Return the first member of duplicate keys from lookups again

Looking up the last member of a duplicate key cannot stop at a match, so
every lookup scanned the whole object (1.6 to 3.4 times slower for small
objects). operator[](key), at, find, value, contains, count, and JSON
pointer resolution return the first member again, as yyjson and simdjson
do; materialize() and get<map>() keep the last value, as parse().

The documentation says so in the feature page and on each lookup page,
and explains how to get the value parse() would give. The integer index
templates and the discarded chaining of operator[] stay.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
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Niels Lohmann committed 2026-10-11 11:30:37 +02:00
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@@ -134,16 +134,8 @@ document: `#!cpp auto v = json_document::parse(text).root();` does not compile.
`operator[]` on a discarded view returns a discarded view without throwing: `#!cpp v["a"]["b"][0]` can be tested
once at the end. Type errors on values that exist (a key on an array, an index on an object) still throw, and
[`at`](../api/basic_json_view/at.md) throws for every missing value.
- **Duplicate keys are visible.** If an object in the source text repeats a key,
[`begin()`](../api/basic_json_view/begin.md)/[`end()`](../api/basic_json_view/end.md) and
[`items()`](../api/basic_json_view/items.md) visit *every* occurrence (and [`size()`](../api/basic_json_view/size.md)
counts all of them), while [`operator[]`](../api/basic_json_view/operator%5B%5D.md),
[`at`](../api/basic_json_view/at.md), [`find`](../api/basic_json_view/find.md),
[`contains`](../api/basic_json_view/contains.md), and [`count`](../api/basic_json_view/count.md) resolve to the
*last* occurrence -- the one `basic_json::parse()` (and so
[`materialize()`](../api/basic_json_view/materialize.md)) keeps for a repeated key -- which makes a lookup scan all
members instead of stopping at a match.
See the [Notes on duplicate keys](../api/basic_json_view/operator%5B%5D.md#notes) of `operator[]`.
- **Duplicate keys: lookups find the first member, `parse()` keeps the last.** See [Duplicate keys](#duplicate-keys)
below.
- **No [`JSON_DIAGNOSTICS`](../api/macros/json_diagnostics.md) path.** Exceptions thrown by `basic_json_view`'s own
element access and lookup functions never carry the JSON Pointer path `JSON_DIAGNOSTICS` would otherwise add: the
view has no `basic_json` value to point at, so the exception is created without one, regardless of how
@@ -151,6 +143,51 @@ document: `#!cpp auto v = json_document::parse(text).root();` does not compile.
- **`dump()` and comparison are not (yet) provided** by `basic_json_view`. For now,
[`materialize()`](../api/basic_json_view/materialize.md) is the way to get a value you can do those things with.
## Duplicate keys
!!! warning "A lookup in a view and in the parsed value can give different answers"
If an object in the source text repeats a key, [`operator[]`](../api/basic_json_view/operator%5B%5D.md),
[`at`](../api/basic_json_view/at.md), [`find`](../api/basic_json_view/find.md),
[`value`](../api/basic_json_view/value.md), [`contains`](../api/basic_json_view/contains.md),
[`count`](../api/basic_json_view/count.md), and JSON pointer resolution all return the **first** member with that
key. `basic_json::parse()` instead keeps the **last** value of a repeated key, so for `#!cpp {"a":1,"a":2}`,
`#!cpp view["a"]` is `#!cpp 1` while `#!cpp parse(text)["a"]` is `#!cpp 2`.
[`begin()`](../api/basic_json_view/begin.md)/[`end()`](../api/basic_json_view/end.md) and
[`items()`](../api/basic_json_view/items.md) visit *every* occurrence, in document order, and
[`size()`](../api/basic_json_view/size.md) counts all of them, so `#!cpp view.size()` can be larger than
`#!cpp view.materialize().size()`.
**Why the first?** A lookup can stop as soon as it finds a match. Returning the last member would force every lookup
to scan all members of the object, even when the key is found at the very first one: this made lookups in small
objects 1.6 to 3.4 times slower. Other zero-copy parsers that index the source text, such as yyjson and simdjson, also
return the first member. RFC 8259 only says that names within an object SHOULD be unique and that the behavior of a
receiver that sees duplicates is unpredictable, so neither choice is wrong.
**What stays the same as `parse()`?** [`materialize()`](../api/basic_json_view/materialize.md) and
[`get<std::map<...>>()`](../api/basic_json_view/get.md) replay every member in order, so they keep the *last* value
exactly like `#!cpp basic_json::parse()` (at the position of the first occurrence of the key, for an
[`ordered_json`](../api/ordered_json.md)).
**How do I get the value `parse()` would give?** Either call `#!cpp view.materialize()` and look the key up in the
result, or iterate the members and keep the last match:
```cpp
// the last member with the key "a", as parse() would keep it
json_view last;
for (const auto item : view.items())
{
if (item.key() == "a")
{
last = item.value();
}
}
```
If you cannot trust the source text to have unique keys, check [`size()`](../api/basic_json_view/size.md) against the
number of distinct keys, or reject duplicates when iterating.
## Getting values out without copying
[`get<T>()`](../api/basic_json_view/get.md) converts many `T` directly from the flat index, without ever building a