visibility rules for struct field selection
   159  // with embedded struct types.
   160  //
   161  // Marshaling or unmarshaling a non-empty struct
   162  // without any JSON representable fields results in a [SemanticError].
   163  // Unexported fields must not have any `json` tags except for `json:"-"`.
   164  package json
   165  
   166  // requireKeyedLiterals can be embedded in a struct to require keyed literals.
   167  type requireKeyedLiterals struct{}
   168  
   169  // nonComparable can be embedded in a struct to prevent comparability.
   170  type nonComparable [0]func()
   171  

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